Ali Farzat

Journeys

Biography

Ali Farzat is widely regarded as the Arab world's greatest living political cartoonist. Born in Hama in 1951, his satirical cartoons have challenged Arab authoritarian rulers for over five decades. He founded Al-Domari (The Lamplighter) in 2001 — the first independent publication in Syria in 40 years — which the Assad regime shut down in 2003. On August 25, 2011, regime security forces stopped his car in Damascus and deliberately broke both his hands — a targeted message about his anti-regime cartoons. He won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2011 and was named to Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2012. He lives in exile in Kuwait.