Zunar (Zulkiflee Sm Anwar Ulhaque) is a political cartoonist from Malaysia. With his 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. Until 2018, he was facing nine charges under the archaic Sedition Act, was subject to a travel ban and facing possible 43 years imprisonment. Five of his cartoon books had been banned by the previous Malaysian government on the ground that their content was “detrimental to public order.” Charges that were dropped following the change of government.
Zunar was the only Malaysian selected by Amnesty International as the first Malaysian for their biggest annual international campaign, ‘Write for Rights (#W4R) 2015′.
He won the “Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award 2011” by Cartoonists Right Network International, the Human Rights Watch Hellman/Hammett Award for 2011 & 2015 and the International Press Freedom Award, Committee to Protect Journalist, New York 2015. He won the Cartooning for Peace Award in May 2016 in Geneva.
