The New York Times
Syria’s leading political cartoonist was hospitalized with multiple bone fractures after masked gunmen abducted and beat him, then dumped him on the side of a road. The Times notes that the attack on Ali Farzat came days after he published a cartoon showing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “hitching a ride out of town with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, who was toppled from power this week.” Farzat has been critical of Assad since the start of the Syrian uprising in March. The Times quotes a friend, Ayad Sharbaji, who visited Farzat in the hospital:
“They told him as they were burning his beard, ‘We’ll see what you will draw from now on,’ ” Mr. Sharbaji said. “ ‘How dare you disobey your masters?’ ”
