JEDDAH: The Syrian authorities have arrested cartoonist Akram Raslan of government-owned Al-Fida newspaper after he published cartoons underlining the tragic situation in the country, where a crisis has ignited a civil war.
Raslan worked with Arab News earlier this year. He was born in the city of Souran in 1974, graduated with a literature major from Damascus University in 1996, and worked for Syrian and Lebanese newspapers before he was hired by the Hamah-based Al-Fida newspaper.
One of his colleagues, who preferred to remain anonymous, said there is no information about his condition under detention, but fears of him being harmed by the Syrian authorities are real. “He was arrested because of his drawings that described the poor conditions Syrians are living in after the regime’s forces increased their acts of violence,” he said.
Last year, the Syrian authorities arrested cartoonist Ali Farazat while he driving home from work. They brutally beat him and broke his fingers.
To see some of Akram Raslan's latest Assad cartoons published in Arab News, please click on the links below:
http://www.arabnews.com/?q=cartoon-%E2%80%94-akramrslan-13
