It's a crime to be happy in Iran if one were to gauge the verdict given to seven Muslim youths who participated in the cover video of Pharrell William's song, Happy, published in YouTube in May this year. Days after the video was released, they were arrested and yesterday, September 19, were sentenced with 91 lashes each plus six months incarceration on suspended terms.
The jail sentence was for acting silly in the video while the lashes were for remiss in following Islamic norms. (In the video, the participants did not wear the headscarves normally worn by hard line Islamist. They wore sunglasses and donned 'silly' clothes, which appeared to be clothes normally worn by youths in non-Islam, Western countries. They danced in rooftops and alleyways and plainly enjoyed themselves in the interior shots.)
But the seven won't go to jail yet. They also won't surrender their young bodies to lashes. Not yet. Suspended sentence means the verdict will only be implemented once they commit crimes and are found guilty of the crimes in a court of law for the next three years.
"My clients did act in a video and their actions are contrary to religious requirements but are not crimes to deserve legal punishment. Saying prayers is a religious obligation in Islam but no one gets jail terms for not saying prayers," said lawyer Farshid Rofugaran in an article of The Associated Press.
Under Islamic rules, women ought to wear hijab or head covering when they go outside their homes. They are also prohibited to dance in public.
The video of the seven instigated much attention internationally for two reasons. First, the refreshing view to see Islam youths happy and 'normal'. Second, that they were arrested for being such.
While the arrest drew flak from the international community, the suspended sentence seemed to serve as warning purported to Islam youths to avoid similar acts, or anything that would "hurt public chastity", in the future.
