The Iranian government has arrested eight women for being photographed in "un-Islamic" attire, according to the prosecutor of Tehran's cybercrimes court.
The arrests were made in connection to an operation that targeted women for posting photos showing them without head scarves. Iranian women have been required to wear headscarves in public since 1979.
In total, investigators identified 170 people in connection with their efforts, including makeup artists and photographers:
The arrests were announced by the court's prosecutor Javad Babaei during a state television program broadcast late on Sunday that focused on the "threats to morality and the foundation of family" posed by social media.
Mr Babaei claimed modeling agencies accounted for about 20% of posts on Instagram from Iran and that they had been "making and spreading immoral and un-Islamic culture and promiscuity".
Twenty-nine people were "warned" that they were under a criminal investigation.
"The persons who reformed their behavior after receiving a notice did not face any judicial action, and eight out of the 29 have been arrested," Babaei said.
A spokesman for the Iranian Centre for Surveying and Combating Organised Cyber Crimes, Mostafa Alizadeh, said they had targeted Facebook postings back in 2013 and now they were turning their efforts to Instagram.
"Sterilizing popular cyberspaces is on our agenda," he said.
