Cartoonists still persecuted ten years after Charlie Hebdo massacre

Ten years after the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, in which eight members of the Paris-based satirical weekly’s staff were killed, its staff remain under heavy police protection and their safety cannot be taken for granted. A new attack took place outside the magazine’s former headquarters in September 2020 in which two employees of the Premières Lignes documentary production company were assaulted with a meat cleaver by a man whose trial opened on 6 January.

In January 2023, Charlie Hebdo was targeted by the Iranian authorities, who put pressure on the French government and issued threats against its staff after it published caricatures of the Supreme Leader and mullahs. The magazine is also facing legal proceedings in Turkey for “insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan” by publishing a cartoon of him in October 2020. Four of its staff members are facing a possible sentence of more than four years in prison in a trial that has been pending since an initial hearing in November 2021. 

Prosecution and censorship are among the methods preferred by countries that want to silence all criticism such as China, which is increasingly using international pressure to censor cartoonists critical of the government who have fled abroad, and even to have them extradited in order to jail them. But the methods used to combat cartoonists’ freedom to inform, for which RSF and Cartooning for Peace continue to wage a constant battle, are varied and also include defamation campaigns and intimidation, as well as judicial harassment, censorship and detention. The following 20 emblematic cases of attacks on the satirical media’s freedom during the past decade show the scale of the persecution of cartoonists worldwide.

Ashraf Omar (Egypt): held for past five months pending trial on trumped-up charges

Ashraf Omar, an Egyptian translator and cartoonist for the independent news website Al-Manassa, is currently held pending trial in Cairo. His detention has been extended seven times since his arrest at home on 22 July 2024, a few days after publishing cartoons about Egypt’s debt crisis and power cuts. He has been charged with “joining a terrorist group,” spreading “false information” and “misusing social media” without any evidence being presented. During a six-hour interrogation by the supreme state security prosecutor’s office, which is used to prosecute human rights defenders, media workers and government opponents on terrorism charges, he was asked whether his cartoons were intended to incite the public to violence. 

Ricardo “Alecus” Clement (Salvador): subjected to intimidation on social media

Known as Alecus, Ricardo Clement is one of El Salvador’s most influential cartoonists. Renowned above all for his incisive criticism of President Nayib Bukele’s administration, he was subjected to a wave of intimidation in 2023 after publishing cartoons questioning the government’s authoritarian policies, including its declaration of a state of emergency that led to thousands of arbitrary detentions. His work, published in outlets such as the El Faro news site, elicited smear campaigns and threats on social media from government supporters. These attacks were aimed not only at silencing him, but also at discrediting his work. Despite the pressure, Alecus remains a key figure in denouncing human rights violations in El Salvador and in the use of visual humour as a tool of resistance to authoritarianism. 

Jimmy Spire Ssetongon (Uganda): fearing for his life 

Jimmy Spire Ssetongon is an award-winning, self-taught cartoonist who has worked for various outlets including The Observer newspaper. In 2023, he announced that he would stop contributing to the Cartooning for Peace campaigns, for which he had provided cartoons on such issues such as poor road infrastructure, public health and safety. He feared for his life after receiving reports of threats against him. In 2024, he was also subjected to online harassment after launching an anti-corruption campaign on X. 

Al-Hudood (Jordan): blocked satire 

Launched in Jordan in 2013 and currently operating from its exile base in the United Kingdom, the satirical news website Al-Hudood(“The Borders” in Arabic) does not hesitate to tackle sensitive subjects such as corruption or poor governance in the Middle East. Its humour is known to irritate the regimes it criticizes and it says on its website that its journalists and cartoonists “remain anonymous for obvious security reasons.” In July 2023, Jordanian authorities blocked access to the site within the kingdom without specifying the reason. The ban was decreed shortly after Al-Hudood mocked lavish spending linked to the Jordanian crown prince’s wedding. 

