Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, better known as Zunar, is known for his biting humor and satirical critique of Malaysian politics. He has been subject to raids, arrests and harassment under Malaysia’s increasingly strict censorship laws and is currently facing up to 43 years in prison for the publication of a series of cartoons that the government alleges ‘violate’ Malaysia’s Sedition Act. He has received numerous awards for his work including the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award from the Cartoonists’ Rights Network, the Hullman/Hammett Award from Human Rights Watch and the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Featured Biographies
Zunar
Cartoonist
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.