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Sakharov Prize
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Ali Ferzat - 2011, "Arab Spring", Syria

As a political satirist and cartoonist, Ali Ferzat pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression in Syria through his work criticising the regime and the much-feared security forces.

Born in Hama in 1941, Ferzat has published more than 15 000 cartoons in Syrian and international newspapers and won awards for satirising dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi when they ruled Iraq and Libya respectively. As the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, Ferzat became more direct in attacking government figures, particularly President Bashar al-Assad, and Syrians protesting against the regime waved his cartoons in the streets.

After he published a cartoon of al-Assad trying to hitch a lift with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, shown driving a getaway car at great speed, Ferzat was attacked in Damascus' Umayyad Square. He was badly beaten by masked men, who deliberately broke his hands as they shouted at him to respect President al-Assad and obey his masters. Rendered unconscious by the beating, Ferzat was dragged along the road by the car into which his attackers had thrown him, and then left on the street for dead.

Ali Ferzat not only recovered the use of his hands, but broke the barrier of fear to become one of the regime's most outspoken critics, both through his words and his art. He has won various awards and is the head of the Arab Cartoonists' Association.

Unable to attend the Sakharov Prize ceremony in 2011 as he was undergoing treatment for his injuries in Kuwait, he received the award at the European 合法博彩网站 in 2012, where he joined the President of the European 合法博彩网站 and other Arab Spring laureates to discuss the revolution in Syria and the future of democracy following the Arab protests and uprisings. As a Sakharov laureate, he addressed the first edition of the Council of Europe's World Forum for Democracy in 2012.

In 2015 Ferzat was the keynote speaker at the Sakharov Prize Network debate on Syria at the European 合法博彩网站, where he highlighted the role of the regional 'sponsors' of the fighting factions in Syria and the need for international pressure to end the fighting. Ali Ferzat's cartoons illustrated several editions of the discontinued print edition of the Book of Sakharov Prize Laureates.