CAPE TIMES cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, aka Zapiro, has added another feather to his cap by bagging the prestigious 2006-2007 Cartoonists Rights Network Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning.

Zapiro, winner of multiple awards, was honoured at a dinner hosted by the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) in Washington, DC on Friday night.

According to a CRNI press release, the award is presented to a cartoonist who "faces great danger as a result of his or her professional work".

Last year's winners were Algerian cartoonist Ali Dilem and the 12 Danish cartoonists who published a range of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist in Danish newspaper the Jyllands Posten.

And the CRNI did not stop at presenting Zapiro with an award: it offered its considerable influence to the ongoing legal battle between the cartoonist and former South African deputy president Jacob Zuma.

In a letter dated June 23, CRNI executive director Robert Russell called on Zuma to reconsider his R15 million defamation suit against Zapiro.

"We appeal to your wisdom and, frankly, your good sense of humour and ask that you drop this lawsuit," Russell said in the letter.

He added: "Being a statesman and taking swipes at the local media are inconsistent ... Subverting SA's free press today invites disaster for your proposed administration in 2009.

"Please, sir, surprise everybody: just laugh Mr Shapiro's cartoons off your back." - Staff Writer

With acknowledgements to Cape Times