Hadi Heidari in a cartoon by Saeed Noroozi
Cartoonist Hadi Heidari (Tehran, 1977) was arrested on 16 November 2015 at the Shahrvand newspaper by Iranian government agents. Some sources link his arrest to Haidari's publication of a cartoon welding with France over the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015.
According to Reuters, Saleh Nikbakht, his lawyer, claims that he was arrested because of a conviction two years ago, also related to his cartoons. The same note says that, according to Tasnim news agency, Haidari had contacted his family by phone to tell them that his imprisonment was a consequence of that conviction.
Haidari has been arrested before. In 2010 he was imprisoned for two months for "propaganda against the state". In 2012 he also had to go to court and his newspaper, Shargh, was banned for cartoons critical of Iran's leaders.
On the evening of 22 October 2009, he was arrested along with others participating in a religious ceremony in honour of political prisoners, which was being held at the home of Shehaboldin Tabatabai, one of the prisoners close to the reformist party. On that occasion he spent 17 days in prison for "collusion against national security".
Update 26 April 2016: Hadi Heidari is released from prison.
And this was his first cartoon after serving his sentence and being released.
Hadi Heidari's cartoon posted on his Instagram account
Related, 47 cases in other countries.
