Happy Iranian youth video dancers freed a day after arrest

Six Iranians arrested for appearing in a video singing along to an American pop song were released on Wednesday, one day after being detained for what police called their "obscene" behaviour, one of them said in an online posting.

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Mobile users can watch the video here.

Their arrest caused outrage among fans of the song a catchy anthem about feeling happy who took to social media to denounce what they saw as a heavy-handed response by the IslamicRepublic to a piece of harmless fun.

Pharrell Williams himself criticized the arrests. "It'sbeyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness," he tweeted on Tuesday.

The incident has highlighted the struggle between Iran'sconservatives and those who hope President Hassan Rouhani, whohas eased the country's antagonistic stance with the West, mightalso relax the Islamic Republic's social strictures.

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Iran's state-run TV broadcast a program on Tuesday, apparently showing the six expressing regret. "They had promisedus not to publish the video," said one of the women.

Tehran's police chief, Hossein Sajedinia, said he hadordered the arrest of the six youngsters because they had helped
create an "obscene video clip that offended the public moralsand was released in cyberspace," the ISNA news agency said.

A source close to the six said they had been released onbail.

Mobile users can watch the clip here.