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Bassel Khartabil was a coder and technology innovator
He believed in freedom for his country and freedom of the internet. He used his
talents to contribute to global software and culture communities like Creative
Commons, Mozilla Firefox, and Wikipedia. He set up Syria’s first hackerspace in
Damascus, helping open up the internet in a notoriously unfree country.
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Bassel believed in change
He participated in the peaceful uprising that began in Syria in 2011. He met
his future wife at a protest in Douma.
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Bassel was detained by the Syrian government
He was taken on the first year anniversary of the Syrian uprising in March
2012. After being disappeared, tortured, and held in solitary confinement he
finally resurfaced in a prison in Damascus after pressure from a massive online
#freebassel campaign created by hundreds of open source innovators from the
Creative Commons and others around the globe.
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Bassel was a husband
He was engaged to lawyer Noura Ghazi when he was detained just days before his
wedding. When he was transferred to Adra prison in Damascus, they exchanged
vows behind the prison net. Noura’s father placed the ring on her finger and
she wore a blue dress, her favourite colour. Noura wrote dozens of love poems
for Bassel. She smuggled them into prison where he translated them to English
and compiled them into a book.
Noura has since co-founded a movement of women pushing to free and learn the
fate of their loved ones detained and disappeared in Syria. They call
themselves the Families for Freedom.
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Bassel was a friend
Thousands of people and communities around the world were touched by Bassel’s
work and his personality, from friends he coded with abroad, to his cellmates
in prison. The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales has called for his release, so
has Lawrence Lessig. His disappearance was a blow to the tech community and to
Syrian activists alike.
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Bassel was a winner
His efforts using technology to promote an open and free
internet won him the 2013 Index on Censorship Digital Freedom Award. In 2012,
Foreign Policy magazine named him as one of the top 100 global thinkers.
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Bassel was a son
Basel was raised by a Syrian mother and Palestinian historian
father. Bassel’s interest in history led him to spearhead a project to
virtually reconstruct the ancient ruins of Palmyra and preserve Syrian heritage
and culture.
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Bassel brought people together
Bassel’s work helped artists and other creatives in Syria share their work and
collaborate. He united Syrians and people around the world alike behind freedom
of expression, freedom of the internet, and freedom in Syria.
#TheyCantStopUs
