Twelve years after the arrest of Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan, CPJ is unable to determine his status, whereabouts, or whether he is still alive. In early 2020, CPJ received news that he was alive, but was unable to verify the report.
Raslan, a cartoonist for the Hama-based newspaper Al-Fedaa who contributed to several other news websites, was arrested on October 2, 2012, by intelligence officials at his office, according to news reports. His cartoons, which criticized the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, were published on his blog and several websites, including Al-Jazeera.
In June 2014, Cartoon Rights Network International (CRNI), which has closely tracked Raslan’s case, reported in an article that has since disappeared that the then-Syrian Permanent Mission to the United Nations said Raslan had been arrested for publishing cartoons that "offended the state’s prestige" and he was under investigation. In September 2015, the Syrian news outlet Souriatna Press reported Raslan died in custody a few months after his arrest, citing an unnamed detainee who was recently released from prison. According to the detainee, Raslan died in a hospital where he had been transferred for treatment after his health deteriorated in connection with torture. The report prompted a wide outpouring of support for Raslan from Syrian journalists, cartoonists, and activists. The then-Syrian government did not publicly confirm or deny the Souriatna Press report.
However, a close friend of Raslan who spoke to CPJ in September 2020 on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said Raslan was charged with undermining state security and public trust, treason, and dealing with the enemy and was sentenced in 2013 by a state security court to life in prison.
CRNI reported that he might have been executed by the Syrian regime after being sentenced to life imprisonment on July 26, 2013. But after reports emerged in October 2013 that Raslan was still alive and his family said they could not confirm his death, CRNI amended its statement and said it was working to verify those claims. CRNI Executive Director Terry Anderson told CPJ in November 2024 that the group had no new information on Raslan’s case. “Though unconfirmed, we are of the strong opinion that he perished while a prisoner.”
Raslan’s name did not appear on any of the lists of dead detainees the Syrian government released in summer 2018. However, Raslan is listed as dead on the Violations Documentation Center’s list of detainees who died in custody. The organization states he died on October 12, 2013, but that the exact date of his death couldn’t be confirmed. The list did not provide further information on what that date was based on.
In early 2020, sources in Syria told Raslan’s friend that the journalist was still alive and being held in a Damascus detention facility run by Syrian military intelligence with at least six underground stories holding other journalists and writers. Raslan’s friend told CPJ he could not disclose his sources for security reasons.
A 2021 report by the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights found that over 100,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Syria since 2011, the vast majority by the Syrian regime.
In late 2024, CPJ emailed the then-Syrian mission to the United Nations and the then-Syrian ministry of defense for information on the status of imprisoned Syrian journalists but received to response. The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8 after opposition groups launched a surprise offensive and the whereabouts of Akram remained unclear in early 2025.