TEHRAN: The tattooed young Iranian initially sparked wonder and some envy when pictures of him with heavily made-up women, often more than one at a time, went viral.

In a conservative country, the obvious breach of a female dress code was one thing. The compromising poses the 14 women were captured in was another. When the people who patrol Iran’s heavily filtered Internet found out, the man known only as Vahid landed in jail.

Images of the women — pouting at the camera and mostly wearing miniskirts and crop tops — spread via smartphones, triggering both ridicule and outrage.

Jokes about Vahid — the authorities have not released his surname — proliferated yet he remains in custody and could be prosecuted.

The pictures — and rumors about the main protagonist — spread rapidly on Telegram, the free-to-download instant messaging app.

Matters worsened when he took to Telegram again to say his phone had been stolen, claiming the women were his sisters and arguing that his privacy was invaded.

No report of Vahid’s phone being stolen was ever filed, according to police, and his plight has darkened since he was detained and publicly shamed with pictures of him in handcuffs and head in hands making the front page of several newspapers.