The Egyptian Cartoonists Association have expressed their solidarity with the Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat in a small gathering by the Journalists’ syndicate yesterday, Sunday 29 August.

The association will also be holding an exhibition of his work at its headquarters after the Eid holiday, the feast celebrating the end of Ramadan.

Ali Ferzat has gathered international attention after having been beaten up by masked gunmen of the Syrian Shabiha for his outright political criticism.

"What happened to him was expected as the Syrian regime is threatened by all dissident voices," Muhydin Lazikani, his long-time friend and Syrian writer who joined the protest at the syndicate, told Ahram Online.

A number of news agencies report condemnation of the incident. Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Uri Rosenthal has also condemned the incident and is planning to discuss it with the Syrian ambassador in the Netherlands.

The French Foreign Ministry has also expressed disdain at the violent beating, while affirming that political cartoons will remain a symbol of resistance and freedom.  

Ferzat, who is currently in his late fifties, is one of the most important and famous cartoonists in the Arab region. He was born in 1956 in Hama, currently lives in Damascus and is highly critical of the Bashar Al-Assad regime and its brutality.

He has published his works in many Syrian, Arabic and western newspapers, including the French Le Monde, and has won many national and international awards, including first prize at the Damascus Caricature Festival in 1980 and 1982, first prize at the Sophia International Festival in Bulgaria in 1987, and the Dutch Prince Claus Award in 2002.