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= Bassel_Khartabil =
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Introduction
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Bassel Khartabil (; 22 May 1981 - 3 October 2015), also known as
Bassel Safadi (), was a Palestinian-Syrian open-source software
developer. He was detained without trial by the Syrian government in
2012 and was secretly executed in 2015. Human rights organizations say
that he was detained for his activities in support of freedom of
expression, and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention considered his detention to have been arbitrary.
Khartabil was born in Damascus to a Palestinian father and a Syrian
mother, and was raised in Syria, where he specialized in open source
software development. He was chief technology officer (CTO) and
co-founder of collaborative research company Aiki Lab and was CTO of
Al-Aous, a publishing and research institution dedicated to
archaeological sciences and arts in Syria. He served as project lead
and public affiliate for Creative Commons Syria, and contributed to
Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia, and Openclipart. He is credited with
"opening up the Internet in Syria and vastly extending online access
and knowledge to the Syrian people."
His last work included an open, 3D virtual reconstruction of the
ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, with real time visualization using
the web programming framework Aiki Framework. This was later created
and displayed in his honor.
In 2018, the Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship was announced in
Khartabil's memory. The fellowship awards $50,000 and additional
support to individuals developing open culture in their communities.
The fellowship was created by Creative Commons, Fabricatorz
Foundation, Jimmy Wales Foundation, Mozilla, #NEWPALMYRA, and
Wikimedia.
Personal life
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Khartabil was arrested a few days before his marriage contract to
Noura Ghazi, a lawyer and human rights activist, was to be signed. The
contract was finalized later that year, while Khartabil was in prison.
The couple first met in Douma in April 2011 after coming back from a
demonstration.
On Valentine's Day 2015, Ghazi made public a love letter she wrote to
Khartabil, where she reflects on what has taken place in Syria in the
time he had been imprisoned:
His father was a scholar who wrote about atheism and Bassel himself
was an atheist.
Awards
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For its 2012 list of Top Global Thinkers, 'Foreign Policy' named
Khartabil together with Rima Dali as #19 for "insisting, against all
odds, on a peaceful Syrian revolution."
On 21 March 2013, Khartabil was awarded Index on Censorship's Digital
Freedom Award. Although still detained at the time in Adra Prison,
Khartabil was able to communicate his gratitude through Dana Trometer
and Jon Phillips receiving the award on his behalf, wherein he paid
"respect to all the victims of the struggle for freedom of speech,
and, especially for those non-violent youths who refused to carry arms
and deserve all the credit for this award."
Life and work
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Khartabil was chief technology officer (CTO) and co-founder of
collaborative research company Aiki Lab, which produced the web
programming framework Aiki Framework. This was used to let multiple
people collaborate on building other projects such as the sites for
Openclipart and the Open Font Library. He also contributed to the
Fabricatorz project and the Sharism movement.
He also served as the CTO of Al-Aous, a publishing and research
institution dedicated to archaeological sciences and arts in Syria.
His last works included an open, 3D virtual reconstruction of the
ancient city of Palmyra, with real time visualization of the models.
An international community came together to contribute to the Palmyra
project.
He was the country project lead and public affiliate for Creative
Commons Syria, and contributed to Mozilla Firefox and Wikipedia. He is
credited with opening up the Internet in Syria and working to improve
access to knowledge across the country. It is believed that this work
is what led to his later imprisonment.
Imprisonment
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On 15 March 2012, Khartabil was detained amid arrests in the Mazzeh
district of Damascus by Military Security Branch 215. That day marked
the one-year anniversary of the Syrian uprising, with pro--and
anti--government protesters demonstrating in Damascus and elsewhere in
the country.
Khartabil was interrogated and allegedly tortured for five days by
Military Branch 215. One week after his arrest, security forces
reportedly took him to his home where they confiscated his computers
and his files. He was then transferred to the Interrogation Division
Branch 248 and detained there incommunicado for 9 months. On 9
December 2012, Khartabil was brought before a military prosecutor who
charged him with "spying for an enemy State" under Articles 272 and
274 of the Syrian Criminal Code. Khartabil was then sent to the Adra
Prison in Damascus.
