Years ago, when I was a Geology student at Tehran University, I started drawing caricatures of my
professors. The result was failing grades! After a few months, I was working as a professional cartoonist
and I became a threat to my professors. Once, one of them gave me some useful advice. He said: "Don't
forget! We are living in a country where no one tolerates criticism. In Iran, we know critics as harmful
people who only humiliate." I paid no attention to his advice.
Eight years later, I drew a cartoon that didn't have anything to do with any particular cleric or official and I
was threatened by the hardliners. A large gathering of clergy students in the holy city of Qum called for my
death. They believed that I had made fun of a famous cleric, Ayatullah Mesbah-e Yazdi.
In a cartoon, I had drawn a crocodile that was killing a journalist, and crying crocodile tears, pretending to
be hurt by the poor journalist (who I drew as my "Sick Nick" character). I had named the crocodile in this
cartoon, "Ostad Temsah" (Professor Crocodile). Unfortunately, the names of crocodile and the cleric
rhymed. My newspaper, voluntarily stopped publishing for a week. I was arrested and sent to prison on
February 6th, 2000.
This wasn't the first time that a cartoonist was imprisoned in Iran, but my imprisonment was big news,
coming just before the parliamentary elections. Almost everyone in Iran took notice of my arrest. I was lucky
because I was treated well in prison, unlike other journalists who were sent to prison after me.
I was free on bail after six days, and I got permission to draw again ten days later. This was a terrible
experience for me and for my family, and it was a great burden for a guy who had only tried to draw funny
pictures.
I then had to prove that I was innocent to the people who hated me. My mother, who lives in another city,
received threatening letters, from hardliners who threatened to kill me.
Thirteen months later I wrote a letter to the famous cleric whose name rhymed with the name of the
character in my cartoon. In the letter, I wrote that I didn't mean to be disrespectful and that I only wanted to
draw a simple cartoon for my audience. I wrote: "Your Excellency, if you or any of your followers have been
harmed and humiliated by my cartoon, I really feel sorry, and I apologize." I sent it by fax and I received an
answer ten minutes later. The cleric had accepted my apology and he asked me to pay more attention next
time. I thought all of my troubles had gone away, but in a few weeks, the judge, now famous for the Zahra
Kazemi case (The Iranian-Canadian photo journalist who was killed in the same prison where I had been
held) ordered me to appear before him in court.
I felt tremendous stress after I received this summons. I even had to stay at the intensive care unit of the
hospital because of my heart problems. Since drawing the crocodile cartoon I have felt like there was a
sword of Damocles hanging above my head.
Whenever another Iranian cartoonist would draw a cartoon that was pushing on the bounds of what was
acceptable, I was scared, because everyone thought I was the one who drew every cartoon like that.
I then received a threatening letter. telling me that my name was on a "death list." A group of hardliners
who live in the shadows, and who have killed writers and intellectuals in the past, had threatened me with
death. A friend told me that there was a plan in the works for the courts to arrest a few journalists again,
and that my name was also on a new list of people to be arrested.
Thank God that I was invited by the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists (ACEC) to attend their
convention. The ACEC helped to exhibit my anti-war cartoons in Canada. My journalist colleagues had been
arrested, and I would have been too, if I had not been away in Canada.
A week ago, I received yet another death threat. My name had appeared just below the name of the 2003
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, on an assassination list issued by the same militant Islamic group
that had threatened me before. Iranian President Khatami's brother is also on this list.
The group posting the newest death threats hasn't executed anyone since the late 90's, but some speculate
that their credibility may be at stake now. A recently concluded agreement with United Nations nuclear site
inspectors has infuriated hardliners who see the agreement as a threat to their influence. The hardliners
have threatened to kill the people on their list for the good of Islam, wherever in world they find them.
