Mana Neyestani’s Yearbook NOWRUZ 1394 Mana Neyestani: “I am my own cameraman offended and think that you are not in the right and scene editor” position. As a , how much have you been Mohammad Tangesani influenced by cinema? Any visual material that reaches your eyes and Mana Neyestani was born 42 years ago in . mind definitely has an impact on your work. Interview with Mana Neyestani 3 Over the last decade, he has become one of ’s Paintings, sketches, cartoons, animations, cinema, best-known . Anyone who follows theater…they all have an effect. Literature, music Government and Parliament 5 political and social issues in Iran will be familiar and other cultural products will also affect your with Neyestani’s work. work. These effects build the viewpoint and Khamenei 12 The Cartoonists Rights Network International vision that a cartoonist should have. But if you awarded Neyestani with an International Bravery mean the visual impact of cinema on my work, 16 Award in 2010. In recent years, his work has been then maybe it affects, most of all, the frame of my Extremists translated and published in Germany, France, Italy, works. Cinema has probably affected my comic 22 Spain and the UK. books most. Cinema is the art of image and time. Justice Mana Neyestani has lived in Paris for the last few It needs time for the images to stream so that the 30 years. I interviewed him during the last days of the viewer can reach an understanding of this form of Prison Iranian year, and asked him about his work and art. In cartooning, we have one frame only, with future plans. the duration of a fraction of a second. You only see Executions 37 There has been some negative reactions to your a cross-section of an event. But in comic books, cartoons over the past year. What do you think is just like cinema, you have to go through time to Art and Literacy 42 the reason for this? understand the story. The passing of time, or the A cartoonist is a social critique and reacts to the illusion of time, is the essence of comic books. Women 46 daily news. You can see a reflection of different Marjan Satrapi entered the world of cinema with historical eras by following columnist cartoonists her film Persepolis. Have you ever thought of Terrorism 52 for that period. This reflection is not like an image making a film from your cartoons? in a mirror. We are not dealing with a piece of I like cinema very much. I watch films Freeform Drawings 59 metal covered in mercury; this is a human being systematically, although I may not a person who who has his own views and thoughts; who has can be called a film-freak. I wanted to become a an idea of his surroundings and analyzes and director when I was young but it did not happen. criticizes the issues from his own point of view. Nowadays I like to be part of a cinematography A cartoonist is always trying to present the right project, but becoming a director requires, more angle towards what is going on. However, this than anything else, the art of management and is totally relative. Even in the most impartial relating to people. It is teamwork involving tens and realistic criticisms, some people might feel and sometimes hundreds of people. Satrapi

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has this ability. I don’t have the nerves. I prefer of Iran and the Middle East. You live in France. working alone. This is why I like designing comic How do you keep in touch with Iranian society? books. It has the feeling of cinema for me. The When I was in Iran, I was always in front of actors are the persons I design. There is no need my computer and tried to access a few news

4 to argue. I am my own cameraman and scene websites, like Gooya News, using anti-filter editor. software, to see what was going on in the What is the difference between a caricature, a country. This was because of the huge amount of cartoon and a comic strip? censorship. Now at least I do not need anti-filter Caricature is the art of the exaggeration of faces. software, the internet speed is much faster and Using caricature images to express a political, my time is less wasted. It is true that a physical social, cultural view with a sense of satire is a presence in the country does not necessarily cartoon. Comics are a series of sequential frames mean you are in contact with political issues in the of cartoons that tell a story. When a comic is a country. We do not have any free media in Iran, long or semi-long story and is bound together, so we had to listen to rumors and word of mouth it becomes a . I was never a good or refer to Persian-language foreign websites. Of Government caricaturist. I drew faces in a very normal way. I course living inside the country is important to was better in cartoon and comics. I like both of feel the pulse of the society and general air of the these. Designing and writing comic books is a country. I do not have this and try to acquire it by very personal interest of mine. I also like the daily chatting to friends. But sometimes I feel I am off. and reaction to political and social events in a one- The language the people use, new expressions, frame cartoon. current matters and things of this sort cannot be You have published your cartoon books in retrieved from outside the country. different countries. How have Western audiences Has living in France ever make you think about Parliament reacted to your work? a French audience? It was good in France; quite normal and in a I have not really been integrated in this society. logical way. The majority of my cartoons are about I understand the language to a certain degree. I issues in Iran. Naturally I have a larger audience feel I am a guest. And I am not sure how long I will among the Persian-speaking population. My stay. Maybe I will relocate a few years on, because book of 200 cartoons sold well in France; South of my job and work. All of this has stopped me Korea bought the copyright to publish it, which from being concerned by what this society is was very interesting for me. The Nouvelle Graphic concerned about. I do not relate so much to them. of “An Iranian Metamorphosis” [about his time My last book that I wrote in France was about the in prison in Iran], had better sales in France, and problem of refugees and the refugee issue in this was republished a few times. This book has been country. This is a topic of the day in this society, translated to German, English, Italian and Spanish. but our own issues are also involved in this topic. Your cartoons’ main themes are the social issues

