Iran shuts newspaper over historical cartoon
The Iranian government has arrested three journalists and indefinitely shut down a newspaper for publishing a 66-year-old political cartoon. Via Tim Blair.
A torrent of outrage from Muslim hard-liners increased Sunday over a most unexpected provocation: a 66-year-old American political cartoon about a Depression era power struggle.The drawing, published last week in the now-closed Hayat-e-Nou newspaper, showed a Supreme Court justice being humbled under a giant thumb representing then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Iranian conservatives saw something closer to home.
They felt the white-bearded judge in the cartoon resembled the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was considered a stinging insult to his memory.
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The newspaper was ordered closed indefinitely Saturday. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said three employees involved in publishing the cartoon have been arrested.
– AP, Cartoon from America’s past resurfaces in battles over Iran’s future.