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Amnesty International reports
Extrajudicial execution of Bassel Khartabil a grim reminder of Syrian prison horrors
[...] Bassel Khartabil, was born and raised in Syria to a Palestinian family. He worked as a software developer and was a prominent free speech activist. Before his arrest, Bassel Khartabil used his technical expertise to help advance freedom of speech and access to information via the internet. He has won many awards, including the 2013 Index on Censorship Digital Freedom Award for using technology to promote an open and free internet, and was named one of Foreign Policy magazine's Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012 "for insisting, against all odds, on a peaceful Syrian revolution".
[...] Bassel was arrested on 15 March 2012 by the Syrian Military Intelligence and held in incommunicado detention for eight months before being moved to 'Adra prison in December 2012. He remained in 'Adra until 3 October 2015, when he managed to inform his family that he was being transferred to an undisclosed location. Since then, his whereabouts remained unknown.
[...] Bassel Khartabil's family announced his death on 1 August 2017 after receiving information that he was killed in 2015 after allegedly being "tried" and "sentenced to death" by the military field court in Al-Qaboun, Damascus in a secret hearing. These courts are notorious for conducting closed-door proceedings that do not meet the minimum international standards for a fair trial.
[...] Responding to news of the execution of Syrian-Palestinian human rights activist Bassel Khartabil today, Anna Neistat, Amnesty International's Senior Director of Research said:
"We are deeply saddened and outraged at this awful news. Bassel Khartabil will always be remembered as a symbol of courage, who peacefully fought for freedom to the very end. Our thoughts are with his family.
"Bassel Khartabil's death is a grim reminder of the horrors that take place in Syrian prisons every day. The tens of thousands of people currently locked away inside Syrian government detention facilities face torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial executions. These cruel acts undoubtedly amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Al Jazeera adds
[About] her husband's death [...] Noura Ghazi Safadi wrote [...]
"Today, I announce in my name, the name of Bassel's family and my family, the confirmation that the order to execute my husband Bassel Khartabil was carried out days after he was moved to the Adra prison in October 2015."
She did not indicate how she was able to confirm his death.
The computer engineer, also known as Bassel Sadafi and credited with "vastly extending online access and knowledge to the Syrian people", was detained on the first anniversary of the 2011 uprising in Syria.
He was routinely denied access to his family and lawyers, rights groups and his wife said.
He disappeared from official records in October 2015 when he was transferred from the Adra prison in northeast Damascus.
[...] Khartabil was hailed for his contributions to the open web.
He was the co-founder of Damascus' Aiki Lab, a collaborative online community in Syria, was a regular contributor to Wikipedia, and worked as the Syria lead for Creative Commons, an organisation that aims to make creative content available for others to legally share and build upon.
"We are deeply saddened and completely outraged to learn today that our friend and colleague Bassel Khartabil has been executed by the Syrian regime," Creative Commons said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Creative Commons, and the global commons of art, history, and knowledge, are stronger because of Bassel's contributions, and our community is better because of his work and his friendship."
Previously: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=15/10/09/1614214
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by fustakrakich on Friday August 04 2017, @10:05PM (12 children)
And Saudi Arabia is run by fluffy kittens.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:21PM (3 children)
...where they take you out in the public square and chop off your head.
Your kin at least -know- for sure that you are dead.
N.B. The Authoritarian regimes of both of these are propped up by USA.gov.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mth on Friday August 04 2017, @11:01PM
Both? All news items I've read suggest the US government and Assad aren't friends at all.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:19PM (1 child)
http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/saudi-uprising/1817-saudi-leave-or-die.html [ahtribune.com]
American Arms Deal at Work.
I don't have an account, but feel free to firehose it here as well. This has been going on for almost a week but MSM has been completely silent on it. Maybe if it trends here, green, and reddit it can start getting enough online mindshare to make it into the public mindset without mass-media's support.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 05 2017, @01:16AM
That, unfortunately, reads like a semi-incoherent rant. I stopped reading halfway through. Is there a somewhat more legitimate/credible source for this information?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:18PM (6 children)
How was that 'Offtopic'?? The article is damn near calling for war! What the fuck?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @12:31AM (5 children)
The article is pissing and moaning about the Evil Syrian government, and this is 'Offtopic' again! Well, this is bullshit. Got some real war mongering assholes modding this thread. Kissing Saudi ass it seems. With no guts to explain themselves. Cowards!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:35AM (4 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @11:08AM (3 children)
No, it's a story about a dead guy, with a rant about the Syrian government (which is totally offtopic itself) to provoke people into demanding war. It is cognitive dissonance at its worst when buddying up with much worse governments that burn babies and chop heads off every day. But they aren't FOSS developers, so fuck 'em, right?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 05 2017, @10:11PM (2 children)
That's such a load of bullshit. The story describes how the Syrian government was involved in this blogger's death, making them on topic.
Here's a good place to start thinking. We should ignore evil because it could "provoke people into demanding war".
Sorry, buttercup but Saudi Arabia's many sins is not worse than Bashar Assad's regime's many sins. A key one is that Saudi Arabia hasn't caused a famine bad enough to plunge into civil war, while former Syria did. And I guess the war doesn't count to you for that "burn babies and chop heads off" quotient, eh? You might not have noticed this, but a lot of innocent people tend to die in wars.
