WORLD CARTOONISTS

IRANLI KADIN KARIKATURCU ATENA FARGHADANI’YE OZGURLUK!..

Iran rejiminin kadinlarin dogum kontrol haplarini kisitlamasini karikaturleriyle elestirdigi icin tutuklanan Atena Farghadani icin sosyal medeyada #‎AtenaFarghadani hashtag’i ile ozgurluk kampanyasi baslatildi.

Iran’da dogum kontrolu uygulamalarina erisimin kisitlanmasina bir karikaturle isyan eden ressam Atena Farghadani hakim dun karsisina cikti. Evin Cezaevi’nde hala tutuklu bulunan Atena’nin durusmasi ertelenirken, avukatlari ise durusmalara iliskin kamuoyunun dikkatini cekmek ve Atena’nin hukuki surecine dunyanin sahip cikmasi adina #AtenaFarghadani hashtagi ile Atena icin ozgurluk kampanyasi baslatti. Kisa surede yayilan kampanya dun aksam saatlerinden bu yana sosyal medyada binlerce kisi tarafindan paylasilmaya devam ediyor.

Ne olmustu?

Iran hukumeti, uygulamaya koydugu aile planlamasi hedefleri kapsaminda aldigi bir kararla vazektomi ameliyatlarini (erkeklerin geri donussuz sekilde kisirlastirilmasi) yasaklamis ve kadinlarin dogum kontrolu uygulamalarina erisimini kisitlamisti. Buna karsi ise kadinlari birer ‘dogum makinesi’ne donusturecegi gerekcesiyle karari elestiren 28 yasindaki karikaturist Atena Farghadani de tepkisini gostermek icin Iranli siyasetcilerin hayvan olarak resmedildigi bir karikatur cizdi. Karikaturunde yasayi cikan vekilleri hayvan figurlerine benzeten Atena, 2014 yilinin Agustos ayinda Devrim Muhafizlari tarafindan evine baskin yapilarak gozaltina alindi ve hemen ardindan tutuklandi.

Aralik ayinda serbest kalan Atena bu kez de hapishanede gordugu kotu muameleyi gundeme getirdigi icin tutuklandi. Hapishane kosullarini protesto etmek icin aclik grevine baslayan kadin karikaturist, subat ayinda kalp krizi gecirmesinin ardindan baska bir hapishaneye nakledildi ve grevini sonlandirdi. Atena’nin saglik durumu halen duzelmezken, su an Evin Cezaevi’nde tek kisilik bir hucrete tutulan Atena, avukatlari ve ailesi ile hala gorusturulmuyor.

Sosyal medya paylasimlarindan bazilari soyle:

"Erkekler dunyasinda kadin olmak #‎FreeAtena, Iran’da karikatur cizdigi ve hapishane kosullarinin kotu oldugunu soyledigi icin bir kadin aylardir hapishanede tutuluyor#freeAtena, Iran insanlarin cocuk yapmasi icin dogum kontrolunu yasakladi – Iran’da cocuk sahibi olmak icin ne kadar da guzel bir zaman, Dogum kontrolunu suca donusturmek, insan haklari ihlalidir"

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PAINTER ATENA FARGHADANI IMRISONED FOR DRAWING A CARTOON IN IRAN!

e, including meeting the families of political prisoners and for posting on Facebook a cartoon she’d drawn that was critical of members of the Iranian parliament.

Iran is currently creating a law that will roll back women’s rights in the country by restricting access to contraception and criminalising voluntary sterilisation. Atena’s cartoon, which depicted politicians in favour of this Bill, is now being held against her – one of the charges she has been convicted of is ‘insulting members of parliament through paintings’.

While in prison last year, Atena flattened paper cups to use them as a surface to paint on. When the prison guards realised what she had been doing, they confiscated her paintings and stopped giving her paper cups. When Atena found some cups in the bathroom, she smuggled them into her cell. Soon after, she was beaten by prison guards, when she refused to strip naked for a full body search. Atena says that they knew about her taking the cups because they had installed cameras in the toilet and bathroom facilities – cameras detainees had been told were not operating.

Beaten in detention, punished for speaking out

Atena was released in November last year, but rearrested just six weeks later. In the time that she was released, she gave media interviews and posted a video on youtube describing how the prison guards had interrogated her for nine hours every day for six weeks. She said that female prison guards had beaten her and subjected her to degrading body searches.

Just weeks after posting her youtube video, Atena was once again arrested – possibly as reprisal for speaking out.

She was sentenced to 12 yeas and nine months on charges including

Gathering and colluding against national security

Spreading propaganda against the system

Insulting members of parliament through paintings

Insulting her interrogators

Atena is a prisoner of conscience – she has committed no real crime. She is being unfairly punished simply for exercising her right to free speech, association and assembly.

Hunger strike in protest at prison conditions

Atena was kept in solitary confinement for over two weeks when she was detained last year in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. During that time she was denied access to her lawyer or family. After her release from detention, she said that she’d been beaten by prison guards.

Three weeks after she was rearrested in January this year, Atena went on hunger strike to protest that she was being held in extremely poor prison conditions, in a jail that does not have a section for political prisoners. Atena’s health suffered considerably as a result; her lawyer told us that the 28-year-old had suffered a heart attack and briefly lost consciousness in late February as a result of her hunger strike.

Atena has since been moved to another detention centre and stopped her hunger strike, but we remain worried about her health.

"BEDRI KORAMAN" PORTRAIT
by karayel

BEDRI KORAMAN & ERDOGAN KARAYEL
2005/ISTANBUL

"DIREN GEZI" 
by karayel