[4] At the age of 12, he started publishing drawings professionally on the front pages of al-Ayyam newspaper, shortly before it was banned by the ruling Baath Party.

[4] His exhibition in 1989 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, France led to a death threat from Saddam Hussein,[1] and a ban from Iraq, Jordan and Libya.

[9] During the ongoing Syrian Civil War, Farzat had been more direct in his anti-government cartoons, specifically targeting government figures, particularly al-Assad.

Following the fall of Tripoli in late August to anti-government rebels seeking to topple Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, Farzat published a cartoon depicting a sweaty Bashar al-Assad clutching a briefcase running to catch a ride with Gaddafi who is anxiously driving a getaway car.

Other cartoons Farzat published previously include one where al-Assad is whitewashing the shadow of large Syrian security force officer while the actual officer remains untouched with the caption reading "Lifting the emergency law" and another showing al-Assad dressed in a military uniform flexing his arm in front of a mirror.

[10] On 25 August 2011, Farzat was reportedly pulled from his vehicle in Umayyad Square in central Damascus by masked gunmen believed to be part of the security forces and a pro-government militia.

The Local Coordination Committee (LCC), an activist group representing the rebellion in Syria, stated that his briefcase and the drawings in them were confiscated by the assailants.

[15][16] According to the BBC's Arab affair's analyst, Farzat's beating is a sign that the Syrian authorities "tolerance for dissent is touching zero.

"[10] One month earlier, Ibrahim al-Qashoush, the alleged composer of a popular anti-government song, was found dead with his vocal cords removed.

"[7] Farzat's drawings are centred around themes involving criticism of bureaucracy, corruption and hypocrisy within the government and the wealthy elite.