India, June 6 -- 'When people are fighting for democracy, we should support them.' Marjane Satrapi wrote in a letter to the French government in January 2025, barely six months before Israel bombed her birthplace, Rasht, a city in northern Iran. The US joined Israel's attacks six months later, on the pretext of ushering in democracy, killing Ayatollah Khamenei on February 28, 2026. Iran and the larger West Asia region continues to bleed since then.

And Marjane Satrapi has "died of sadness".

The celebrated French-Iranian novelist and filmmaker was a hero to at least two generations of women, and not just in Iran. It was easy to relate to her dark but delightfully illustrated coming-of-age tale, Persepolis.

Sure, not all of us wear hijab...