Artist Atena Farghadani is Released from Iranian Prison

Atena Farghadani, an Iranian artist who was sentenced to twelve years and nine months in prison for drawing a satirical cartoon criticizing proposed laws that would restrict women’s reproductive rights and also outlaw vasectomies for men, was released today, the Cartoonists Rights Network International reports.
The artist was first arrested in August 2014 for posting a drawing that depicted members of parliament with animal faces on social media. She spent three months in Evin prison where she was put in solitary confinement for the majority of her detainment and was only released after settling a substantial bail. Farghadani was arrested again in January 2015 for creating a video detailing the beatings and nine-hour interrogations she was forced to endure in jail. She was then charged with undermining national security, insulting the Iranian president, members of parliament, and authorities, and for spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic, and received a twelve-year sentence. During this time she protested her brutal treatment by prison guards by going on a hunger strike. She eventually went into cardiac arrest and was hospitalized in February. Farghadani was also forced to take pregnancy and virginity tests and was subjected to a number of other abuses before being released. Authorities had charged her with “indecency” for shaking her lawyer’s hand last June.
Last month, Farghadani’s attorney Mohammad Moghimi successfully negotiated a reduced sentence of eighteen months with an appeals court, as reported by artforum.com. Farghadani was released after only serving one year of her original sentence. She said she still wants to live in Iran and continue her work as an artist.
While grateful to those who protested her imprisonment, such as Amnesty International who repeatedly demanded that she be freed, Farghadani also expressed her concern for the other prisoners still being detained unbeknownst to the public and without anyone to fight for them.