Iran: Former MP Withdraws Suit Against Cartoonist
The suit against Iranian cartoonist Mohammad Shokraye has reportedly been dropped by the former MP who originally filed a complaint.
The Mehr News Agency reports that former Arak MP Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani has withdrawn the complaint against Shokraye, who had been sentenced to a flogging of 25 lashes.
Lotfi Ashtiani said his suit was actually aimed at the “attribution of undue affairs” to his name in an article in Amir Magazine and not the accompanying cartoon; therefore, he has decided to withdraw his complaint against the artist.
He added that regardless of the issues raised in the publication, the cartoon itself could not be considered an insult.
Lotfi Ashtiani filed a suit against Shokraye, a cartoonist for Amir Magazine, for depicting him as a football player on a football field. The cartoon was juxtaposed with an article discussing the former MP’s failed attempts to bring the football major league championship to Arak.
The flogging sentence that resulted was slammed by the Iranian cartoonist community as well as the Iranian Ministry of Culture and the House of Cartoon.
