Renowned cartoonist and former political prisoner Atena Farghadani marked the anniversary of her arrest last year on January 10, 2017, by posting a note on her Facebook account.
Ms. Farghadani wrote, “For publishing a video clip in which I spoke of being beaten up in solitary confinement for drawing on paper cups, I was abruptly summoned to the court and beaten up in front of my mother who screamed, ‘Don’t beat my daughter’, and my crying father. I was transferred to the notorious Qarchak Prison and never thought that I would ever return home!”
In another part of her post, she noted the worldwide support which led to her freedom and remembered her cellmates: “I keep constantly remembering those who spend their days inside prison, like the white circles of paper cups, repeating the days and hours modestly without wanting any fame… Let’s not forget those modest circles, Fahimeh Arafi, Maryam Akbari Monfared, Elham Barmaki, Behnaz Zakeri, Fatemeh Mossanna, Roya Saberinejad, Zahra Zehtabchi, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Reyhaneh Haj Ebrahim Dabbagh, Marjan Davari, Nazila Hamidava, …”