Global Courage Award for Atena Farghadani, Iranian Cartoonist in Prison

The Global Cartoonist Rights Network announced that Atena Farghadani, an Iranian cartoonist currently in prison, will be this year's recipient of the organization's Courage Award. The award will be presented posthumously to Atena Farghadani by Robert Russell, the founder and executive director of the network, during a ceremony on September 5, coinciding with the annual meeting of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Ms. Farghadani is the first female cartoonist in the world to receive this award individually. This award was previously given jointly in 2014 to two cartoonists from India and Palestine, who were the first women to receive it. The Global Cartoonist Rights Network awards its Courage Award annually to an individual who has faced danger for drawing cartoons and lacking freedom of expression. Previously, Nikahang Kowsar in 2001 and Mana Neyestani in 2010 were recipients of this award. Atena Farghadani was arrested on August 24, 2014, by agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was released on bail on October 31 of the same year. After her release, she reported in an online video about the installation of surveillance cameras in the bathrooms and showers of Ward 2-A of the Revolutionary Guards. Ms. Farghadani later stated in an interview with the Jaras website that her critical drawings and her connections with the families of victims of the Green Movement and Baha'is were the main focus of her interrogations. According to reports, Ms. Farghadani was arrested on January 10, 2015, after presenting herself to Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, where she was beaten by agents and transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin. After being transferred to this prison, she went on a hunger strike and was later transferred to Evin Prison after being hospitalized in Firouzgar Hospital in Shahr-e Rey. Mohammad Moqimi, Atena Farghadani's lawyer, announced on May 31, 2015, that his client had been sentenced to 12 years and 9 months in prison by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati, on three charges. Drawing a cartoon of Iranian parliament members was among the main charges against Ms. Farghadani.