Iran launches Holocaust cartoon competition

The Second International Holocaust Cartoons Contest hasbeen launched in Iran, in response to Charlie Hebdo’s publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.

The competition is organised by Tehran-based House of Cartoon and the Sarcheshmeh Cultural Complex

The winner will receive a cash prize of $12,000, the runner up $8000 and third place $5000.

The contest is not unprecedented in Iran. In 2006, the Hamsharhri daily launched a similar contest in response to a Danish newspaper publishing of caricatures of the Prophet.

House of Cartoon’s Masoud Shojaei-Tabatabaii, said at the time that the contest exposed the “West’s double standards when it comes to freedom of expression.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president until 2013, called the Holocaust a “myth” designed to protect the existence of Israel.