The death of Akram Raslan, an artist known for his

political cartoons A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

, at the hands of the

government of Syria The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succe ...

brought condemnation from various publications around the world. Drawing themes from the Syrian civil war, Raslan had drawn images expressing criticism of Syrian leader

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

and Assad's actions against the Syrian people, as well as criticism of institutions such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. While the cartoonist died in 2013, partial confirmation of the facts around the event were not released until 2015. However, many details remain uncertain.

Background

Akram Raslan was born in the

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n city of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

in 1974. He was awarded the

Cartoonists Rights Network, International Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) is a non-profit organisation created in 1999 in the United States by Dr. Robert "Bro" Russell. It looks to protect the human rights and creative freedom of social and editorial cartoonists An edit ...

(CRNI)'s 2013 winner of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. Since the Syrian Civil War, along with many of Syria's artists, poets, writers and activists, Raslan remained incarcerated. He reportedly faced

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

at the hands of his captors. The news service Albawaba.com ran an article commenting that the "story of Raslan's detainment has become a disturbingly common one for Syrian dissidents."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raslan, Akram Syrian cartoonists People from Hama Syrian contemporary artists Syrian male artists 1974 births 2013 deaths

Background

See also

References