An ostensibly harmless cartoon sparks a scandal. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic for a satirical magazine in Istanbul, it is a risqué joke about sex, not a political statement.

Yet Turkish authorities deem the drawing a threat to public morality. Cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu is charged with obscenity under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, facing up to three years in prison for a joke.

Years of uncertainty, intimidation and anxiety follow. With biting humour, Ömeroğlu exposes a judicial system that wears artists down through endless proceedings, expert assessments, hearings and psychological pressure.

Written during her Safe Haven Fellowship at NIAS, this autobiographical graphic novel reveals the paradox of censorship: in trying to silence an artist, an authoritarian regime amplifies her voice. Ömeroğlu’s ordeal brings her international recognition as a symbol of freedom of expression and artistic freedom.

In 2025, Zehra Ömeroğlu received the prestigious Robert Russell Courage Prize from Cartoonists Rights, honouring cartoonists who demonstrate courage in the face of significant personal risks and threats to their freedom.