Nikahang Kowsar

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Nikahang Kowsar (Persian: نیک‌آهنگ کوثر , born 1969) is an Iranian cartoonist, journalist, and blogger, currently living in Toronto, Canada. Kowsar was also a reformist candidate for the second term of city council of Tehran in 2003, an election won by the conservative candidates of Abadgaran.

1 Crocodile Cartoon
2 Recent works
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Crocodile Cartoon

Nikahang Kowsar was arrested for his depiction of "Professor Crocodile", a reptilian academic who was shown strangling a journalist with his tail, interpreted as a reference to Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's nickname comes from a cartoon portraying "Professor Crocodile", a "reptilian academic who was shown strangling a journalist with his tail". The cartoon was drawn by Nikahang Kowsar and satirized freedom of expression in Iran, and a speech given by Mesbah Yazdi in the previous day. Mesbah Yazdi was known as Professor Mesbah (Persian: استاد مصباح) among his supporters. "Mesbah" rhymes with the Persian word for crocodile, "Temsah" (Persian: تمساح), and the cartoon labeled the crocodile as "Professor Temsah", who repeats the words used by Mesbah Yazdi in the previous day. Nikahang Kowsar was arrested and spent seven days in prison for the depiction.^[1]

After receiving a death threat from a group^{[citation needed]} involved in the murder of Dariush Forouhar and other intellectuals, Kowsar fled to Canada in 2003. Kowsar is a landed immigrant in Canada, applied in 2004 and received his status in 2005. His wife has decided to stay in Iran.

Kowsar has been sentenced to prison for his cartoons in absentia. Apparently, Kowsar had a hard time finding a job related to his previous expertise, resulting in him working for fifteen months in a dry cleaning plant. He is now working for a Canadian News Agency. He also has been free-lancing and his cartoons have been recently published by New York Times, Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, and The Guardian. Kowsar is a member of the New York Times Syndicate.

Kowsar is a member of the board of directors of Cartoonists Rights Network International. Kowsar is also a member of the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists(ACEC) and Journalists in Exile(JEX). CBC made a documentary based on his life and his involvement in the Blogger movement.

[edit] Recent works

He's now working for Radio Zamaneh and Rooz online news website which is funded by a Dutch foundation. He has been strongly criticized by supporters of the Iranian government, and Dariush Sajjadi, for his cartoons depicting Iran's involvement in Iraq, and possible war with the United States. The cartoons have been published by Rooz, a Dutch-funded website.^[2]