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Amother kisses her dead 19-year-old son, weeps and embraces him one last time. Her grief overwhelms her as his body is lowered into its grave — another victim of the protests after Iran’s presidential election last year.

The powerful footage on YouTube of a cemetery near Tehran struck a chord with one writer, who decided to do something about it.

“It was hard to watch the dreams of yet another generation shattered, to watch Iran’s children get buried in the ground,” said Amir, an Iranian author who for safety reasons doesn’t publish his last name.

He decided then that there was a story to tell: “A jolt of electricity, something goes through you, a feeling that enough is enough.”

Amir turned his anger into “Zahra’s Paradise.” The black-and-white graphic novel follows other realistic comic books tailored for a more mature audience, such as “Persepolis,” by Marjane Satrapi, and Art Spiegelman’s “Maus.” It is the latest protest against Iran’s cleric-led regime.

The work, with drawings by another artist called Khalil, is published on the Internet with book publication to follow. It tells the story of Zahra, searching for her son, who has gone missing after a demonstration in the Iranian capital.

Her quest takes place against the backdrop of political mayhem and provides a glimpse into the lives of ordinary Iranians who rose up against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Her anguish illustrates the voice of the Iranian opposition amid the crackdown.

About 5,000 people have been arrested since the start of protests last June. The authorities say most have been released, that 44 people died and two were executed. Human rights groups say the death toll is at least twice as high.

“Zahra’s Paradise” refers to a cemetery outside Tehran where some opposition protesters are buried.

It is “truly an Iranian story,” says Mark Siegel, editorial director of First Second, a publisher of graphic novels that is part of the Macmillan Group, which plans to publish the book next year.

But the work also reaches out to an international audience because it tackles universal themes such as maternal affection, the quest for a missing loved one and repression, Siegel says.

The Web site story is in eight languages including Farsi, Korean, Dutch and Arabic, with more to be added soon, The site got 40,000 unique visitors in its first month.

The work seeks to give “a layered portrait” of Iran, away from the simplistic vision depicted by US politicians, and to center the discourse in Iran on human rights, Siegel says.

“The Iranian regime is very conveniently trying to keep the focus on its nuclear program and avoid human rights,” he says. If the book “can humanize Iran, it will be harder to fall for the rhetoric we are hearing in Washington.”

With three new pages posted on the Internet every week, the story is told almost live as events unfold in Iran, he says.

Amir wrote in an e-mail that one episode, inspired by accusations from opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi that detainees were raped in custody at a detention center, led to calls for a judicial inquiry.

Amir, who now lives in the United States, gets his ideas from the Iran he is familiar with and news from the country, including firsthand accounts, and videos on the Internet.

“You watch what’s happening in Iran, hear and speak to friends and family, and some things get seared into you,” he said. “I’ve stuffed everything and everyone in the blender.”   The Washington Post