The State Department said Monday it would be “concerned” if reports turn out to be true that Iran is arresting women posing online in “un-Islamic” clothing, and without headscarves.
“We’ve seen those reports about this social media crackdown,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “As we’ve said before, we support freedom of expression and freedom of information all around the world.”
“If these reports are true, we would certainly be concerned about such a crackdown, and would call on Iranian authorities to respect the rights of its citizens to freely express themselves both on and offline.”
Kirby spoke after reports broke on Monday that Iranian authorities arrested eight people for posting on Instagram. One of the people arrested was model Elham Arab.
“All people love beauty and fame. They would like to be seen, but it is important to know what price they will pay to be seen,” Arab reportedly said to a prosecutor.
Kirby said that as of mid-day Monday, his department had not independently confirmed the arrests. “Right now we just have press reports about it,” he said.
