Renowned Iranian artist rejects French award over Iran 'hypocrisy'
French-Iranian author and illustrator Marjane Satrapi has declined France's highest state honor, the Legion d'Honneur, protesting what she described as the country's "hypocrisy" in its dealings with Iran.
"I can't ignore what I see as a hypocritical attitude towards Iran, which forged the other part of my identity," Satrapi wrote in a letter to France's culture minister, shared on her social media on Monday.
"I can't continue seeing the children of Iranian oligarchs come to spend their holidays in France, even become naturalized, while at the same time young dissidents have difficulty in obtaining a tourist visa to come to see what the country of the Enlightenment and human rights looks like," she added in the Instagram post.
Satrapi, a vocal critic of the Islamic Republic, left the country in 1994 and became a French citizen in 2006. Her work, including Persepolis, has drawn global attention to the challenges of life under Iran's theocratic rule.
