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Prominent Iranian journalist and cartoonist Hadi Heydari has been released from Evin Prison.
Heydari, one of Iran’s best-known cartoonists, announced the news on his Instagram page on Tuesday, April 26:
“Hello to freedom!” he wrote. “By the grace of God, I was released from Evin Prison tonight after serving time. Thank you all for the kindness. I am extremely grateful to all my friends who supported me and my family during this time. Thank you. I hope I am worthy of your kindness.”
Heydari was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards on November 16, 2015, while at work at the daily newspaper Shahrvand in Tehran.
He was transferred to Evin Prison, reportedly to serve a one-year prison sentence he received in 2012 after drawing a cartoon entitled “Blindfolding”.
Hardline critics said the cartoon had insulted Iranian war heroes by depicting them as entering the eight-year-long war with Iraq wearing blindfolds. After the cartoon was published in Shargh newspaper, the paper was banned and Heydari was summoned to appear in court, where he denied his cartoon had any link to the war. The court eventually cleared the newspaper of wrongdoing and allowed it to resume publication.
However, the Revolutionary Guards compiled a case against Heydari, which included the majority of the cartoons he produced from 1998 to 2011. The Revolutionary Court sentenced Heydari to a year in prison on the charge of “spreading propaganda against the regime.”
Heydari is the artistic director for Shahrvand newspaper, which is owned by Iran’s Red Crescent Society. His last cartoon before his arrest depicted tearful solidarity with the French people over the attacks in Paris in November 2015.
The prominent cartoonist has been in trouble with the Iranian authorities before. Charged with conspiracy against national security, he spent 17 days in Evin Prison in 2009.
Heydari’s release comes two days after an appeals court reduced the sentence of another Iranian cartoonist, Atena Farghadani, who was first sentenced to 12 years in prison for drawing a politically sensitive cartoon. The new verdict means Farghadani will also be freed soon.
Read more about Hadi Heydari on his profile.
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