Australian cartoonist’s work submitted to Holocaust contest without his approval

Michael Leunig was temporarily entered into the Iranian Holocaust contest when someone submitted several of his old cartoons without his knowledge. He has since withdrawn his cartoons and participation in the controversial contest.

One of Australia’s best-known cartoonists, Michael Leunig, said on Tuesday an Iranian newspaper withdrew two of his illustrations from its website after someone “maliciously” entered them in a contest about the Holocaust.

Leunig said he learned late on Monday that two of his drawings from four years ago had been submitted to Hamshahri, one of Iran’s top newspapers, as an entry to a competition launched in response to a series of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

“This is a fraud and hoax emanating, we believe, from Australia,” Leunig told ABC radio on Tuesday.

Top