LONDON: Protesters in Iran have been hailed as “beautiful and inspiring” by Marjane Satrapi, the creator of the celebrated graphic novel “Persepolis.” The cartoonist and film director, whose novel depicts her childhood in Iran before and after the revolution in 1979, told The Guardian: “What I have lived, the youth is living now. My hope is that the situation will go toward something beautiful that is called freedom and democracy. “And the huge difference with my time is the boys were not with us. The beauty now is that there are boys and girls together. So this is what gives me hope as well as feeling extremely sad because of all this violence. There is nothing more beautiful and inspiring than their courage.” The artist has not returned to Iran in more than two decades as a result of authoring “Persepolis,” which was adapted into an acclaimed 2007 animation film. “I have not been back to Iran in 22 years,” she said. “It’s a big price to pay. But to risk your life on the streets is a much bigger sacrifice.”