Iran - Iranian dissident cartoonist Mana Neyestani says drawing has been his salvation and a weapon to combat his own personal demons as well as Tehran's hardline Islamist regime.

Neyestani's autobiographical comic book "An Iranian Metamorphosis," a Kafkaesque story recounting his jailing in Iran over a cartoon depicting a cockroach that sparked riots in 2006, is due to hit stores on February 16.

"With this book, I wanted to share my experiences but also to forget my worst nightmares, when I was arrested in 2006," said Neyestani, who has been in exile for the past five years and last month applied for political asylum in France.