{"id":746,"date":"2015-05-30T15:51:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T15:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=746"},"modified":"2015-05-30T15:51:38","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T15:51:38","slug":"iranian-artist-could-draw-lengthy-prison-term-for-cartoons-ridiculing-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=746","title":{"rendered":"Iranian artist could draw lengthy prison term for cartoons ridiculing parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Atena Farghadani could be facing a long prison sentence for drawing cartoons. (Justice for Iran)<\/p><\/div>\n

Fr. 29. Mai 2015-foxnews<\/span>-By Lisa Daftari-<\/span> Iran\u2019s thin-skinned mullahs have jailed an artist who drew a cartoon disparaging members of parliament over their decision to restrict birth control for women.<\/p>\n

Atena Farghadani, 28, had what Iran considers a trial in Tehran\u2019s Revolutionary Court on May 19 and is now awaiting a verdict. She was charged with \u201cinsulting members of parliament through paintings\u201d for drawing \u00a0the officials as animals, according to Amnesty International. It is not clear what kind of maximum sentence she could face.
\n\u201cShe\u2019s truly an angel,\u201d a relative of Farghadani told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity. \u201cShe just loves people and animals, and besides for all her artistic talent, she is such a strong supporter of human rights.\u201d
\nFarghadani\u2019s family has received threats, which the source said is \u201cjust another way of putting pressure on Atena and making sure no one speaks to the media.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think her name spread as a result of a cartoon, because she has done so many wonderful things to help humanity, doing things quietly and not wanting credit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last August, Revolutionary Guards raided Farghadani\u2019s home and blindfolded her, confiscated her personal belongings and imprisoned her, according to Amnesty International.
\nIn November, she was released for a short period of time, but was called back by authorities six weeks later after she was accused of publicly discussing the torture and beatings she allegedly endured by prison guards, including posting a YouTube video describing her brutal treatment, according to the\u00a0Human Rights Activist News Agency.
\nFarghadani posted an open letter to Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to her Facebook page when she was called back to court:
\n\u201cWhat you call an \u201cinsult to representatives of the parliament by means of cartoons\u201d I consider to be an artistic expression of the home of our nation (parliament), which our nation does not deserve! I, therefore, must pay retribution for defending my beloved defenseless people.\u201d
\nShe has since been held in solitary confinement at Tehran\u2019s Evin prison, where reports indicate she was hospitalized in February after she spent three weeks on hunger strike and suffered a heart attack.
\nFarghadani\u2019s family visits the prison weekly, the family member said.
\n\u201cAtena is a prisoner of conscience \u2013 she has committed no real crime,\u201d Amnesty International said in a statement. \u201cShe is being unfairly punished simply for exercising her right to free speech, association and assembly. We’ve been calling on Iran’s Supreme Leader and Head of the Judiciary to release Atena immediately. If not, we’ll continue to fight for her freedom.\u201d
\nJudge Abolghassem Salavati, the judge handling her case, is notoriously known as the \u201cIran\u2019s hanging judge\u201d or the \u201cjudge of death\u201d for sending handing over numerous death penalty sentences, particularly against journalists, bloggers, artists and political activists in arrests made in and around Iran\u2019s Green Revolution in 2009.
\nSalavati is also the judge handling American Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian\u2019s case.
\nSince the beginning of 2015, at least 400 prisoners have been executed in Iran, according to the Iran Human Rights group.
\n“Unfortunately, it is not surprising for Iran Human Rights that the Iranian authorities put people in jail for expressing their opinion,\u201d said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, founder of the Norwegian-based Iran Human Rights. \u00a0\u201cI hope Atena’s case is a wake up call for the international community and that they put the human rights on top of the agenda in their dialogue with the Iranian authorities.\u201d
\nFarghadani, like many other cartoonists around the world are being targeted for criticizing or ridiculing public or religious figures.
\nA new report\u00a0by the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) points to an increase in threats launched against cartoonists in response to their work, an issue highlighted by the Paris attacks on Charile Hebdo four months ago.
\nEarlier this month, two gunmen were killed before they were able to bust into the American Freedom Defense Initiative\u2019s \u201cJihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest\u201d in Garland, Texas.
\nIronically, the regime in Iran hosts its own broadly publicized political cartoon contests with controversial themes including an annual Holocaust cartoon contest and more recently about the Islamic State, while harshly condemning international cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.<\/p>\n

Lisa Daftari is a Fox News contributor specializing in Middle Eastern affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fr. 29. Mai 2015-foxnews-By Lisa Daftari- Iran\u2019s thin-skinned mullahs have jailed an artist who drew a cartoon disparaging members of parliament over their decision to restrict birth control for women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[209],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-atena-farghadani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}