• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Iranians sentenced to 91 lashes for Pharrell ‘Happy’ video

Sep 19, 2014 9:19 pm By Robert Spencer

“Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.” — Ayatollah Khomeini

“Iranians sentenced to 91 lashes for Pharrell ‘Happy’ video,” by Oliver Duggan, the Telegraph, September 18, 2014 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The six Iranian singers who were arrested for appearing in a viral video dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song “Happy” have been sentenced to six months in prison and 91 lashes.

The group became famous in May when their music video for the hit song circulated on YouTube, racking up more than 150,000 views before attracting the attention of Iranian authorities.

It featured three men and three unveiled women singing and dancing along to the four minute song in the street and rooftops of Tehran, mimicking the style of Pharrell’s official video.

Authorities arrested the group for contravening Iran’s strict vulgarity laws, which prohibit public displays of dancing, and paraded the six on state television, forcing them to express remorse for their behaviour.

The Islamic Republic condemned the video as a “vulgar clip which hurt public chastity” and in a trial on Wednesday sentenced the participants to a suspended sentence of six months in prison.

The director of the video was handed a suspended sentence of one year, while the whole group was told they would receive 91 lashes each.

“A suspended sentence becomes null and void after a certain period of time,” their lawyer, Farshid Rofougaran, told Iran Wire.

“When it’s a suspended sentence, the verdict is not carried out, but if during this period a similar offense is committed, then the accused is subject to legal punishment and the suspended sentence will then be carried out as well.”

Speaking shortly after the group’s initial arrest, the brother of one of the video’s star told The Telegraph that their confessions on state television were “outrageous”.

Siavash Taravati, who lives in the US, said: “The IRIB’s (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) action in showing the “confession” of my sister and her friends (…) is just outrageous.

“Apparently they first arrest people without any charge or civil right to defend themselves, then interrogate them and then make them confess and finally broadcast their show.”

Pharrell Williams responded to Iran’s actions on his Twitter account in May, saying: “It’s beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Iran Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. John C. Barile says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 9:36 pm

    the imam khomeini allah be pleased him he say there is no happy in islam but please allah he be.

    Or some such thing.

  2. Beagle says

    Sep 19, 2014 at 9:38 pm

    Ninety ONE lashes? How do they determine with such precision? Good thing it was not a Miley Cyrus song.

    As the sentence was suspended I await many more statements by leftists that all religions are exactly the same. Though Iran and Saudi Arabia, et al, implement primitive sharia punishments daily, only the pop music and social media connection (I guess) made this newsworthy.

  3. Salah says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 12:22 am

    “It’s beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness.”

    Others are arrested for wearing…Red Sandals!!!

    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/07/red-sandals-in-iran-des-sandales-rouges.html

  4. Julia says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 4:23 am

    I guess nobody is happy in Iran. :-/

    • Naomi Cusack says

      Sep 21, 2014 at 10:57 am

      Yes ahahhahhaaaa no one is happy in Iran:(

  5. geneve says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 5:24 am

    Jesus sat at his friends wedding and drank a little wine, lets follow his example and be merry sing and dance.

    • Jay Boo says

      Sep 20, 2014 at 8:39 am

      In the middle of our trouble, yet find joy in the Lord.

      A Muslim who finds a brief moment of joy can only bring about resentment among fellow Muslims, since misery always loves company.

  6. Blitz2b says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 8:47 am

    91 lashes will surely beat the ” happiness” out of these young uns….. How dare they…… Don’t they know there is no happiness in Islam?; Allah is a despot who forbids any fun…. Pathetic religion… Why people insist on staying in it is amazing..

  7. ApolloSpeaks says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 9:07 am

    AMERICANISM MEANS: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and Peace.

    ISLAMISM MEANS: Death, Slavery and the Pursuit of Joylessness and Jihad.

  8. mortimer says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 9:29 am

    Sharia law creates untold misery and removes refinement and even innocent pleasures from life.

    Sharia law imposes 7th century Arabian desert culture on the world.

  9. Johnny Canuck says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 11:51 am

    The funny thing about Islam is that it is not funny.

  10. Walter Sieruk says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    No sane person would think that young people acting a little silly is a “happy video ” was a crime. That the cruel, tyrannical and intolerant ayatollahs and mullahs who have so much power in Iran actually think the the silly video was so terrible was a crime in itself. The way the these Muslim clerics reacted to that video was the actually the thing that was terrible. This vicious reaction of the Islamic in clerics who are in power in Iran only further proves that the Bible is right when it teaches “When the wicked rule, the people groan.” Proverbs 29:2. [[N.I.V.]

  11. gravenimage says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    Iranians sentenced to 91 lashes for Pharrell ‘Happy’ video
    ……………………………….

    91 Lashes! Because happiness is un-Islamic.

  12. euskal herria says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    The imams and mullahs would really hate to listen to this happy family group!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElvKQi9K58w

    Warning: Listening to this can get to be habit-forming!

  13. Uncle Vladdi says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    The Ayatollah was lying (quel surprise;) there’s plenty of evidence to the fun Muhammad’s own dark, schadenfreude sense of humor enjoyed in the Qur’an and ahadiths:

    He often joked cracked racist jokes about Blacks (how they were “pug-nosed raisin-heads with donkeycocks who carried the plague,” and “if you throw a Black off a cliff, he’ll probably snap his fingers to an imaginary beat to mark time all the way down,” etc).

    Not to mention that now-misunderstood joke he cracked when he quipped about how he was returning from the “lesser,” easy jihad of waging gruelling physical war on the infidels hordes, to the REALLY tough, “greater” jihad of dealing with his hordes of squabbling wives back home in his harem!

    And his snide, running commentaries on the Bibles? To die for!

    Whatta standup (comedian) guy that Big Moe really was!

    😉

  14. Dave J says

    Sep 20, 2014 at 11:28 pm

    There is no fun, music, tolerance, conviviality or dancing in Islam.

    But there is subservience, beheadings and suicide bombings!

    How do they get their converts again?

    Oh yeah, criminals and psychopaths.

  15. Semeru says

    Sep 22, 2014 at 4:34 am

    And in moderate, yes I mean moderate they bring us this little tune “Crazy Haji”

    So here is solid proof that craven hasn’t a clue about islam and music

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian top dogs approve bill to end UN nuclear inspections, increase enrichment
  • Dude on Muslim cleric: ‘We welcomed the takeover of ISIS because they wanted to implement the Sharia’
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • Mojdeh on Audio: Robert Spencer on Muslim Brotherhood influence in a Biden/Harris administration

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.