Ali Ferzat was forced to close down his weekly independent newspaper, had his fingers broken by the Assad regime and was left for dead in a street off Damascus.

But for as long as he lives, Syria's best-known political cartoonist will continue to expose corruption and brutality through his art.

The world-renowned cartoonist believes his work has played an important part in the revolution, with his illustrations reproduced on placards through Syria's war-torn streets.

Mr Ferzat, winner of the European Parliament's 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and named among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2012, is in Malta to deliver a lecture tomorrow at 10am at the University Common Room.

Read his full interview in tomorrow's edition of Times of Malta and on timesofmalta.com.