Iran arrests producers in ‘Sasy’ music video crackdown

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Iranian authorities have arrested multiple music producers connected to a California-based Iranian pop singer in Tehran’s latest effort to halt what it deems decadent Western behaviour&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The arrests come as Iranian social media has been awash with criticism of the new music video of popular singer&comma; Sasy – real name Sasan Heidari Yafteh&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The video for the song&comma; Tehran Tokyo&comma; features actresses including an American porn star dancing in kimonos and short bodycon dresses on top of cars and inside bars&period; The clip has racked up 18 million views within a week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Over the years&comma; Sasy has become known for contentious lyrics that Iranian conservatives see as tainting the country’s moral probity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a previous song which also featured a porn actress&comma; he instructed teenagers to take alcohol shots if they cannot fall asleep&comma; and to scroll through Instagram instead of finishing their homework&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Iran&comma; where the government retains tight controls over traditional media like newspapers and television&comma; authorities have used courts to patrol social media platforms beyond their reach&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hours before the video went live late on Wednesday&comma; Iranian security forces detained two popular music arrangers who worked on the song in the southern city of Shiraz and raided their studio&comma; according to Sasy’s manager&comma; Farshid Rafe Rafahi&comma; the CEO of Los Angeles-based EMH Productions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The brothers&comma; Mohsen and Behrouz Manouchehri&comma; now face prosecution by a criminal court in Tehran&comma; he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A week ago&comma; the song’s teaser&comma; featuring the well-known porn performer Alexis Texas dancing to clubby Farsi pop&comma; fuelled such public consternation that authorities pledged to investigate the app that carried the video&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Soon&comma; Iran’s guardians of conservative morals cracked down on those associated with publicising or producing the clip&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-166891" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2021&sol;03&sol;Iran&lowbar;Controversial&lowbar;Video&lowbar;44641-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Iran&semi; Alexis Texas featured in controversial music video" width&equals;"696" height&equals;"392" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Referring to Ms Texas&comma; Mr Rafahi said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s pretty crazy&comma; she’s just dancing like any person in any ordinary music video&comma; she’s not doing anything inappropriate in these scenes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"td&lowbar;quote td&lowbar;quote&lowbar;left"><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Sasy’s mission isn’t to create havoc&comma; it’s to make people happy&period;”<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Semi-official news agencies in Iran confirmed several arrests on Wednesday&comma; alleging that Sasy’s associates in Iran had produced music &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;contrary to culture”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Fars news agency&comma; believed to be close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard&comma; also accused the music producers in Iran of running gambling websites at Sasy’s behest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Rafahi said the gambling accusations stemmed from a misunderstanding&comma; given that a poker website helped sponsor the music video&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sasy is now a permanent resident of the US and has lived in exile since leaving his career as a successful underground rapper in Iran in 2009&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since the video came out&comma; Iran has promised to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;pursue his case with international legal authorities”&comma; according to the Fars report&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While hard-liners consider the song a Western assault on Islamic teachings&comma; thousands in the country are of a different mind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Scores of teenagers and twenty-somethings have posted videos on social media lip-syncing&comma; dancing and striking poses to Tehran Tokyo in their living rooms&comma; kitchens and workplaces&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the clips&comma; many women wear bright lipstick and few cover their hair with the hijab&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Iranian semi-official news agencies reported that those who &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cooperated with Sasy” would would face &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;decisive judicial action”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It remains uncertain whether police also detained any of the lip-syncing fans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution installed the clerically overseen system that endures today&comma; the Revolutionary Guard has extended its reach into most aspects of Iranian society&comma; with laws banning women from dancing in public or appearing outside without the hijab&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Authorities have cracked down on music in the past – arresting young Iranians who appeared in videos dancing to Pharrell Williams’ hit song Happy in 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under pressure from hard-liners&comma; the Iranian government has blocked access to various websites and social media platforms&comma; from YouTube and Facebook to Twitter and Telegram&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Young Iranians still manage to get around this ban&comma; accessing social media to share Sasy’s outlawed songs through VPNs and proxies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed7bca49d9a">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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