Iranian cartoonist Kianoush Ramezani is among some 150 Iranian intellectuals, media workers, journalists, and bloggers who were forced to leave Iran following the postelection crackdown in 2009. According to Amnesty International, as many as 5,000 people were arrested in Iran following weeks of antigovernment demonstrations.

Ramezani is the founder of Iran's first Cartoonist Society and the president of the Cartoonist Society of Gilan.