IRAN: CRACKDOWNS CONTINUE DISPITE RELEASE OF SOME POLITICAL PRISONERS

The Associated Press reports that on Tuesday, the cartoonist and social activist Atena Farghadani had been released from Evin Prison, in line with an earlier reduction of her sentence from a staggering 12 years to only 18 months.

However, despite the greatly diminished punishment, human rights advocates lament the fact that the appeals court upheld any punishment whatsoever, given that her charges were based on her having drawn and shared a cartoon depicting Iranian officials as animals in order to protest policies that restricted the rights of women and greatly reduced access to birth control.

Iran: What did cartoonist say upon release?

“Some people may think that art cannot express protest or it cannot be so important… But I believe, an artist’s responsibility is to challenge and be challenged.

When you are being challenged, the price may be very heavy. It may be prison or many other things… However, we must remember that every artist has a mission,” said Atena Farghdani, the young artist as walked out of jail. 

Ms. Faraghdani spent 18 months in prison for exercising freedom of expression and painting cartoons critical of the government.

Mr. Gérard Deprez, Head of the Friends of a Free Iran at the European Parliament, wrote to EU High representative on Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, before her trip to Iran on April 12, 2016, and asked for Ms. Faraghdani's release.