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Three exiled Iranian cartoonists are using their art to amplify the voices of millions silenced back home in Iran.

Living across Europe—in Paris, Helsinki, and Amstelveen—artists Mana Neyestani, Kianoush Ramezani, and Sanaz Bagheri reflect on war, censorship, and the risks of speaking out.

Following deadly crackdowns on protests, widely reported by groups like Amnesty International, the artists describe the emotional and ethical challenges of their work. Neyestani speaks of a painful dilemma—caught between war and repression—while Ramezani highlights intimidation and surveillance faced even in exile.

Bagheri, whose work gained attention after the Woman Life Freedom movement, channels hope through her art, envisioning a future where Iran rises again despite years of oppression.

Their cartoons have become more than art—they are acts of resistance, testimony, and a call for global attention.

0:00 — Iranian cartoonists fight back through art
2:00 — “I have a lot of stress,” says Kianosh Ramezani
3:00 — Sanaz Bagheri: “Iran will rise again from its own ashes”

#Iran #ExiledArtists #Cartoons #FreedomOfExpression #HumanRights #Politics #World

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Transcript
00:00It becomes very difficult for me to work
00:03because taking side right now is not easy.
00:07I have seen it always as my role as a political cartoonist
00:10to criticize authority and power.
00:14It is important that Iran will free his weight to his lower,
00:19the power and power would free.
00:26In one way we have regime with a guillotine,
00:31executions and killings,
00:32the not peaceful path,
00:35and the other way is a war.
00:37It might finish the regime,
00:39we don't know if it really could or not,
00:42We cannot say, but it might.
00:44It becomes very difficult for me to work because taking sides right now is not easy.
00:52Easier you get the label of a war lover or Islamic Republic lover.
01:01It's like a dilemma.
01:02This is a situation that I believe the Islamic Republic regime made it.
01:07They made dilemmas for citizens.
01:09It's not peace against war.
01:14It's war and in the other side we don't have peace.
01:19We had a massacre three months ago.
01:21Thousands of people killed by the regime.
01:24So it's not peace.
01:26And these things that I put on Instagram,
01:31because of the view of the world,
01:33because of the internet in Iran,
01:36it's a failure of a lot of faith and hope.
01:43I don't have hope to have this problem.
01:46But I don't have any other work.
01:48To raise the question, to point at something that I observe and I think it's wrong,
01:56and to criticize the authority and power,
02:03I have seen it always as my role as a political cartoonist.
02:07I have a lot of anxiety.
02:08I have a lot of stress.
02:09But my task is to first humiliate the regime,
02:14to ridiculize them as much as possible,
02:17because this is what people need when they are facing fear and threats,
02:22constant threats from the regime.
02:23For me, it's very important that when I share my cartoons,
02:27they see how weak the regime is.
02:32They were really, for example, spying on my phone conversations, et cetera, et cetera.
02:38And then I got intimidated.
02:40I got a lot of kind of threats by messages.
02:43And then after this 2009 green movement,
02:47then I realized that I have to leave the country,
02:50because the regime started to go after every one of us.
02:55Between the cartoons that I have,
02:58the most important thing was this cartoon,
03:01which was in the article of Charlie Hebdo,
03:04three years ago,
03:06after the election of the freedom of life.
03:09It was something that I created to do,
03:11and it was a lot of experience between the people of Iran.
03:17The women's rights are very important for me.
03:19Because of the people they can't really understand,
03:21because of that I am from the American people
03:23and I have to play in this country,
03:26and I was a part of my own gender here,
03:28because of the freedom of their living habits
03:28and I am germinate,
03:29because of my identity,
03:32and for this time,
03:33it will not be a part of the Air Force in Iran.
03:37It turns out through the arms that Iran
03:38it has been a difficult time for a long time.
03:42That Iran has been a difficult time for several months,
03:46and it really has been a difficult time to be indeed.
03:47and countries.
03:49And this is the question that Iran will come back from their own lives
03:54and will come back from their own lives.
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