Iran: Major paper closes after cartoon sparks riots
Posted by Maddie Hanna on May 24, 2006 at 12:02 PM
The Iranian government shut down one of Iran’s top three newspapers after it ran a cartoon Friday that angered the country’s Azeri minority, the Guardian reported Tuesday, an incident that recalls the still-lingering controversy surrounding the inflammatory Mohammed cartoons.
The closure marks the first time a paper has been banned in Iran since a new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, took over last year. The paper’s cartoonist and editor-in-chief had been detained, Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi told the Guardian.
In the cartoon, a boy repeats the Persian word for “cockroach” to a cockroach that asks “What?” in Azeri. The dialogue illustrates the underlying tension between the Persian and Azeri people.
About 200 people were arrested during riots in Tabriz, the Guardian reported, with 50 severely injured and at least four dead.
Source: The Guardian
In the cartoon, a boy repeats the Persian word for “cockroach” to a cockroach that asks “What?” in Azeri. The dialogue illustrates the underlying tension between the Persian and Azeri people.
About 200 people were arrested during riots in Tabriz, the Guardian reported, with 50 severely injured and at least four dead.
Source: The Guardian
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