Rachita Taneja (India): facing six months in prison for “contempt of court” 

Rachita Taneja is known for “Sanitary Panels,” her online comic strip on Facebook, Instagram and X (the former Twitter), in which she comments on social and political news with humour and insight. In 2019 and 2020, she also wrote a weekly column for Forbes India. In 2021, she was charged with “contempt of court” over three satirical cartoons about interactions between Indian political and judicial figures that she had posted on her @Sanitarypanels Twitter page in 2020. A member of the student wing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had filed a complaint claiming that the cartoons undermined public confidence in the judicial system. She is still awaiting trial on these charges, for which she could be sentenced to six months in prison. 

Manjul (India): two complaints about posts on X 

In an email on 4 June 2021, the legal department of Twitter (now renamed X) notified award-winning Indian cartoonist Manjul that it had received a request from an “authorised entity (such as law enforcement agency or a government agency)” for the removal of content from his account on the grounds that it violated India’s laws. Manjul had just posted a series of cartoons criticising the Modi government’s inaction in the face of the second Covid-19 wave, which hit India hard. The email told him that Twitter had taken no action in response to the request (about which it provided no details) but it suggested that he could respond in various ways, including seeking legal counsel or removing content, if he so wished. After initially seeking help from the Internet Freedom Foundation about filing a “Right To Information” (RTI) request, Manjul eventually abandoned his attempt to identify the complainant. A few days after receiving the message, he was fired by the Network18 media outlet. On 3 January 2025, Manjul received a similar message from X notifying him that the Mumbai police had complained about one of his cartoons.

Ahmed Kabir Kishore (Bangladesh): tortured while held over cartoon diary during Covid-19 pandemic

Well-known Bangladeshi cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore kept a cartoon diary about politics in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic. Posted on social media and entitled “Life in the Time of Corona,” it including cartoons about cases of corruption related to the pandemic. Arrested on 5 May 2020, he was detained on a charge of “spreading rumours and misinformation” on Facebook about the pandemic under the very Kafkaesque Digital Security Act of 2018. After being held for more than ten months, he was finally released on bail on 4 March 2021 as a result of a decision issued by the Bangladesh High Court the day before. He showed signs of torture on his body when released from prison. Three months later, on 13 June 2021, authorities filed new charges of “anti-government rumours and activities” against him under the same law. He fled the country on 7 December 2021 and now lives in exile in Sweden.

Opptertus “Optatus” Fwema (Tanzania): held for two weeks over cartoon of president 

Tanzanian cartoonist Opptertus “Optatus” Fwema was arrested at his home on 24 September 2021 after posting a cartoon on Instagram that portrayed President Samia Suluhu as a child playing with a basin of water while her perceived mentor, former President Jakaya Kikwete, protected her from criticism and reassured the public, highlighting his continuing influence in Tanzanian politics. Fwema was held for nearly two weeks on a charge of “publishing false information” under the Cybercrime Act before being released on bail. After hearings were repeatedly postponed, the case was finally dropped in September 2022. 

Zehra Ömeroglu (Türkiye): facing up to three years in prison on obscenity charge 

An Istanbul criminal court is currently trying Zehra Ömeroglu, a cartoonist working for two satirical magazines, Bayan Yani (“The Female Face”), which is mainly run by women, and Leman. She is accused of obscenity in connection with a cartoon published on 25 November 2020 in Leman that was captioned “Sex and pandemic: phew, no loss of taste and smell!” An initial report by the Commission for Obscene Publications (linked to the General Directorate of Children’s Services at the Ministry of Family and Social Services) concluded in March 2024 that the cartoon was obscene. At the end of the 11th hearing on 26 September, the court requested a second opinion, this time from three experts with a state university, who must assess the cartoon’s artistic or literary qualities. Ömeroglu is facing a possible sentence of six months to three years in prison at the end of the trial, which is due to resume on 6 February. 

