Australia's newspaper The Age is considering legal action after a cartoon drawn by its own cartoonist Michael Leunig was entered, without Mr. Leunig's permission, in a Holocaust cartoons competition run by Iranian newspaper Hamshari (see previous posting).

A cartoon authored by Leunig was published, along with a false statement attributed to Leunig, on Hamshari's website. Leunig contacted the newspaper and both the cartoon and the statement were removed from the website. He has also requested thatt a formal announcement be made on the website "disclaiming the authenticity of the statement" attributed to him.

Michael Leunig himself confirmed he had been "victim of a dirty tricks campaign." He said he has "got used to dirty tricks and dirty things being said about me ... regarding my political views." On the subject of the cartoons row, he commented that "It's a very intense and volatile situation we're in this matter and this so called cartoon competition is a very loaded, emotionally (and) politically loaded area. I think to step into that minefield would be crazy."

A statement made by Leunig's employer, The Age, read as follows:"Michael Leunig did not send any cartoon to the website and the words are not his. This is a serious hoax."

Source: The Age