Iranian basketball players’ dance video removed by authorities: a symbol of resistance

A joyous dance by Iranian basketball players was removed due to disapproval from Islamic authorities. The incident highlights the ongoing repression and resistance of women in Iran.

Beautiful as the sun, happy, smiling. But no, that video didn’t sit well with the Islamic Republic, which had it removed from AsiaCup’s Instagram account and the official page of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

This is what happened after a few hours of circulating online—however briefly—images of a joyful dance by Iranian female basketball players. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) took it down because the Islamic authorities disapproved of women dancing. The justification?

“The dance is not in line with the religion.”

It’s shocking. A video showing joyous dancing by Iranian basketball players was recently removed because the Islamic Republic authorities did not like women dancing. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Iranian-American journalist, author, and activist Masih Alinejad declared that censorship is not about respecting culture, it’s about complicity. “Censorship is not respect for culture. It is complicity,” she wrote.

The Iranian basketball players, for a few hours, “challenged” the regime with a simple dance, only to become victims of cruel and ruthless censorship.

This is not the first time Iranian authorities have targeted women’s bodies, trying to control every aspect of them—every movement, every expression. It’s not the first time that something as innocent as a joyful expression, a smile, or a carefree dance has been perceived as a threat. In Iran, women are constantly repressed, living under laws that restrict every aspect of their freedom and choices. They are forced to hide their bodies, wear the hijab, and comply with rules that reduce them to shadows. They cannot dance in public, cannot sing, cannot express joy without being judged or, in some cases, silenced.

Censorship, but not silence

Censorship in Iran is not just an act of repression: it’s a declaration of war against women’s freedom. It’s an attempt to silence their voices, to crush their independence. Yet, no matter how powerful censorship is, it cannot extinguish the desire to live, to express oneself, or to fight for one’s rights. Iranian women are tired of living in the shadows, tired of being treated as second-class citizens. And their resistance is stronger than ever.

The dance, which might seem like a mere act of fun, has become a symbol of resistance for many women in Iran. A gesture that, in democratic countries, would represent a form of personal expression, in Iran, it becomes an act of rebellion against a regime that does not allow them to move freely. The images of that dance, erased with a click, have now become a symbol of the struggle of millions of Iranian women who, every day, challenge the regime, risking their lives and freedom for a simple but powerful act of expression.

Iranian women are not alone. Their battle is not only against censorship but against a system that has been trying to suffocate their freedom for decades. Their dance, even though erased, remains powerful in our hearts as a symbol of hope, courage, and freedom.