Syrian cartoonists lampoon Bashar Assad and Islamic State
Syrian cartoonists are risking their lives as they take aim at both the Assad regime and Islamic State. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, reports Dan Boylan, the danger is more evident than ever
As the sun set on a chilly day last winter, a young Syrian artist deeply engaged in his country's revolution stared out the window at a dark figure lurking in the street below his Istanbul office, near Taksim Square, the heart of Turkey's biggest city.
Scared and suspicious, Amjad Wardeh stepped back to his desk and put the final touches to a cartoon so packed with dark humour that news wire service Reuters eventually covered it, several leading Arabic newspapers republished it and its merits were debated in Washington DC, in the United States, and Syria.
The 30-year-old refugee, a graduate of the Damascus University Faculty of Fine Arts, had created a chillingly simple image: an explosion in the shape of a Christmas tree with the headline, "Bashar al-Assad wishes you a merry Christmas." After completing the work, Wardeh covered his face with his scarf, slipped on an overcoat and walked home across a cold and crowded Taksim Square.
A day after the cartoon was published on a pro-revolution social media site, a modified version appeared elsewhere online. The Christmas tree-shaped explosion remained but a gruesome beheading scene had been added. Also, instead of lampooning the Syrian president, there was a new headline: "The Islamic State wishes you a merry Christmas." It is assumed the alterations were carried out by Assad's regime.
Wardeh is bearded and built like a middleweight boxer. His eyes narrow behind a pair of thick glasses when he recalls his fears.
"It is hard to tell if anyone was ever really watching me," Wardeh says. "But, obviously, they monitored everything I did online."
