Pharrell Williams
Musician Pharrell Williams arrives at the 27th Annual Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles March 29, 2014. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

Update 2:15 p.m. EDT May 21:

The six people arrested in Iran for dancing in a YouTube video to Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" have been freed, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran told CNN Wednesday, citing a source close to the families.

The director of the video was not released, the group said. One of the six announced that she was freed. "Hi I'm back," Reihane Taravati wrote on her Instagram account, thanking Williams and "everyone who cared about us."

Williams had denounced the arrests.

"It is beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness," the Grammy-winner said on his Facebook page.

Original story:

Iranian police arrested at least seven men and women Tuesday for their participation in the Iranian version of Pharrell Williams’ "Happy" video, which was filmed on the rooftops of Tehran, Bloomberg reported.

State media in Iran showed the dancers saying that they were “tricked" into the production. They claim the video was never meant to be shared publicly. Since then, another version has been uploaded and Iranians have taken to Twitter using the hashtag #freehappyiranians to share their outrage over the arrests.

"After a vulgar clip which hurt public chastity was released in cyberspace, police decided to identify those involved in making that clip," Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency, according to ABC.

The video, which has since been taken off YouTube, shows Iranian men and women dancing together on Tehran rooftops. Public dancing and singing is against the law in Iran, and so is omitting to wear the veil for women. The women in the video were not veiled.

In an interview with IranWire, one of the original video’s creators, known only by her fist name, shared some qualms about filming. “We were really afraid,” Neda says. “Whenever somebody looked out of a window or someone passed by, we ducked behind a door to make sure we were not seen.”

According to Neda, the video’s aim was to give the world a small window into the real Tehran. “We want to tell the world that Iran is a better place than what they think it is,” she told IranWire. “Despite all the pressures and limitations, young people are joyful and want to make the situation better. They know how to have fun, like the rest of the world.”

News of the arrest came just days after President Hassan Rouhani called for more lenient Internet laws. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are officially banned in Iran, but even the president has a Twitter account -- as does Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The original video gained more than 30,000 hits in just four days. It was modeled after Pharrell’s hit “Happy,” which was the world’s first 24-hour music video. The Iranian version is just one of hundreds of copycat videos made of Pharrell’s original.

Twitter