Dear all,
I am very deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of our fellow community member Bassel Khartabil, also known to some as Bassel Safadi.
Bassel was detained on March 15, 2012 amid arrests on the one-year anniversary of the Syrian uprising. He had been missing since October 2015, when he was removed from the Syrian prison where he was being held. His wife, Noura, confirmed earlier today in a statement on Facebook that he was executed by the Syrian government shortly after his disappearance.
Bassel was a leader, advocate, and member of so many open culture communities it is difficult to do them all justice. In addition to his contributions to Wikimedia, he was project lead and public affiliate for Creative Commons Syria, a member of the Global Voices community, a free software advocate and contributor to Mozilla, and much more. The European Parliament statement on his detention credited him with “opening up the Internet in Syria and vastly extending online access and knowledge to the Syrian people."[1] He was known for his boundless enthusiasm and passion, always encouraging others to share, create, and connect with a better world around them.
Many of you cared deeply about Bassel, working to raise awareness of his detention and disappearance. Please know that his friends and family knew of and appreciated these efforts, both as a voice on his behalf and a reminder of the values of the communities to which he devoted his time and attention. I personally am grappling with profound anger and sorrow that someone so brilliant, humane, and generous should be taken in this way. For those who did not know Bassel, you can learn more about his life and work at his article [2], and at https://freebassel.org.
The Wikimedia Foundation will publish a statement soon, and ask for your support in helping us translate that message to share more broadly. We will also work to find a way to celebrate Bassel’s life and honor his contributions at Wikimania next week.
Yours, sadly,
Katherine
[1] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2013-0... [2] (en) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassel_Khartabil; (ar) https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84_%D8%AE%D8%B1%D8%B7%D8...