Further, I take it you haven't actually seen a news buildup to war before. The occasional story about Assad's atrocities is nothing compared to a proper propaganda build up. Instead, this is more an example of ignoring Assad's atrocities. This poor sap's unjust trial and execution is known to us only because it had enough weird stuff to attract NPR's attention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 06 2017, @04:33AM (1 child)
Sorry bub, you can't single them out. This isn't an "apples and oranges" comparison. Evil allies and evil enemies are the same thing. Don't try to define it by the target or perpetrator. Either you're for evil or you're against it, take your pick.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 07 2017, @12:35AM
You don't need to apologize to me. But you might want to apologize to yourself for making that argument.
Evil is not the same. There is no "evil bit" that you set and then it's all of the same degree of evil. A smart person would say, "Hmmm, maybe we can use this supposed propaganda push against Syria to set a precedence for dealing with other evil acts." The dumbshit goes "Because our response to evil is not perfect and free from bias and self-interest, then we shouldn't punish evil at all." Make a wild guess where I think you fall on that spectrum.
I would be greatly pleased if the particularly evil acts of the Assad dynasty are punished, even if the motives for doing so are base. For then it makes the evil of many other countries more untenable and subject to punishment as well.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 04 2017, @11:28PM
Fluffy kittens are very nice to be around, when they are your friends.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:24PM (4 children)
When a country is fighting for its survival, unfortunately it sometimes is wannabe revolutionaries that pay the ultimate price. In peacetime he may have gotten away with a seditious conspiracy conviction for "insisting on a peaceful revolution".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:38PM (1 child)
You misspelled "dynasty".
Syria is one of the few absolute monarchies remaining after The Age of Enlightenment.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @10:43AM
Unlike any other european country?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mth on Friday August 04 2017, @11:11PM (1 child)
It's a regime fighting for its survival. Authoritarian leaders often think that their regime and the country are the same thing.
Also "unfortunate" would apply to someone who was accidentally killed in a riot. An execution isn't bad fortune, it's very deliberate.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:39AM
Propaganda is not necessarily a window into what the Dear Leader thinks.
It can be accidental in a perverse way. The executors may have been meeting a quota and the victim just happened to be the hapless random one picked to fill it.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:25PM (10 children)
Soylent Dead Niggers are the best niggers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:48PM (4 children)
Not "Offtopic".
Not "Overrated".
Not "Flamebait".
Not "Troll".
SPAM
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:57PM (3 children)
Bring it on, BITCH.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:01PM (2 children)
The retard is strong in this one.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:11PM (1 child)
Still here. You know what a retard is? A retard is someone who thinks IP bans are effective. RETARD.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:03AM
Oh, I don't know. If we banned IPv4, we'd finally be able to make the switch to IPv6!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:53PM (4 children)
Awww, the poor baby has had such a hard time with people criticizing his viewpoints. I think he just needs a big hug, a cheap hooker, and probably a cocktail of meds to come back to normality.
Can't let go of the Edge Lord status, maybe his entire identity is wrapped around it? Saying nasty shit to try and displace his own self-loathing?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:01PM (2 children)
Suck my rigid cock is aching for you.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:06AM (1 child)
Just as I suspected - the ACs can go fuck themselves!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @10:18AM
Along with Steve Bannon, according to the Mooch!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:17PM
"The SN DN posts!!! They do NOTHING!!!!" Poor AC. May the FSM have Marinara on your noodle.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:35PM (8 children)
He was big on Free(dom) Software and an open Internet.
The kind of gov't that would arrest his on dubious charges, subject him to a star chamber (still in doubt in my mind), kill him in private, and not even let his family know that he is dead is not a legitimate government.
Additionally, the governments who support such a regime are not the kinds of governments that should remain in power.
(USA.gov -claims- to love Democracy, but look at the actual regimes with whom it is all buddy-buddy.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:45PM (5 children)
That's not good enough!
We want SOCIALIST SOFTWARE and FREE INTERNET.
Gimme my Linux, and I'm not paying for internet access!!!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @10:57PM (4 children)
Its funny, all you conservative extremists have absolutely no clue how deluded and incorrect you are.
If you aren't growing your own crops and making your own food then you're a leech on society! Did you use a calculator for your tax return? Lazy slacker!!! Oh wait, sorry, you probably don't pay taxes since that is just theft by the government right?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:05PM
Still waiting for basic income from your liberal paradise. Where's my 40 acres of weed and a mule for me to fuck?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:06PM (2 children)
When you are under 18, you don't have to pay taxes, because your mens is not sanis, yet. Hormones seem superabundant, however, if a bit perverted (literally, "turned aside").
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:15PM (1 child)
The next time you buy candy with your allowance, try telling the nice man that you don't pay sales tax, because your mens is not sanis yet. Moron.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 04 2017, @11:21PM
Parentum pecunias filiis impendunt. Moron.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 04 2017, @11:31PM
Idi Amin was not a legitimate ruler, nor was anyone under his command part of a legitimate government, but he remained in power for 8 years and received backing from the CIA.
This, kiddies, is why the state department's travel alerts and warnings are no laughing matter: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings.html [state.gov]
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @05:36AM
RIP Bassel. Incredibly sad news. I knew there were terrible things going on in Syria but this suddenly made it so personal.
Makes me sick to see dictators do their thing all over the world. And superpowers doing nothing but perhaps supporting them. Then again all the current superpowers (US, Russia, China) do all of this themselves, kidnap people off the streets, disappear them for years and torture them, sometimes to death, never informing anybody of the whole process. I find this disgusting.
(Score: 2) by dak664 on Friday August 04 2017, @11:08PM
For not finding this guy and supporting him
/sarc
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @10:02PM
He was a good one, so he had to be killed.
Every now and then, a strange weirdo Palestinian is born. Maybe he grows up to support human rights, or to not endorse stonings, or to think that honor killings are wrong. Every such weirdo must die.