Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning Winners

Interview: Nik Kowsar On Iranian Court Sentence

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In a video interview CRNI Executive Director Dr Robert Russell talks with Iranian cartoonist Nik Kowsar about the guilty verdict recently issued to him in absentia.

Kowsar is a member of our board of directors and a past recipient of our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award. He talks about his reaction to the proclamation of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, how it relates to the strife that forced him to leave his home several years ago and the way his experiences have been brought to bear in his subsequent work with our organization, supporting cartoonists who find themselves in similarly dire straits.

Dr Russell reminds viewers that CRNI depends upon reporting of threat to cartoonists via our international network as well as those who follow cartoonists’ work. Use the links below to assist in that effort.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

2016 Courage In Editorial Cartooning Award Winner Announced

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Manus_Camp

Joel Pett, President of the Board of Directors of Cartoonists Rights Network International, announces the recipient of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2016

Every year, CRNI searches the world of political cartooning for those who have demonstrated exceptional courage and resilience in the face of life-threatening risk and danger. Political cartoonists are often the first journalists to be attacked for their irreverent and satirical commentary against tyrants and terrorists alike. Because their cartoons are so immediately recognizable, they often have more power and influence over public opinion than other media.

This year’s recipient, whose pen name is Eaten Fish, is an Iranian national, currently interned in the Manus Island detention camp in Papua New Guinea. This notorious detention center is funded and overseen by the government of Australia.

Various human rights groups have spoken out against the Manus Island camp, with the UN recognizing that indefinite detention and the practices employed in the camp constitute ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment’ and break the UN Convention Against Torture to which Australia is a signatory.

Eaten Fish has been able to keep up a stream of cartoons documenting the unspeakable abuses and excesses of the guards and administrators of the camp. For this he has been the subject of beatings, deprivation of food, and even worse degrading treatment by the guards. Australia has made publication of negative information about the camp punishable by two years in prison.

The importance of the work of human rights defenders, artists, cartoonists and writers, such as Eaten Fish, within the prison camp cannot be overstated. Nor can the fact that they are at further risk of violence each time they create, speak, draw or write. Eaten Fish is one of those who’s work as a cartoonist brings to light the horrors that are happening around him. CRNI believes that his body of work will be recognized as some of the most important in documenting and communicating the human rights abuses and excruciating agony of daily life in this notorious and illegal prison camp. His work pushes through the veil of secrecy and silence and layers of fences in a way that only a talented artist speaking from the inside can.

We hope that this award will help shine a brighter light on the excesses of this camp. His work is addressed to the critical eyes of the world while exposing the xenophobic and racist policies of the Australian government in their dealings with immigrant refugees.

The award will be presented in absentia and accepted by Ms. Janet Galbraith, an Australian poet and human rights worker, and founder of Writing Through Fences.

Ms. Galbraith has made it her business to uncover the excesses of the Australian government’s policies in the Manus Island camp,

The award will be presented at the final dinner of the annual convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in Durham, North Carolina on September 24, 2016

For more information please contact CRNI’s Executive Director, Dr .Robert Russell, at director@cartoonistsrights.org.

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CRNI Courage in Cartooning Award Presented to Imprisoned Artist/Activist Atena Farghadani Before Audience of International Cartoonists

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From right to left: CRNI Executive Director Robert "Bro" Russell, board member Nik Kowsar and Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes

From right to left: CRNI Executive Director Robert “Bro” Russell, board member Nik Kowsar and Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes

September 5, 2015 — CRNI’s Courage in Editorial Cartooning award was presented, in absentia, to Atena Farghadani at a gathering of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in Columbus, Ohio.  Ms. Farghadani is presently in prison in Iran, facing a 12 year 9 month sentence for posting a cartoon on her Facebook page.  Washington Post cartoonist and animator Ann Telnaes accepted the award on Ms. Farghadani’s behalf, saying:  “Atena Farghadani . . . was arrested for this cartoon ridiculing members of the Iranian parliament over a law restricting birth control which would set women’s rights in Iran back decades.  She was speaking out for the women of Iran . . . She was beaten. She was interrogated nine hours at a time. She was subjected to surveillance cameras mounted in the shower, where male guards would watch the women prisoners.

“You know, I think that we talk a lot about courage in our business, and we like to think that we would have the courage to stand for our principals regardless of what happens to our personal safety. I don’t know if I could do what she has done .  . . I think it’s quite amazing, actually, what this young woman has done.”

