Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat: 'These people are not Muslims'

AFP

Wednesday’s deadly attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 — including four of the country’s most famous cartoonists — prompted other artists to share their thoughts on the shootings, freedom of speech, and whether the media can recover from the terror in Paris.

Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat told Buzzfeed: "These people are not Muslims."

Ferzat didn’t seem to agree with Charlie Hebdo’s publication of drawings satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, a suspected motivation for the attack. “Art shouldn’t be insulting to other people. Art should bebigger than that,” he said. “It should bring people together, not drive people apart.”

But the 63-year-old Ferzat — who has been threatened by extremists for satirizing them — was also quick to condemn the attacks. “I’m in favor of free speech, and I think God, or the law, should be the one to hold people accountable for such drawings,” he said. “I am very sad about such an act of violence.”