Hashtag oppression
Iran arrests 46 in fresh crackdowns on Instagram models
Police say photos posted to app were ‘damaging public virtue through the organized spreading of anti-cultural’ activities
An Iranian woman adjusts her headscarf, while crossing a street in downtown Tehran, Iran, April 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian authorities have arrested dozens of people in fresh crackdowns on models and associated colleagues posting “immoral images” online.
The official IRNA news agency reported Monday that officials in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, some 1,250 kilometers (630 miles) south of the capital Tehran, arrested eight women and 36 other people in the photography, beauty salons, and wedding businesses who used Instagram to share what they considered indecent images and clips.
Police said they were “damaging public virtue through the organized spreading of anti-cultural” activities.
Iran conducts regular similar crackdowns to combat Western cultural influence that draws the ire of the Islamic Republic’s hard-liners.
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