Iranian cartoonist and activist
Atena Farghadani is free!

Dear Jennifer, 

GREAT NEWS! 29-year-old artist and activist Atena Farghadani is free in Iran after spending 18 months in prison for her peaceful activities. 

​Thank you for using for your voice for Atena! Amnesty International supporters around the world spoke out for her freedom, including more than 10,000 in Canada.  

Atena had been serving a prison sentence of 12 years and nine months after being found guilty at an unfair trial in June last year of charges including ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ and ‘insulting members of parliament through paintings'. But last week an appeal court in Tehran revised her sentence to 18 months, most of which Atena had already served.

Atena's story

In August 2014, 12 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards came to Atena’s house. They confiscated her personal belongings, blindfolded her and took her to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

She was to be punished for her peaceful activities, including meeting with families of political prisoners and criticising the authorities on social media and through her art, particularly a cartoon critical of two new government bills that would restrict the rights of women and girls in Iran by making it difficult to obtain contraception or seek a divorce.  

Atena’s grossly unfair trial lasted just a half hour. The "evidence" against her relied on Atena’s answers under long stretches of interrogation, while she was held in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer or her family. 

While out on bail briefly, Atena reported that female guards had beaten her, verbally abused her and forced her to strip naked for a body search in Evin Prison. In January 2015, Atena went on hunger strike to protest that she was being held in extremely poor prison conditions. Atena’s health suffered considerably as a result; her lawyer told us she had suffered a heart attack. 

Then in August 2015, Atena smuggled a note out of prison saying that the authorities had subjected her to a forced ‘virginity test’, which authorities later admitted to.

Read more of Atena's courageous story and the global efforts to free her >>



Atena reunited with her mother, Saedeh Zeynali


Atena's release comes at a time when scores of others face harsh prison sentences imposed for their peaceful human rights activism. 

>> Do you have a moment to take action for two other prisoners of conscience who remain behind bars in Iran?

Mohammad Ali Taheri	Bahareh Hedayat

Thank you for continuing to speak out for the brave individuals who face persecution for exercising their right to the peaceful expression of their beliefs. Atena's freedom is an inspiring reminder that we are powerful when we stand together. 


Yours sincerely,



Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada