Ali Ferzat

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Portrait of Ali Ferzat from Michael Netzer 's Portraits of the Creators Sketchbook

Ali Ferzat ( Arabic علي فرزات; * June 22, 1951 in Hama ) is a Syrian cartoonist .

Life

Started as a cartoonist and criticized corruption

Ali Ferzat started working as a cartoonist at the age of 14 for the Syrian daily Al-Ayyam and went to Al-Thawra in 1969 . From 1970 to 1973 he studied at the Faculty of Arts in Damascus . During the second half of the 1970s Ali Ferzat worked for the government- affiliated newspaper Tishreen and mainly published cartoons on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that made him known in the Arab world and beyond. In 1979 he won first prize at the Berlin International Intergraphic Festival and he drew for international newspapers such as the French daily Le Monde .

However, his critical caricatures also led to hostility. He received a death threat from Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein after an exhibition of his drawings in Paris . He was also banned from entering Jordan , Libya and Iraq for years . He also criticized the government in his home country Syria. After Bashar al-Assad took office in 2000, Ferzat was able to publish a satirical paper Al-Dumari (The Lighter ), before it was banned in government circles in 2003 because of its criticism of corruption . He continued his criticism on the Internet and in cartoons.

Assault and award by Reporters Without Borders

On August 25, 2011, Ferzat was abducted by gunmen in Damascus and brutally beaten. Ferzat suffered particularly severe injuries to his hands, one hand was broken. Opposition representatives and the US government publicly blamed the Syrian authorities for the attack. Shortly after the attack, Ferzat fled to Kuwait , where he now lives in exile.

In early December 2011, Fersat was awarded the ROG Prize for Freedom of the Press as "Journalist of the Year" by the organization Reporters Without Borders for its critical work .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Press kit for the ROG Prize for Press Freedom 2011. (PDF file; 2.54 MB) Reporters Without Borders , 2011.
  2. ↑ USA condemns attacks on Syrian cartoonists. Spiegel Online, August 26, 2011, accessed August 26, 2011 .
  3. ↑ So that he cannot draw in: FAZ of August 27, 2011, page 34
  4. ↑ a b ROG Prize for Press Freedom 2011: ROG Prize for Press Freedom 2011: Syrian cartoonist and Burmese weekly newspaper are awarded Press release from Reporters Without Borders of December 7, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Ferzat, Ali
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Farzat, Ali
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Hama , Syria