On 12 December 2013, a request for written answer on the question of
Khartabil's imprisonment was raised before the European Parliament to
the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative), stating that "his
voluntary work, always non-violent in nature, was greatly valued by
Syrians of all backgrounds, and it is strongly suspected that his
arrest was part of an effort to restrict access to online communities
and discourses and stifle free expression in Syria". On 18 March 2014,
the written answer from High Representative/Vice-President Catherine
Ashton was published, stating that "The HR/VP deplores the ongoing
imprisonment of Bassel Safadi Khartabil, shares the concerns at his
situation and follows it very closely".
On 21 April 2015, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention (WGAD) adopted an opinion on Khartabil's case, calling his
detention "arbitrary" and asking for his immediate release. The WGAD
concluded that Kharbatil's detention violated Articles 9, 14 and 19 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
which Syria ratified in 1969.
Prison paintings
==================
While Khartabil was in prison he made paintings, four of which were
smuggled out.
File:Deformity-Bassel-6-17-15.jpg|17 June 2015, Damascus Central Jail.
"An attempt to draw a stereotype. This is the stereotype I have in
mind for the deformed souls, I have to deal with every day at jail.
There are a lot of them."
File:Resurrection-Bassel-7-10-15.jpg|10 July 2015, Damascus Central
Jail. "From time to time I resurrect old black and white dreams from
my childhood memories."
File:Uncertain-Dream-Bassel-6-15-15.jpg|15 June 2015, Damascus Central
Jail "What is this dream I see every night? A web? Black lines? A
tunnel? Or some memories from my childhood?
File:Uneasiness-Bassel-7-11-15.jpg|11 July 2015, Damascus Central Jail
"an uneasy or anxious feeling..."
#FREEBASSEL campaign
======================
After his detention became widely known in early July 2012, a global
campaign was launched calling for his immediate release. Notable
Internet companies like Mozilla, Wikipedia, Global Voices, EFF and
Creative Commons wrote letters to the Syrian government urging his
immediate release. Notable individuals including Lawrence Lessig, Joi
Ito, Mitchell Baker, Jillian York, Mohamed Nanabhay and Barry Threw
wrote public letters of support. Al Jazeera, Framablog, and Hacker
News wrote about the effort.
In October 2012, Amnesty International released a document with
information suggesting that Khartabil has been ill-treated and even
tortured. On 23 October, the Taiwan chapter of Amnesty International
led a letter-writing event at Insomnia Cafe to raise awareness about
Khartabil in Taipei, Taiwan. On 26 November, he was named one of the
top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy for his resistance.
In December, he was moved to a military prison to await a military
trial. In response, a fasting campaign was launched to raise awareness
about Khartabil's deteriorating incarceration situation. On 25 January
2013, reports circulated about the pending trial and fears of his
execution. On 15 March the #FREEBASSEL project organized a
#FREEBASSELDAY campaign with Creative Commons, Mozilla, and other
community leaders, leading to public artworks, meetups, press, and
videos.
On 22 May, commemorating Khartabil's 32nd birthday--the second time he
spent a birthday in prison as well as the 799th day of the Syrian
conflict--the Index on Censorship, Creative Commons, and the
#FREEBASSEL campaign launched Project Sunlight, to uncover more
information about Khartabil's condition and location. His mother
wrote, "I just want him free, I pray for him to be free and I pray for
all his friends who believe and work on Bassel's freedom."
At the Index on Censorship Awards, Jon Phillips said of Khartabil,
Locking up Bassel only locks out his personal freedom. By locking up
Bassel, his Syrian captors are accidentally locking out themselves
from the future...thousands of people that Bassel's work helped, now
help him by spreading the message #FREEBASSEL. This is what truly
builds Syria and connects it to the global connected future. This
award proves that his lock-up, is NOT a lock-out of his digital
freedom.
A letter supporting him was sent to the European Union Parliament
later that year.
In 2014, Marc Weidenbaum gathered participants to create 38 musical
pieces that might be used as a soundscape for an immersive, completed
digital visualization of ancient Palmyra. A second iteration of
#FREEBASSELDAY involved a Wikipedia "edit-a-thon", meetups, the
creation of a cookbook in Khartabil's honor, and press mentions.The
Free Bassel website as of January 2017
Rebecca MacKinnon wrote about Khartabil and the Zone 9 Bloggers in the
'World Policy Journal', and Wikipedia hosted an editathon for Zone 9
bloggers. On Human Rights Day, Global Voices led a campaign to raise
awareness about his imprisonment.