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Rouhani: No one has been arrested in Iran because of journalism 6

Let’s Put an End to Parasitic Monopolies in our Economy

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Negotiations...

8 And the Talks Continue…

Extending the negotiations

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 9 Mana’s Yearbook Halal Filtering 10

Two faces of Ali Mottahari

The Ousted Minister

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Controller of his Excellency 12

Khamenei

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 13 Mana’s Yearbook The Prostate Shrine Raising the Monster (Mohammd Yazdi elected as chair to the Assembly of Experts) Last week Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei received a stream of visitors at his Tehran hospital bed, after being admitted for prostate surgery. State television and newspapers carried extensive footage of these bedside visitiations, during which political loyalists and the regime elite bent over to kiss the Supreme Leader’s forehead and profess their fidelity; Khamenei received these attentions with a resigned composure. The caricaturist here portrays 14 Khamenei as a self-contained Shia shrine, drawing the faithul to prayer and pilgrimage.

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 15 Mana’s Yearbook Resistance Front MPs to Government: Khatami should be banned from travelling abroad and from making speeches; photographs of him should be banned from publication 16

Extremists

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 17 Mana’s Yearbook President Rouhani, presumably, on the Revolutionary Guards: “When a group has a monopoly on guns, money and media, it inevitably becomes corrupt.“ 18

Stew Jihad

Ayatollah Jannati’s resistance economy: «What’s wrong with having only one meal a day?»

Reza Azimi, Intelligence Officer of Khorasan-e Razavi Governor’s Office: American think tanks have substituted Stew with Pizza in Iran. NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 19 Mana’s Yearbook

Family Planning

Coming soon: Vasectomy ward at Evin Prison 20

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Grieving Mothers of Iran 22

Justice

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24 The Acid Thrower Isfahan Acid Throwing Files, Three Months Later

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Happiness is a Crime The Usual Suspects 26

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Akhtar Street Of Facebook and Other ” Criminal Tools The imprisoned opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard are being kept by On Sunday, July 13, Iranian authorities on ’Akhtar Street,’ and the website Kalame reported recently that their conditions have become eight people who more “securitized.” Although all expectations held that President Hassan Rouhani would manage to secure their had been critical of

28 release, one year into his term this has proven insurmountable. The cartoon reminds us of the general tendency in authorities on Facebook the Iranian government to forget Mousavi and Rahnavard were handed down combined sentences of 127 years in prison. The criminalization of Facebook users has been on the rise in Iran in recent months, though President Hassan Rouhani and members of the judiciary may not be exactly on the same page. On Tuesday, the president tweeted: “Filtering halts proper uses of the Internet in ‪#Iran‬. ‪#Facebook‬”.

