Atena Farghadani, the famous cartoonist and a former political prisoner, was violently arrested by security forces on Saturday, April 13, 2024, and transferred to Evin Prison.
She was arrested, reportedly, for attempting to post one of her drawings on the wall in Pastor Avenue, where the presidential palace is located.
In protest to her arbitrary arrest, she refused to accept bail bond.
Her lawyer, Mohammad Moqimi, reported that Atena Farghadani had been badly brutalized at the time of arrest so much that the scars were evident on her face.
Atena Farghadani, a cartoonist, painter, and children’s rights activist residing in Tehran, was arrested on June 7, 2023, after being summoned to the interrogation courthouse of District 33 for interrogation.
In an interview after being freed, she explained that the authorities of Qarchak Prison had tried to poison her. They detained her in a solitary room without any lavatory and did not allow her to leave the room and use the bathroom. They also tried to force her to make televised confessions, which she refused. Finally, on June 20, they abandoned her in a hospital after she went unconscious due to hunger strike.
Ms. Farghadani was previously deprived of continuing her studies at the master’s level due to her activities. She was arrested in September 2014 and sentenced to 12 years and nine months of imprisonment for drawing and posting on social media cartoons that depicted members of the regime’s parliament with animal heads.
She was charged with “conspiracy against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” and “insulting members of the parliament.”
Ultimately, this sentence was reduced to 18 months of imprisonment in the Revision Court.