In March 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation hosted a Wikipedia
edit-a-thon for #FREEBASSELDAY. In addition, the Creative Commons Arab
World organized a virtual Arabic Wikipedia edit-a-thon to translate
and expand pages related to Khartabil and his interests. He was later
profiled with the launch of the EFF's Offline project, "sharing the
stories of imprisoned technologists and technology users."
In 2017, the #FREEBASSEL campaign asked supporters to do five public
acts in honor of Khartabil, to be posted on social media.
Transfer and execution
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On 12 September 2015, Jaysh al-Islam shelled and stormed the prison,
taking control of two buildings. Until early October, Khartabil was
still in Adra Prison in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria. By 3 October,
military police took him from his cell in Adra with a 'top secret'
sealed order from the Military Field Court. He was transferred to an
unknown location.
On 6 October, Amnesty International released a new report on
Khartabil's status. A day later, Human Rights Watch and 30 other human
rights organizations issued a letter demanding that Khartabil's
whereabouts be disclosed. On 17 October, the Creative Commons Board of
Directors approved a resolution calling for Khartabil's release. On 21
October, the New Palmyra project was launched to carry on his 3D
modeling work and other creative uses of data about Palmyra. A day
later, the MIT Media Lab offered Khartabil a position of research
scientist at the Center for Civic Media to work with Ethan Zuckerman
on projects to make Syria's history available to the world. On 9
November, an anthology of essays in Khartabil's honor, entitled 'The
Cost of Freedom: A Collective Inquiry', was released under a Creative
Commons public domain license. Two days afterward, unconfirmed rumors
surfaced that Khartabil had been sentenced to death.
In August 2017, Khartabil's wife and friends reported they had seen a
copy of official documents confirming he had been executed after his
transfer from Adra prison in 2015.
Response
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation as
well as Global Voices released statements mourning his loss.
Creative Commons announced the creation of the 'Bassel Khartabil
Memorial Fund', to support projects in line with his ideas and work
throughout his life. On 11 August, the Mozilla Foundation announced
the creation of the 'Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship',
organized for an initial period of three years by Mozilla, Wikimedia
Foundation, Creative Commons, the Jimmy Wales Foundation, #NEWPALMYRA
and other groups. It is aimed at supporting individuals developing
free culture, particularly under adverse circumstances.
Year Fellow Fellowship Goal
2020 Dr. Tarek Loubani and glia.org Combat COVID-19
2018 Majd al-Shihabi projects Palestine Open Maps and
MASRAD:platform, an oral history archive
Models of ancient Palmyra
===========================
Starting in 2005, Khartabil began collecting photographs of the
ancient architecture and archaeology sites in Palmyra, in the hopes of
reconstructing the city online, using 3D models and virtual spaces.
His efforts were put on hold when he was imprisoned, and some of his
early work was lost. In 2015 his friends and colleagues launched the
New Palmyra Project to bring that dream to life. Since then, many of
the most famous structures in Palmyra have been modeled, and some
life-size models built of structures that were destroyed in the Syrian
Civil War.
As of 2017, most of the buildings and statues captured by the New
Palmyra Project had been completely destroyed by ISIL.
Writing and art
=================
Khartabil wrote hundreds of letters while in prison, including some
while he was in a high-security military prison, where writing was
prohibited. He also produced paintings and poetry. For a short time,
he published some of his writing to an anonymous prison blog and
Twitter account, via a friend.
"Jail is not walls, not the executioner and guards. It is the hidden
fear in our hearts that makes us prisoners." --Bassel
In his last year in prison, he made a series of at least four
paintings that he was able to smuggle out to friends.
See also
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* List of Wikipedia people
External links
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* [
http://freebassel.org/ #FREEBASSEL]
* [
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xOqz7CW0g4 Interview with Bassel
about the role of Creative Commons in the Arab world (in Arabic)]
*
[
http://www.talkinganthropology.com/2011/01/28/ta24-arabic-hackerspaces/
Podcast Interview with Bassel and Jon Phillips on hackerspaces and
making culture in the Arab world]
* [
https://2009-2017.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/12/250541.htm
Statement by US Secretary of State, John Kerry]
License
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All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil
