2002 Prince Claus laureate Ali Ferzat last years work is on show in the Mica Gallery, London from 20 March till 29 March. 

Political cartoonist and ‘icon of freedom in the Arab world’ Ali Ferzat has spent decades satirizing Arab rulers and authorities in more than 15,000 caricatures, offering an acute visual commentary on the brutal practices of the Syrian Ba’ath regime.

Ferzat launched the satirical newspaper, Al-Domari ("Lamp-lighter") in 2001, which was forced to close by the Ba'ath authorities in 2003, and his cartoons have been banned in several Arab countries. For denouncing the corruption and abuses of Bashar Al-Assad’s rule, he was attacked in August by masked gunmen, who broke his hands as a warning.

Ferzat received the 2002 Prince Claus Award because his cartoons 'above all address local issues, their visual vocabulary makes them universally appealing and relevant. Farzat utilises all that he has to hand and takes it as far as possible to create a space for social comment and debate. His pointed caricatures, published in the domestic and foreign press, inspire his ‘readers’ to reach sincere interpretations of their daily lives and to consider politics, economics and society from new angles.' This is still applicable for his current work.

In 2011, he was awarded the Press Freedom Prize by Reporters Without Borders and Le Monde. He has been nominated for Index on Censorship's 2012 award for artists, filmmakers and writers whose work asserts artistic freedom and battles against repression and injustice.

This is an extremely rare chance to see work produced by Ali Ferzat over the course of the last year.

Ali Ferzat will also be discussing his work at a forthcoming event hosted by Amnesty International on Thursday March 22nd. For more details click here.

This Mosaic Initiative for Syria event, which is part of Reel Syria 2012, is sponsored by Amnesty International, Mosaic Initiative for Syria and Firefly International.