Latest info :
Announcement of the Bassel Khartabil Fellowship in Toronto during the Global CC summit April 2018.
Keynote by Ryan Merkley and Dana Trometer.
Latest News: Freebassel moves to basselkhartabil.org
Speaking at the CC Global Summit 2018 – Toronto
Speaking at the CC Global Summit 2018 – Toronto
Bassel was a close Syrian friend of mine.
Bassel happened to be a computer geek and a bit curious and a smart computer developer, which unfortunately is not safe when:
*You live in a country like Syria.
*You are palestinian.
*You happen to set up a hackerspace in damascus during the Arab Spring uprising.
I met Bassel in Beirut during my frequent travels to the region and I was pretty shaken when I knew he was arrested in the Mazzeh District on the 15th March 2012.
So I started digging for Bassel’s friends online, and started finding more about him as a friend , fiance, son, developper … name it; I started falling in love with the character that I knew vaguely and I devoted my time since 2012 to find him.
I first found his online friends, as he was extremely connected to Creative Commons and open source communities round the globe ; then I found his partner Noura , a human rights lawyer, who later became one of my closest friends.
Anyways to cut story short , I have lead the campaign of freebassel for almost 5 years with noura and Bassel’s best friend – Jon Phillips and we have achieved milestones in keeping Bassel alive for many years and in touch with his family until the 3rd october 2015 when regime forces came into his cell and took him away.
In august 2017, we had to announce that Bassel have been executed soon after her was taken away in 2015 with no body to reclaim.
Since Bassel’s disappearance many projects have seen the light through the campaign and some press below to shed light on how strong this campaign grew and how international it has been.
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Jimmy Wales calling for the release of Bassel.
In preparation for his 5th anniversary of disappearance #freebassel campaign will be launching more activities to celebrate #freebasselday ! Join us in the calls to ask for his release
MORE ABOUT CAMPAIGN AND BASSEL (Wikipedia)
Latest NEWS:
Ayouni : Latest Film By Yasmin Fedda featuring the story of Bassel/ OUT internationally online 1st July 2020
Private Internet Access
Linux Journal
Guardian Newspaper
Wired Magazine
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Creative Commons
#HAPPYBDAYBASSEL 2016