Kootchakzadeh: Asking Questions is Out of Place

The complaints and confrontation that two Majlis representatives brought forth against journalists and media graphics professionals in Iran in recent days has resulted in a quick and united response from the cartoon community in the country.

The story is that a cartoonist, Mahmoud Shokrabe, draw a cartoon of a Majlis representative, Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani from Araq, who responded by filing a legal complaint against the artist. A judge found Shokrabe guilty and sentenced him to a specified number of slashes. Mehdi Kootchakzadeh, another representative, from Tehran publicly cursed the reporters from Asseman weekly in the parliament’s cafeteria when a reporter asked him about the issue.

Rooz spoke with both representatives and here are their responses to Rooz’s questions…

When asked about the cartoons and the court complaint, Ashtiani refrained from providing an explanation and did not want to talk about the issue altogether. But in response to the question whether he would also file complaints against the other cartoonists who have drawn cartoons of Ashtiani in support of their sentenced colleague said that he had not seen the other cartoons.

When he was asked whether he personally thought that whipping the artist was the right response to a critical cartoon, Ashtiani hung up the phone.

The incident prompted cartoonist Mana Nistani to ask other cartoonists to support Shokrabe by drawing caricatures of the Arak Majlis representative and posting their drawings. She herself did the same and on her site wrote, “As a symbol of empathy to my colleague and to protest this fabricated sanctity that has been created for this political official, I ask all of my colleagues not to remain indifferent. There is no need to create an uproar and fall into political traps. Just pick up your pens and draw a cartoon of Arak’s Majlis representative without being insulting, and publish them in their blogs and web sites.”

Nistani told Rooz, “I wrote that note and asked my colleagues not to be indifferent because I am concerned that the situation with press cartoons in Iran will get worse. It is clear that the few cartoonists who are active today will stop working because of the current laws governing their trade. In fact my note was to defend the current narrow breathing space that cartoonists have in Iran. We are not even talking about rolling back existing restrictions and breaking current taboos.”

I asked Mr. Nistani what impact his action would have, to which he replied, “The least impact is that cartoonists demonstrated that they feel responsible and are emphatic to their colleagues, even though while they were not organized, or better put those who are better than us decided that we should not have an organization. The other effect of this response is that it showed to that judge that he is not a superior authority and that cartoonists will easily defend their rights. What is the meaning of this government action when a cartoon biennale is held every two years with the support of the government in Iran and cartoonists are not only allowed to draw portraits of prominent political and non-political personalities but even receive official awards of accomplishment for their works, while another part of the government threatens a cartoonist who is punished for drawing an image of a Majlis representative?”

Other cartoonists quickly responded to Mana’s call of solidarity, and the following cartoonists posted cartoons of Ahmad Lofti Ashtiani on their own or other available web sites or blogs: Tooka Nistani, Jamal Rahmati, Nikahang Kowsar (whose appear in Rooz), Vahid Nikgoo, Payam Boroomand, Hanif Bahari, Shahabodin Alavi, Morteza Khosravi, Soheil Shakeri, Sepehr Ali Mohammadloo, Ali Tajadod, Kasra Abbasabadi, Sasan Khadem, Mohammad Tajik, Vahid Jaafari, Khayam Movidi, Saeed Sadeghi, Hamed Shamloo, Mohsen Irani, Jahangir Darmani and Naeem Tadvin.

When I told Mana that the representative from Araq had said that he had not seen the other cartoons, he responded, “When we collect all the works, and if Mr. Vakil requests, we will publish all of them in a booklet and present it to him as a souvenir. I hope he understands the point that when a cartoonist selects a subject he is in fact presenting a part of his own spirit in his work. He is doing him a favor. Something that I wish Mr. Lotfi understood.”

Mr. Shokrabe is a cartoonist for the Name Amir publication in Araq. This is not the first time that a cartoonist ends up in a court in Iran because of his work. Hassan Karimzadeh, Tooka Nistani, Nikahang Kowsar, Mana Nistani and Keyvan Zargar are among those Iranian cartoonists who have had to deal with the judiciary because of their work.

Earlier, Hassan Karimzadeh too had been sentenced to receive slashes for his work, and Mahmoud Shokrane is the second cartoonist to receive such a sentence in Iran.

Kootchakzadeh Curses Journalists

Mehdi Kootchakzadeh, the Majlis representative from Tehran verbally attacked Saeed Shams, the reporter from Asseman weekly and cursed him when he asked the lawmaker about the issue. According to Baztab website, Kootchakzadeh cursed and insulted Saeed Shams and Mohammad Ghoochani, the reporter and editor of Asseman weekly in the Majlis cafeteria. While screaming at the journalists, Kootchakzadeh yelled that Ghoochani was less worth than (controversial judge Saeed) Mortezavi’s dog.

When Rooz asked this Majlis representative whether his behavior was worthy of a Majlis representative, his response was, “It is none of your business.

You should not be asking me.” When the reporter pressed for a response, Kootchakzadeh said, “You seem to have little intelligence. You do not understand Persian.  I do not like you and I hate those who adore foreigners.” The Rooz reporter then said, “But you belong to the cultural committee of the Majlis and more than this is expected of you,” to which he replied, “If I had to learn my language from you foreigner lovers my situation would be really bad.” And when the reporter asked, “Is your situation today good that you verbally attack a reporter in the Majlis?” Kootchakzadeh hung up the phone.

It should be noted that the cartoon that is the subject of this attack is a relatively benign image of the Majlis representative without any political undertones.