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Evin Prison, Ward 350 30

Prison

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The Attack on Political Prisoners According to Iranian TV State-run Iranian television has blamed inmates for the violence that took place at Evin Prison’s Cell Block 350 on April 17. In a so-called “documentary,” the network said some prisoners resisted a routine inspection on the block, resulting in a number of people being injured. But relatives dispute claims that the program was filmed in Cell Block 350, saying much of the footage does not resemble the block. “We have no idea where the scenes were recorded,” said the wife of one inmate. Family members of those assaulted in last week’s raid were allowed visitation rights on Monday, April 21. Despite publication of firsthand accounts of the violence, prison authorities and hardliner politicians continue to Assault on political inmates of ward 350 of Evin Prison deny that security guards launched a violent attack on political prisoners at the Tehran prison. The claims were dismissed as “counter-revolutionary” rumors spread by the BBC and other western media.

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 33 Mana’s Yearbook Mortazavi Busts the Cash Former Tehran prosecutor Saeed Rahimi goes on vacation Mortazavi, notorious for his nearly After two weeks in prison decade-long spree imprisoning the country’s independent journalists, is said

34 to have emerged from court this week having secured a 3 billion tomans bail (1 million U.S. dollars) in only two hours. Judicial authorities are trying Mortazavi for various offenses related to his role in the abuse and torture of prisoners at the Kahrizak detention center in 2009, as well as other charges concerning his stint as head of Iran’s Social Welfare Organization. It is unclear precisely what charges gave rise to such a high bail, but Mortazavi’s ability to swiftly produce such cash was discussed widely in Iran’s online media. Mortazavi denied to state news agency IRNA that he had been issued any bail at all.

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 35 Mana’s Yearbook 36 Free the political prisoners

Executions

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In the Name of Religion Execution of Mahafarid Khosravi One of the defendants of the three thousand billion Tomans embezzlement case 38

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The Collector Untitled 40

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42 Remedios the beauty ascends into the sky one afternoon… (for Marquez)

Art and Literacy

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Old man and the Words (For Daryabandari) 44

The Kiss No One Missed

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Tsk Tsk, Such Radical Behavior

Women

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Nudity (Anniversary of Forough Farrokhzad)

Tight Economic Problems Iranian Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher Alamolhoda said recently that women wearing tights can be distracting for men, leading to a range of problems, including economic ones. What can the problem be? Mana Neyestani takes a look.

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For Kobane A Girl’s Worth... Under the Islamic Republic’s Islamic penal code, the diyeh — or

50 blood money to be paid on the event of death — of a woman is equal to half that of a man.

To be a Woman in Iran

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#WeAreAllCharlie

Terrorism

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 53 Mana’s Yearbook In the beginning there was the thought

Online Fundamentalism 54

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Five Easy Targets ISIS Destroys Iraq’s National Heritage The Iranian government has confirmed news that the Sunni insurgent group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) executed one of the five Iranian border guards abducted near the Iran-Pakistan border in early February. The murdered soldier has been named as Jamshid Danaeifar. The Interior Ministry had earlier denied the claim.

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Taking Hostages in Sydney 58

Freeform Drawings

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 59 Mana’s Yearbook We always praise people more when they die than we did when they were alive Cover-up 60

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 61 Mana’s Yearbook The Flying Coffins

The fall of Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Ahmadinejad’s loyal

62 deputy On January 21, Mohammadreza Rahimi, former vice president under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “financial corruption.” Rahimi was implicated in the “corruption gang” or “Fatemi House” scandal, which hit the headlines in 2009.

Heading towards the Grave

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 63 Mana’s Yearbook 64 Escape to the Field of Dreams Escape Hunters Asked to Control Stray Dog Population

Deadly Dust in Khuzestan Authorities ordered the closure of schools, universities and government buildings in Khuzestan on February 8 and 9 after officials recorded dangerous levels of dust particles in the air. In Ahvaz, approximately 35 kilometers away, city officials distributed face masks to residents.

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Iranian State TV at its Best The Death of a Snowman 66

NOWRUZ 1394 Mana’s Yearbook 67 Mana Neyestani’s Yearbook Page layout: Amir Taghizadeh Interview by: Mohammad Tangestani

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