Iran – An Iranian couple have been arrested after they got engaged in an open air, as surrounding crowd cheered following round of applauds at a shopping mall.
This comes after a video of the public proposal in northern city of Arak was shared on social media, showing young couple hugging in a ring of rose petals after the woman says yes.
📹 Man publicly proposes to woman at shopping mall in Arak, central #Iran
Both arrested for "marriage proposal in contradiction to islamic rituals… based on decadent Western culture," then released on bail pic.twitter.com/eKdlNX9Bte— Sobhan Hassanvand 📰 سبحان حسنوند (@Hassanvand) March 8, 2019
But they were soon after arrested by police saying they had contravened Islamic principles.
Islamic Republic of Iran has long banned mixing between genders and expressions of public affection; hence violators will be dealt accordingly.
Deputy police commander of Markazi province Mahmoud Khalaji told local media that couple had been taken into custody due to the “Public’s demand”.
According to Khalaji, they were detained for “outraging public decency, which is an influence of the degenerate Western culture”.
The couple had been released on bail, he added.
Meanwhile, the incident has triggered debates on social media amongst citizens about the public proposal and Islamic republic’s social restrictions.
“Poor guys, instead of celebrating they have to bail themselves out while crying!,” one Twitter user wrote, as BBC News quoted.
“It’s ridiculous and meant for the cameras,” another said. “Why make a spectacle of a very personal thing such as marriage?”
Iran has previously received international attention. Sources says last year an officials was arrested after people were filmed dancing at an event in a shopping center in Mashhad city.
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