奇葩伊朗之再笑就到獄里來

Reporter： Getting happy in 1）Tehran can get you in trouble with the 2）Mullahs. Earlier this week six young Iranians were arrested for dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song Happy and posting it on YouTube. Part of their punishment was to go on state television to apologize and 3）repent in another viral video with no music and no dancing. Iranian authorities are pushing back on a global phenomenon. Homemade videos set to the song Happy have been recorded in more than 140 countries. Pharrell Williams“tweeted” this in response to the arrest of the Iranians. “It’s beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness.”

Joining us now is Golnaz Esfandiari， correspondent for 4）Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She covers Iran and is also an editor of 5）The Persian Letters blog. Golnaz， welcome.

Golnaz： Thank you for having me.

Reporter： Is that correct， these people were arrested for trying to spread happiness？ That’s Pharrell Williams’ analysis.

Golnaz： Absolutely！ That’s true. They were trying to have fun， and they said those who produced the video， that they were trying to give another picture of the Iran， that Iran is not such a horrible place to live in， and， yes， they were arrested. There were some reports today that some of them were released on bail.

Reporter： Now， the 6）Ayatollah who’s behind this 7）sanctioning of the video， is apparently Ayatollah Marakem（mispronunciation） Shirazi， and he’s quoted as saying， “Islam is against laughing loudly for no reason.” I have to say that， if you [don’t] want people to laugh loudly for no reason， just put out a rule like that.

Golnaz： You know， I’m not surprised that Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said that. The， I remember the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was quoted as saying that， “There are no jokes in Islam， there is no humour in Islam， there is no fun in Islam，” and I think this has been one of the principle[s] of the Islamic Republic， that people are not supposed to have fun. And the reason that has been cited in the past 35 years， or more， is often religion. But another aspect of it， I think it…is because of the， it goes against the authoritarian nature of the Islamic Republic. You know， they want the people to have discipline， and…and laughing and having fun is going against that.

Reporter： Do we have any way of knowing what President Ruhani might think about this？ I mean， this is exactly the opposite view of Iran that he’s been trying to project.

Golnaz： President Ruhani has not expressed himself. He’s…he’s outside of Iran currently. He’s travelling. He’s in China. There was a tweet from his Twitter account saying that it’s people’s right to be happy and that we shouldn’t be too hard on behaviors caused by joy. This is probably a comment from his earlier speeches that…that was twittered today. But let’s not forget President Ruhani’s part of this system. He’s been part of this system for the past 35 years， so he probably agrees with， you know， some of these things that have been happening in this country.

Reporter： Golnaz， have you ever found yourself， you know， in a situation where you’re laughing too hard， and you look around you and worry that someone’s gonna drag you into jail？

Golnaz： Yes， I…I grew up in Iran， and， you know， I was warned by the moral police a number of times because I was laughing too hard in public， you know， that I’m being obscene or vulgar. And I spent one night in jail because I was arrested with my friends at a party. It’s very normal， you know， it happens all the time. Nowadays there are less arrests， more it’s they fine you so you pay and they let you get by. But， in the early years of the revolution， you know， they would raid the parties， arrest people， put them in jail， and…and lash. One of my friends was lashed about 25 times just because he was at this party with me.

記者：如果你在德黑蘭表現得很開心，毛拉可能會找你的麻煩。這周的早些時候，六個伊朗的年輕人因隨著費雷爾·威廉姆斯的歌曲《快樂》起舞及將那段視頻放上“油管”而被逮捕。他們受到的懲罰之一就是上國家電視臺道歉，并在一段沒有配樂沒有舞蹈的視頻里進行懺悔。該視頻馬上火了起來。伊朗當局正試圖阻止一個全球性的現象，歌曲《快樂》的自制視頻早已在140多個國家被錄制。費雷爾·威廉姆斯在推特上就伊朗年輕人被捕一事作了回應。“這些孩子因傳播快樂而被捕，這是件十分可悲的事情。”

戈爾納茲·埃斯凡迪亞里是自由歐洲廣播電臺/自由電臺的通訊記者，她報道伊朗的情況，同時也是“波斯人信札”博客的編輯，現在她也加入了我們的節目。歡迎你，戈爾納茲。

戈爾納茲：感謝你的邀請！

記者：那件事情是真的嗎，那些人因為想要傳播快樂而被捕？這是費雷爾·威廉姆斯分析出來的結論。

戈爾納茲：是的！那是真的。制作那個視頻的年輕人只是想要找點樂趣而已，他們試圖展現伊朗的另一面：伊朗并不是個那么可怕的地方。然后，確實，他們被捕了。今天有報道說他們中的一些人已經被保釋。

記者：嗯，對視頻事件進行制裁的阿亞圖拉，顯然是阿亞圖拉·瑪拉凱姆（發音錯誤）·設拉子，用他的話說，“伊斯蘭反對無緣由地放聲大笑。”我不得不說，如果你不想人們無緣由地放聲大笑，不如直接頒布一項規定。

戈爾納茲：你知道，我并不驚訝阿亞圖拉·馬卡雷姆·設拉子會這么說。……