ZUNAR
Zunar (Zulkiflee Sm Anwar Ulhaque) is a political cartoonist from Malaysia. With slogan, “How Can I be Neutral, Even My Pen Has a Stand”, he exposes corruption and abuse of power committed by the government of Malaysia through his art.
Zunar is now facing nine charges under the archaic Sedition Act and facing possible 43 years imprisonment and the court proceeding will start on 9 Sept 2015. He was detained and locked behind bars twice under the Sedition Act – first time was on September 2010 for two days and recently on 10th of February 2015 for three days.
Five of his cartoon books have been banned by the Malaysian government on the ground that the contents are “detrimental to public order.” His office in Kuala Lumpur has been raided a few times and thousands of his cartoon books were confiscated.
The printers, vendors, and bookstores, have been harassed. Their premises have been raided and they have been warned not to print or carry any of his books or their bussiness licence will be revoked.
Last October, three of his assistants were arrested and taken to the police station for selling his latest cartoon books. The webmaster, who manages his website and online bookstore, was called in by the police for questioning.
Zunar is the only Malaysian selected by Amnesty International as the first Malaysian for their biggest annual international campaign, ‘Write for Rights (#W4R) 2015′.
Award:
1) “Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award 2011” by Cartoonists Right
Network International
2) Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammett Award for 2011 & 2015
3) International Press Fredom Award, Commitee to Protect Journalist, New York 2015
