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Iranian paper banned over cartoon
Tuesday 23 May 2006
 

Nik Kowsar on Arrested Iranian Cartoonist Mana Neyestani
(Interview with a friend of Mana)

The Azeri Question in Iran: A Crucial Issue for Iran’s Future
(Background article by a former Azerbaijan ambassador to Iran)

Six more journalists arrested following unrest over cartoon
(02-06-2006)

Writers and journalists arrested in the province of Azarbaijan
(08-06-2006)

Iran has closed down its official state newspaper after it published a cartoon (click here for blownup version) that provoked ethnic violence among the Azeri community in the north of the country. A cartoon in Friday’s edition of the newspaper, Iran, depicted an ethnic Azeri as a cockroach, which led to clashes between police and thousands of people in the northwestern city of Tabriz. As well as suspending publication of the newspaper on Tuesday, Tehran’s chief prosecutor said that the editor-in-chief, Mehrdad Qasemfar, and the cartoonist, Mana Neyestani, had been arrested and detained for investigation. "Some charges were brought against both of them and they were transferred to Evin prison," Saeed Mortazavi told state television. Hassan Kamran, a member of Iran’s press supervisory committee, which closed the paper, told the ISNA news agency: "This ban is because it published material which provokes divisions among people. It is banned, and its case has been sent to the press court." He said the newspaper would not be published until a verdict on the case was issued by a special tribunal dealing with press offences. Quoted by the official IRNA news agency, the interior minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, said the cartoon was "an insult to all Iranians, and we cannot tolerate that". "This ban is because it published material which provokes divisions among people". The culture minister, Saffar Harrandi, appeared on state television on Monday to apologise for the cartoon, but Azeri politician Eshrat Shayegh said the apology came "at least one week" too late. The cartoon depicted a boy repeating the Persian word for cockroach in different ways while the uncomprehending bug in front of him says "What?" in Azeri. The cartoonist’s relatives say he did not intend to insult Azeris. Violence erupted in Tabriz with police dispersing the crowd with teargas as they attempted to storm the local governor’s office.
Familiar trend

The hardline Kayhan newspaper blamed foreigners for inciting the unrest. "Our fellow Azeri countrymen are too clever to be exploited by Iran’s sworn enemies in their plots," it said. The paper is not the first to run into problems this year. A weekly paper in southern Iran was permanently shut down in April for "insulting the Islamic republic’s leadership". In March, another local weekly newspaper published in Iran’s ethnic Azeri provinces was shut down on charges of ethnic bias and of acting against national security. Ethic Azeris make up a quarter of Iran’s population and are concentrated in the north of the country. While some Azeris hold high-ranking positions, they are often the butt of jokes from Iran’s Persian elite.
Political manoeuvre seen in newspaper’s closure, arrest of editor and cartoonist

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the closure of the governmental daily Iran yesterday for "inciting ethnic divisions" and called for the release of Mehrdad Qassemfar, the editor of its Friday supplement, and Mana Neyestani, one of his cartoonists, who are being held in Evin prison on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi. The moves against the newspaper follow a series of angry demonstrations by members of Iran’s ethnic Azeri minority in Tabriz and other towns in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, which were set off by a cartoon in the newspaper’s supplement on 12 May. "These two journalists are convenient scapegoats for a government that has been scared by large-scale protests," Reporters Without Borders said. "The cartoons published by the newspaper Iran may have lit the initial fuse, but the protests of the past few days in Tabriz were directed at the government’s policies towards the population of this multi-ethnic province. Qassemfar and Neyestani have been thrown in prison simply because it suits the authorities." The children’s section of the 12 May supplement included a cartoon of a cockroach asking "What?" in the Azeri language. After several street protests, the newspaper (which is owned by the official news agency Irna) said it apologised to all those who took offence and announced that Neyestani had been fired. More than 50 people were arrested during an anti-government demonstration by thousands of Azeris on 22 May in Tabriz outside the headquarters of the governor of East Azerbaijan province. Iran is the Middle East’s biggest prison for the press, with a total of eight journalists and webloggers currently detained. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are on a list of 38 leading predators of press freedom worldwide which Reporters Without Borders compiles each year.
Mana Neyestani

Born in Tehran in 1973. Received a M.A. of Architecture from Tehran University. Drawing cartoons for the press from 1989.He has worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for economic, intellectual, political, cultural and professional magazines. He started drawing editorial cartoons from 1998,for "Zan" newspaper. During 1998-2000, He has drawn a lot of cartoons for different reformist newspapers such as, Asr-e Azadegan, Sobhe Emrooz, Mosharekat, Azad, Neshat (as a freelance) and for Aftab-e Emrooz (as a staff cartoonist). Mana has won several medals and honorary diplomas from different International competitions:4th award of blue-sky contest in Tehran (1997); 2nd award of blue-sky contest in Tehran (1998); 2ndaward of housing in Tehran (1999); 2nd award of Atomic Bomb cartoon contest of Golagha magazine(1999); Diploma of honor of Football international cartoon contest in Iran (1999); Diploma of honor of 4th biennial international cartoon in Iran (1999); Selected in section final of comic strip in Umoristi a Marostica in Italy (1999); First award of the press festival in cartoon in Iran (1999 ).