At the end of the award ceremony, CRNI founder Robert Russell asked everyone in the audience to sign an open letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, and to Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani.   The letter petitions their good offices to ensure that Atena Farghadani will be granted a pardon and released from prison.

Forty four cartoonists and guests signed the letter. Among these 44 signatories were the cream of America’s and Canada’s cartoonists, as well as international cartoon leaders from around the world.

While awaiting a date for her appeal Ms. Farghadani has, according to Amnesty International, been threatened with indecency charges for shaking hands with her lawyer during a prison visit. [More]

Jailed Iranian Artist Atena Farghadani Recipient of CRNI’s 2015 Courage in Cartooning Award

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Courage in Cartooning recipient Atena Farghadani

Courage in Cartooning recipient Atena Farghadani

CRNI’s 2015 Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning is being given to Iranian artist-activist Atena Farghadani.  Ms. Farghadani was jailed in Tehran in August of 2014 after publishing a cartoon in protest of proposed legislation that would restrict birth control and women’s rights in Iran.  Following her release four months later, Farghadani posted a YouTube video recounting her beatings and mistreatment while in prison.  In anticipation of her trial on charges that included “spreading propaganda against the system,” Farghadani wrote a defiant open letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in which she said: “I know … I will be in a court that screams injustice.  I will be present before a judge who for years has skewed the balance of justice … What you call an ‘insult to representatives of the parliament by means of cartoons’ I consider to be an artistic expression of the … parliament which our nation does not deserve!” 

Atena Farghadani cartoon of parliamentarians curtailing women's rights

Atena Farghadani ill of parliamentarians curtailing women’s rights

As a result of that letter and her YouTube posting, Farghadani was returned to prison in January, 2015.  In May, she was tried and found guilty of “insulting members of parliament through paintings” and “insulting the Iranian supreme leader.”  Atena Farghadani was sentenced to 12 years, nine months in prison.

The Courage in Cartooning award will be presented to Atena Farghadani in absentia by CRNI founder and Executive Director Dr. Robert Russell in Columbus, Ohio, on September 5, at an evening event during the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists  2015 convention. [Story]

2014   Kanika Mishra (India) & Majda Shaheen (Palestine)

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CRNI’s 2014 Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning was shared by Indian cartoonist Kanika Mishra and Palestinian cartoonist Majda Shaheen. Ms. Mishra and Ms. Shaheen are the first women to win the award.

Kanika Mishra (photo: Rahul Katyayan)


Kanika Mishra (photo: Rahul Katyayan)

 
Kanika Mishra was chosen as the co-recipient of our 2014 CIEC award for her courageous work critical of Asaram Bapu, a popular religious leader accused of rape. Kanika refused to keep quiet in the face of death threats against her and her family by the guru’s devotees, continuing her targeting of Asaram and India’s rape culture with more cartoons featuring Karnika Kahen, her “everywoman” cartoon creation. Then her Facebook and email accounts were hacked, with personal information stolen and more threats made if she refused to … [full story]
 
Kanika Mishra on Facebook   Kanika Mishra on Twitter

 
 
 
 

Majda Shaheen (self-portrait)

Majda Shaheen (self-portrait)

CRNI’s board chose Palestinian Majda Shaheen as the co-recipient of our 2014 CIEC award in response to the repeated threats and public campaign mounted against her due to a cartoon she published on her Facebook page that was seen as critical of Hamas, the political and military entity in control of Gaza, where she resides. The cartoon depicted her view of the relationship between the Head of the Ruling Authority in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and the Al-Quds brigades, as detailed on ArabCartoon.net.
As she so eloquently stated in her acceptance remarks, which she was unable to travel to America to give in person due to continuing concerns for her safety …   [full story]
Majda Shaheen on Facebook   Majda Shaheen on Twitter   Majda Shaheen on Cartoon Movement

2013   Akram Raslan  (Syria)

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Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan, missing since October 2012

Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan, whose
current status is unknown

CRNI’s 2013 Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning was given to Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan, whose fate remains unknown since his arrest by Syrian Military Intelligence on October 2, 2012.
Our Board’s choice was based solely on reports from other non-governmental organizations, as CRNI was not able to establish any contact with the journalist, or his family. According to these sources, Mr Raslan, who is now 28, is still in prison at an unknown location in Syria. We know little about his present whereabouts or his condition.  [full story]