He buried his paintings and statues to survive from the black Persecution

Aso-Raed Warraq
The art of drawing and the embodiment of cartoon characters and toys is considered taboos for ISIS, and the perpetrator deserves the provisions of apostasy and infidelity at ISIS, which prevented the drawing, acquisition and viewing in Raqqa, which was under his control and burned large quantities of them and force their owners to attend a religious session.

With the beginning of the organization’s control of the cities, he destroyed the games inside the shops by the fatwa that they are idols and then move to the destruction of statues and monuments in all areas under his control.

He forced the owners of the toy shops and some children who do the drawing to follow religious courses to learn his Islamic jurisprudence and the teachings on which he is based.

Riyad Al-Ahmad an artist from his childhood used to draw comic and cartoon characters and the embodiment of ancient life by making wooden or clay sculptures inherited from his father, who taught him this profession.

Riyad is one of the most skilled artists who are skilled in drawing and designing cartoon characters in full detail, His comrades used to call him “an artist on instinct” for the simplicity of his work and his quiet personality.

This work began when he was 18 years old and began to draw cartoon characters and embodied on cardboard and then decorate them for later use in exhibitions or decorations.

He devised new ways to make up for the lack of materials and colors because of the lack of some materials he needs in the market and begin to use simple materials such as local colors and some environmental products or household items found in each house after recycling.

While remembering the past years, he spoke with sorrow that he had hidden some of his belongings from paintings and figures he had made under his father’s concern for fear of being burned and destroyed by ISIS.

Riyad was forced to leave the work of art and painting and keep this talent secret during the organization’s (ISIS)control Raqqa city, after he conducted a religious course for 15 days with ISIS.
After a growing demand for sculptures, Riyad gradually returned to art.

He worked in the design of decor games, boxes and characters in one of the plays of the Euphrates storyteller.

He pointed out that fear still prevails as a result of the repression he suffered in the past years and think every day during the control of ISIS of the city at the horrible moment when they came to his house and taken to an unknown destination, which turned his life into a nightmare.

He entered the field of decoration and design in 2019 and his actual experience was to contribute to the design and implementation of the decor of the story of the Euphrates storyteller of water well and the drawing and design of comic characters loved by all such as “ Karkouz and Awaz.

He stressed that the design of theater decoration is complex and not every artist can master it and his experience in the group of storyteller Euphrates and contribute to the design of the decoration was a great challenge and a great return for him.

He pointed out that the experience of the Euphrates storyteller is the first of its kind in the region of the Euphrates Valley as far as he knows, no one has done any apparent activity of the theater in this manner since he began to practice art.

The case of “Riyad” represents all the people of the city of Raqqa in general and artists and intellectuals in particular as a result of fighting them harshly and preventing them from practicing any activity in various ways by the security services of ISIS.