Rohsana Ahmadi [*] 2022

Rohsana Ahmadi [*] 2022

"Don't you dare touch me, stay back" were her last words

Say her name - Helen Ahmadi. She was 7 years old and killed by the IRGC. 

Iran women's protests are the focus of 'Persepolis' author Marjane Satrapi's new book

April 27, 2024 "Spanish artist Patricia Bolaños says she thought it was a prank when she got an email about working on the project with the famed author of Persepolis. It was only when Satrapi got in touch herself that she believed it. Bolaños, who lives in New York, says Persepolis is one of her favorite graphic novels but she knew little about Iran. / So she worked with one of the project's Iran scholars to illustrate the book's chapter on the "Aghazadeh," or noble-born, a term connoting nepotism and corruption that's used to describe the children of Iran's elite, its ruling mullahs and Revolutionary Guards. //

Bolaños says she was inspired by one of their Instagram accounts, "Rich Kids of Tehran," which showed the Aghazadeh wearing bikinis on French Riviera beaches, drinking alcohol and partying.

"It was really scary because these are the kids of those setting the rules, but they don't follow the rules," she says. "For me, it was like, how is this possible? Especially for the women. These kids are perpetuating this corrupt system. And at certain moments they have to collide with this other world of other women fighting and dying for freedom."

Bolaños wanted to know what those moments are like. The last cartoon in her chapter shows a stylish Aghazadeh checking her Instagram account. "She watches videos of women burning veils and yelling 'freedom,'" says Bolaños, "and the reader sees it reflected in her sunglasses. And someone asks her, what are you watching? And she says... nothing."

READ MORE https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/articles/jerry-seinfeld-on-making-a-life-in-comedy-and-also-pop-tarts

My cat wants you to know that a graphic novel called "Femme, Vie, Liberté", a collective project curated by Marjane Satrapi (best known for "Persepolis") and edited by L'Iconoclaste, has been published in honour of Mahsa Amini and in support of the Iranian uprising.

As far as I know, the book is available in French, Italian and Persian - the latter is available online for free here:

zan-zendegi-azadi.fr

ZAN ZENDEGI AZADI

The various graphic novels talk about the history of the Republic of Iran, the life of Iranian people and the events that triggered the protests against the regime.

I hope an English translation will come soon because this is a project that deserves to be shared by as many people as possible.

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death, says lawyer

bbc.com

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death, says lawyer

Musician Toomaj Salehi had backed anti-government nationwide protests in 2022.