Selena Gomez comes out in support of Iranian teenagers detained for dancing in public

Thousands of women from different parts of the world have come out in support of the Iranian teenagers who were detained by police last week for posting a TikTok video of them dancing in public.

The five teenagers made a video of themselves dancing to one of singer Selena Gomez's songs near a tower block in Ekbatan, a town in Tehran, and released it on International Women's Day. The girls danced to the song titled "Calm Down" by Rema and Selena Gomez with their heads uncovered.

The video soon became all the rage on social media, with other Iranian women making similar videos and uploading them on social media platforms. Now, the singer has also spoken out in support of the girls.

"[Love] to these young women and all the women of Iran who continue to be courageous demanding fundamental changes. Please know your strength is inspiring," Gomez wrote in an Instagram post while sharing a news article about the same.

Rema also took to Twitter to speak in support of the young women and wrote: "To all the beautiful women who are fighting for a better world, I'm inspired by you, I sing for you, and I dream for you."

Iran is a highly conservative society with the state putting thousands of restrictions on what women wear and how they behave in public. The girls were detained because it is mandatory for women to wear a head covering and they are expected to refrain from dancing in public.

Something as normal as dancing in public is punishable by law in the Islamic Republic, in extreme contrast to what is seen in many developed and developing democratic countries.

The girls were later made to apologise for their "mistake" and were forced to sign a statement at a police station saying that they would not do such a thing again, according to an Iranian Twitter account @shahrak_ekbatan.

The incident comes against the backdrop of protests against the country's morality police since September last year. Iran has been simmering since the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody last year.

Amini died shortly after being beaten by the morality police. She was arrested for breaching laws pertaining to the hijab. Her death sparked protests all over the country as well as in Iranian communities abroad.

The Iranian regime has taken all sorts of measures to quell the protests, but to no avail. The crackdown on activists and protesters has only strengthened Iranians' resolve to continue their fight against conservatism.

Women are being supported by all sections of Iranian society as they protest against the regime that has declared a war on women's rights. The protesters have been continuously pushing for more rights and autonomy over their bodies.

However, the protests against these outdated rules have had little impact on the Iranian government. The regime has refused to bow down to people's demands for change. Several people have been put behind bars for taking part in protests or for attacking police officials.

An Amnesty International report said that Iran's security forces have been "committing horrific acts of torture, including beatings, flogging, electric shocks, rape and other sexual violence against child protesters as young as 12 to quell their involvement in nationwide protests."

But that has not deterred Iranians from continuing to fight for their rights. Several Iranian cities and regions are still seeing protests against restrictions imposed on women and their lives.

These cultural restrictions are not new but have been a regular feature of Iranian life since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The state's morality police roam the streets and have the right to arrest women who are not wearing a hijab and detain men with unconventional hairstyles.

The mandatory dress code requires women to cover their hair and neck with a headscarf. The morality police, formally called "Gasht-e Ershad" (Guidance Patrols), have the power to stop and detain women whom they think are not properly dressed.