In the following post, OPC Past President David A. Andelman writes about the recent release of Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, who had been jailed at the infamous Evin prison since her arrest in April. Andelman has been covering her case and the international campaign to free her on his Substack, Andelman Unleashed.
Andelman Unleashed joined with Cartooning for Peace in a global campaign from the moment of her latest detention on April 21. Now, it appears, she has been liberated, as this group of the world’s leading cartoonists exulted this week:
Violently arrested on April 13 by agents of the intelligence services of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while she was trying to display a drawing near the presidential palace in Tehran, Atena Farghadani has since been held in Evin Prison, infamous for its poor conditions. She has just been released after more than 8 months of imprisonment.
An update on the Cartooning for Peace site said the Revolutionary Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced Farghadani to 6 years in prison on June 10, including 5 years for “insulting the sacred” and 1 year for “propaganda against the State.” The organization said those accusations were “clearly motivated by her commitment and her opinions.”
“On Dec. 10, 2024, her lawyer announced her release, following a decision by the appeals court,” the Cartooning for Peace article said. “On Dec. 9, a post on the cartoonist’s Instagram account stated that Atena Farghadani ‘has been acquitted of the charge of “insult to the sacred,” and was sentenced to 8 months for her caricature on class disparity.’ This new sentence of 8 months in prison, which appears to have been formulated retroactively, is linked to a drawing entitled ‘Class Inequality.’ The appeal decision comes at a time when other figures imprisoned for their positions, such as rapper Toomaj Saleh, arrested in October 2022 and whose death sentence was overturned in June 2024 by the Supreme Court, and Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner and imprisoned since November 2021, have also seen their situation change.”
A central question remains – is this a response to some deeply felt pressures building within Iran or a growing sense from the leading Ayatollahs that the world outside is moving dramatically and potentially for them in a catastrophically different direction to which they must begin to respond. Either way, this news is most welcome.