Now my family blames me for all the problems they face. I just wanted to be a good cartoonist. That's all.
professors. The result was failing grades! After a few months, I was working as a professional cartoonist
and I became a threat to my professors. Once, one of them gave me some useful advice. He said: "Don't
forget! We are living in a country where no one tolerates criticism. In Iran, we know critics as harmful
people who only humiliate." I paid no attention to his advice.
Eight years later, I drew a cartoon that didn't have anything to do with any particular cleric or official and I
was threatened by the hardliners. A large gathering of clergy students in the holy city of Qum called for my
death. They believed that I had made fun of a famous cleric, Ayatullah Mesbah-e Yazdi.
In a cartoon, I had drawn a crocodile that was killing a journalist, and crying crocodile tears, pretending to
be hurt by the poor journalist (who I drew as my "Sick Nick" character). I had named the crocodile in this
cartoon, "Ostad Temsah" (Professor Crocodile). Unfortunately, the names of crocodile and the cleric
rhymed. My newspaper, voluntarily stopped publishing for a week. I was arrested and sent to prison on
February 6th, 2000.
This wasn't the first time that a cartoonist was imprisoned in Iran, but my imprisonment was big news,
coming just before the parliamentary elections. Almost everyone in Iran took notice of my arrest. I was lucky
because I was treated well in prison, unlike other journalists who were sent to prison after me.
I was free on bail after six days, and I got permission to draw again ten days later. This was a terrible
experience for me and for my family, and it was a great burden for a guy who had only tried to draw funny
pictures.
I then had to prove that I was innocent to the people who hated me. My mother, who lives in another city,
received threatening letters, from hardliners who threatened to kill me.
Thirteen months later I wrote a letter to the famous cleric whose name rhymed with the name of the
character in my cartoon. In the letter, I wrote that I didn't mean to be disrespectful and that I only wanted to
draw a simple cartoon for my audience. I wrote: "Your Excellency, if you or any of your followers have been
harmed and humiliated by my cartoon, I really feel sorry, and I apologize." I sent it by fax and I received an
answer ten minutes later. The cleric had accepted my apology and he asked me to pay more attention next
time. I thought all of my troubles had gone away, but in a few weeks, the judge, now famous for the Zahra
Kazemi case (The Iranian-Canadian photo journalist who was killed in the same prison where I had been
held) ordered me to appear before him in court.
I felt tremendous stress after I received this summons. I even had to stay at the intensive care unit of the
hospital because of my heart problems. Since drawing the crocodile cartoon I have felt like there was a
sword of Damocles hanging above my head.
Whenever another Iranian cartoonist would draw a cartoon that was pushing on the bounds of what was
acceptable, I was scared, because everyone thought I was the one who drew every cartoon like that.
I then received a threatening letter. telling me that my name was on a "death list." A group of hardliners
who live in the shadows, and who have killed writers and intellectuals in the past, had threatened me with
death. A friend told me that there was a plan in the works for the courts to arrest a few journalists again,
and that my name was also on a new list of people to be arrested.
Thank God that I was invited by the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists (ACEC) to attend their
convention. The ACEC helped to exhibit my anti-war cartoons in Canada. My journalist colleagues had been
arrested, and I would have been too, if I had not been away in Canada.
A week ago, I received yet another death threat. My name had appeared just below the name of the 2003
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, on an assassination list issued by the same militant Islamic group
that had threatened me before. Iranian President Khatami's brother is also on this list.
The group posting the newest death threats hasn't executed anyone since the late 90's, but some speculate
that their credibility may be at stake now. A recently concluded agreement with United Nations nuclear site
inspectors has infuriated hardliners who see the agreement as a threat to their influence. The hardliners
have threatened to kill the people on their list for the good of Islam, wherever in world they find them.
Now my family blames me for all the problems they face. I just wanted to be a good cartoonist. That's all.
| NIK KOWSAR'S STORY Flight of an Iranian Cartoonist BY Nik Kowsar -- Caglecartoons.com November 2003 |
