Episode 231| March 09, 2026: Exiled Iranian Editorial Cartoonist Nik Kowsar

Nikahang Kowsar, known as Nik Kowsar, is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian cartoonist, journalist, and water issues analyst born in Tehran, Iran, in 1969. He studied geology at the University of Tehran before launching his cartooning career in 1991 with the satirical magazine Gol-Agha. He contributed to numerous Iranian newspapers like Hamshahri and others, often facing censorship and prosecution for his sharp political satire. In 2000, he was imprisoned for a cartoon depicting a crocodile that critics linked to a hardline cleric, sparking death threats and forcing his exile in 2003. He fled to Canada, later settling in Washington, D.C. Kowsar received the Cartoonists Rights Network International Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning in 2001. Today, he focuses on Iran's severe water crisis through journalism, a weekly video show Abangan, websites like AbanganIran.org, BBC Persian contributions, and TV analysis, while serving on CRNI's board.