Musa Kart (Türkiye): held for 14 months for “supporting an illegal organisation” 

A cartoonist for 42 years, Musa Kart was working for the daily Cumhuriyet (“Republic” in Turkish) when an Istanbul court sentenced him in November 2019 to three and a half years in prison for “supporting an illegal organisation.” He is one of 12 Cumhuriyet employees – journalists and administrators – who were sentenced to up to eight years in prison in connection with the newspaper’s liberal editorial line and criticism of President Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism. Released under judicial supervision after spending nine months in preventive detention and then serving five months of his sentence, Musa Kart is currently banned from leaving the country and is still awaiting a final decision from the Court of Cassation. 

Tempo magazine (Indonesia): harassed by religious and political groups 

A radical group called the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) staged a protest outside the headquarters of the Indonesian weekly Tempo in March 2018 after it published a cartoon allegedly showing their leader – accused of pornography – in the presence of a woman without a veil and wearing a tank top. Some of the protesters stormed its offices in order to intimidate staff and demand an apology to all Muslims, which Tempo refused to give on the grounds that it would seriously undermine press freedom and the right to inform. A year and a half later, in September 2019, supporters of President Joko Widodo demonstrated outside the Press Council building in protest against a Tempo cartoon portraying Widodo with a long, Pinocchio-like nose, which insulted the president, they said. Tempo responded that it was just a metaphor for the accusations being made by anti-corruption activists. 

Jaime Andrés “Bacteria” Poveda (Colombia): charged with “aggravated criminal defamation” 

Known as “Bacteria,” Colombia’s Jaime Andrés Poveda has been subjected to repeated intimidation attempts in connection with his satirical cartoons, including cartoons for the newspaper El Espectador. In 2019, former President Álvaro Uribe sued him for “aggravated criminal defamation” – which is punishable by up to 72 months in prison – over an ironic tweet likening Uribe to criminal gang leaders. After no significant action was taken on the case for several years, it was reactivated by the prosecutor’s office in 2023. In addition to these judicial proceedings, Bacteria has been the target of threats on social media, reflecting the constant harassment of government critics in Colombia. In May 2010, some of his cartoons, especially those featuring politicians, were reported and blocked on Facebook, triggering a debate about freedom of expression and the limits of online satire. 

Pedro X. Molina (Nicaragua): leading target of Ortega-Murillo persecution of critics 

Pedro X. Molina, the Nicaraguan cartoonist known as PxMolina, has been one of the most prominent victims of the harsh crackdown engineered by President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo. After massive anti-government protests led to the forced closure of the Confidencial news website, PxMolina and everyone else working for the site were forced into exile in 2018. His cartoons critical of the government’s corruption, authoritarianism and repression made him the target of threats, surveillance and smear campaigns orchestrated by government supporters. From exile, PxMolina continues to denounce human rights violations in Nicaragua and to publish his cartoons in such international media as Politico, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Courrier International. His case has become a symbol of how the Ortega-Murillo regime uses censorship and persecution to silence its critics. 

Badiucao (China): shows cancelled under Chinese pressure 

A Chinese political cartoonist who has chosen to live in Australia since 2009, Badiucao has used his cartoons to denounce human rights violations in China, the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and the persecution of minorities such as the Uyghurs. Because of his cartoons critical of the Chinese government in international media such as the New York Times and the BBC, the Chinese authorities orchestrate online harassment campaigns against Badiucao and subject his relatives in China to police interrogations. His exhibitions, such as one in Hong Kong in 2018 that was to have been part of Free Expression Week, are sometimes cancelled following interference from Beijing that highlights Chinese repression’s international reach. In 2023, the Chinese authorities sent an email to the Polish government requesting the cancellation of his show in Warsaw on the grounds that it constituted “an attack on the image of China and Chinese leaders.” The Polish government resisted the pressure. 

Ramon Esono Ébalé (Equatorial Guinea): jailed on counterfeiting and money-laundering charges 

The career of Ramon Esono Ebalé, an Equatorial Guinean cartoonist known as Jamón y Queso (“Ham and Cheese”), has been marked by his arrest in the country’s capital, Malabo, in September 2017. After the police held him without charge for more than two months, trumped-up charges of “counterfeiting” and “money laundering” were brought against him on the grounds that the police allegedly found the equivalent of 1,500 euros in counterfeit banknotes in his car. During interrogation, the police had nonetheless questioned him about his cartoons of Equatorial Guinean leaders. In addition to his cartoons, he illustrated the comic strip Obi’s Nightmare, a satire on corruption and misgovernance in Equatorial Guinea. He was finally released and the charges were dropped in March 2018, a few days after the police officer responsible for the charges admitted to fabricating the case. The cartoonist’s arbitrary detention highlighted the constant persecution and dangers to which government critics are exposed in Equatorial Guinea. 

Jiang Yefei (China): refugee extradited by Thailand and jailed for “state subversion” 

A refugee in Thailand since 2008 who was known for his satirical cartoons for the US online magazine Boxun, Jiang Yefei was arrested by the Thai authorities in 2015 at China’s request and was extradited back to China despite his UN-recognised refugee status. After a secret trial, he was sentenced in 2018 to six and a half years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power” in his cartoons critical of the government. He was released in 2022 after serving his sentence. Before his trial, he spent nearly three years in solitary confinement, during which time he was shown on Chinese state media displaying visible signs of physical abuse. Before fleeing to Thailand, Jiang had already been imprisoned and tortured several times in connection with his cartoons. 

Wong “Zunzi” Kei-kwan (Hong Kong): censorship ended 40-year career 

Wong Kei-kwan, the Hong Kong cartoonist known as Zunzi, began producing satirical cartoons about the territory’s politics in 1983 and was famous above all for his comic strips in the newspaper Ming Pao. However, after the national security law’s imposition in 2020, his cartoons denouncing authoritarian excesses and controversial reforms were the subject of numerous public complaints by the Hong Kong authorities, finally resulting in Ming Pao’s decision to stop publishing them in 2023 and the removal of his work from Hong Kong public libraries. His last published cartoon, criticising the appointment of local council members, had annoyed the secretary of state for home and youth affairs. 

Ah To (Hong Kong): forced to flee

A cartoonist committed to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, Ah To was forced to flee the territory in 2023 because of the threat of prosecution in a crackdown on press freedom and harassment by local authorities. His cartoons exposed abuse of authority by the Hong Kong and Beijing governments and covered sensitive topics such as the national security law, the electoral system’s overhaul, and the 2019 protests. He had been subjected to mounting pressure, including the elimination of his columns from the Ming Pao newspaper and Yahoo News in 2020, and threats of being charged with defaming the government and police.

Bill Leak (Australia): death threats over a cartoon 

An Australian cartoonist who died of a heart attack in March 2017, Bill Leak was known for his talent, incisive humour and polarising views. He was the target death threats, notably when The Weekend Australian newspaper published a cartoon by him of the Prophet Muhammad after the Charlie Hebdo attacks. His critics accused him of being offensive, while his admirers saw him as a free speech advocate and satirical genius. In 2016, one of his cartoons of an Indigenous man was labelled as racist and was the subject of a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission. But the complaint was later withdrawn. The winner of nine Walkley Awards – which recognise excellence in journalism in Australia – he has left an indelible mark on satirical cartooning and portraiture in his country. 

Sakda Sae-iew aka “Sia Thairath” (Thailand): summoned for “attitude adjustment” session 

In October 2015, a satirical cartoon of Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the then prime minister and head of a military junta called the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), was published by Thairath, Thailand’s most widely circulated newspaper. Drawn by Sakda Sae-iew, who is known as Sia Thairath and is one of Thailand’s most famous cartoonists, it made fun of an address by Prayuth to the UN General Assembly pledging to restore democracy in Thailand and hold elections, and it contrasted his speech with Thailand’s domestic problems  As a result, the cartoonist was summoned by the NCPO on 4 October 2015 for an “attitude adjustment” session, a method used by the junta to intimidate those deemed to be “subversive.”