A cartoon is circulating on social media (here, here, and here) depicting a man, identified as a Hindu, attempting to free another man, who is shown as a Muslim. In the image, the man being freed is depicted as trying to harm the person who is rescuing him. This cartoon is claimed to have been published in a European newspaper. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: This cartoon was published by a European newspaper which shows the Muslims are trying to harm Hindus who are trying to rescue them.
Fact: The cartoon shared in the post was originally published in 2013 by Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani. Neyestani created this cartoon by referring to an article published in the ‘Iran Wire’ news agency about the ban on hijab in Iran. This has nothing to do with India or its citizens. Hence, the claim made is FALSE.
A reverse image search of the photo shared in the post revealed that the same cartoon image was published in a 2015 article. The cartoon, created by Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani, was featured in an article as part of a series of cartoons criticizing the country’s government. The article stated “Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani, who portrays the stance of his people and the people of the world against weapons, soldiers, politicians and money-makers with his pen, is shaking your thoughts with his striking drawings. The exiled artist, who could not enter his country, is addressing his people and all the people of the world with his pen from France.”
Upon further investigation, we found that he shared this image on his Facebook and Twitter pages in 2013. This cartoon was titled “#Collaboration (not drawn for a specific topic).” Similar cartoons by Mana Neyestani can be seen (here and here).
On Facebook, Mana Neyestani shared this cartoon alongside an article that addressed hijab rights from the ‘Iran Wire’ news website. He published this cartoon in reference to comments made by women’s rights activist Parvin Bakhtiaranzad during an interview with ‘Iran Wire’ where Bakhtiaranzad asserted that if women choose to wear the hijab, no one has the right to force them to take it off.
Websites and Facebook pages that have credited Mana Neyestani for this cartoon can be found (here and here). Factly previously debunked a claim which attributed this cartoon as addressing Rahul Gandhi and the people of India.
To sum up, this cartoon, created by an Iranian cartoonist, does not address any religious groups in India.
