--- description: Singing and dancing to "Happy" is apparently a criminal act in Iran, where six people have been arrested for performing to the popular song title: Six Iranians Arrested for Dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy' on YouTube image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Iran](/tag/iran/) ## Iran Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Six Iranians Arrested for Dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy' on YouTube by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2014 9:19 AM CUT by [Michelle Arrouas](/author/michelle-arrouas/) ## Michelle Arrouas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 21, 2014 9:19 AM CUT Six Iranians have been [arrested](http://www.afp.com/en/node/2413566 "undefined") for posting a video on YouTube featuring themselves dancing and singing to the Pharrell Williams monster hit “Happy,” local police said Tuesday. In the [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYnLRf-SNxY "undefined"), three men and three unveiled woman get groovy on the streets and rooftops of the Islamic republic’s capital, Tehran. “After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip,” the city’s police chief Hossein Sajedinia told the Iranian news agency ISNA, Agence France-Presse [reports](http://www.afp.com/en/node/2413566 "undefined"). “Following a series of intelligence and police operations and after coordinating with the judiciary, all the suspects were identified and arrested.” The six Iranians have “confessed to their criminal acts,” Sajedinia said. Women in Iran are required to cover themselves in public in accordance with Islamic law imposed after the revolution in 1979. Since the [release](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM "undefined") of the official music video of “Happy,” featuring ordinary people and celebrities dancing in the streets of Los Angeles, more than 1,500 cover versions of fans from all over the world have appeared on YouTube. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/107109/happy-iran-arrests-unveiled/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/107109/happy-iran-arrests-unveiled/"},"headline":"Six Iranians Arrested for Dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy' on YouTube","datePublished":"2014-05-21T09:19:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:57:34.024Z","description":"It's dangerous to be \"Happy\" in Iran","url":"https://time.com/107109/happy-iran-arrests-unveiled/","keywords":["Iran","Tehran","Arrests","Happy","Pharrell Williams"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Arrouas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/michelle-arrouas/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/107109/happy-iran-arrests-unveiled/","name":"Six Iranians Arrested for Dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy' on YouTube"}}]}] ```