Jailed Iranian artist Atena Farghadani has expressed gratitude upon hearing she was awarded the 2015 Courage in Cartooning Award by the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI), her father told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran after visiting her at Evin Prison on August 16, 2015.

Taghi Farghadani also said the family hopes Atena Farghadani will receive a reduced sentence during her upcoming judicial review.

Her case has been referred to Branch 54 of the Appeals Court but no trial date has been set.

Farghadani was sentenced to 12 years and 9 months in prison on June 1, 2015, after drawing a cartoon of Iranian parliamentarians with animal faces. 

The Courage in Cartooning award will be presented to Farghadani in absentia by CRNI founder and Executive Director Dr. Robert Russell in Columbus, Ohio, on September 5, 2015.

Each year CRNI gives the Award to a cartoonist “who is in great danger or has demonstrated exceptional courage in the exercise of free speech rights, or both.”

Read the story via International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.