Cartoonists have condemned the conviction of an Iranian colleague given a sentence of 25 lashes for drawing a caricature of a local MP that was deemed insulting.
Mahmoud Shokraye was put on trial after an Iranian MP, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani, took offence to a cartoon he drew of the parliamentarian in Nameye Amir, a city newspaper in Arak, the capital of Iran’s central province of Markazi.
The Ilna semi-official news agency reported that a media law court in Markazi province had found Shokraye guilty of insulting the MP, handing down the unprecedented punishment.
In the cartoon, Ashtiani is depicted in a football stadium, dressed as a footballer, with a congratulatory letter in one hand and his foot resting on the ball. The MP’s forehead has a dark mark, said to be the sign of a pious Shia Muslim, caused (supposedly) by frequent prostration during prayer. The cartoon contains little exaggeration and Ashtiani’s forehead has also a prayer mark in reality.
