Podcast 56: Nikahang Kowsar on Editorial Cartoons

Nikahang Kowsar on Editorial Cartoons

Nikahang Kowsar is a blogger, journalist, and political cartoonist who doesn’t shy away from controversy. In his cartoons, he frequently criticizes the Iranian leadership and draws attention to very sensitive issues, including human rights abuses. In today’s podcast, he talks to us about one cartoon in particular that drew in death threats, and even arrest and imprisonment.

“I think I knew that I needed to hit back, on those people who were blaming the media and calling them ‘stooges of the West.’ Because this was actually attacking our independence, attacking our ideas,” Kowsar tells us.

Here Kowsar talks about his cartoons, journalism, activism, and his life in Iran and after leaving in 2003. His work is featured in the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran’s new book, Sketches of Iran: A Glimpse from the Front Lines of Human Right.