Bassel Khartabil
Free culture and democracy activist, Syrian political prisoner / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bassel Khartabil (22 May 1981 – 3 October 2015; Arabic: باسل خرطبيل), also known as Bassel Safadi (Arabic: باسل صفدي), was a Palestinian Syrian open-source software developer. He was detained without trial by the Syrian government in 2012[3] and was secretly executed in 2015. Human rights organizations claim that he was detained for his activities in support of freedom of expression,[4] and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered his detention to have been arbitrary.[3]
Bassel Khartabil | |
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باسل خرطبيل | |
Born | (1981-05-22)22 May 1981 Damascus, Syria |
Died | 3 October 2015(2015-10-03) (aged 34)[1][2] Adra Prison, Syria |
Occupation | Software engineer |
Known for | Aiki Framework, Openclipart, Open Font Library, Fabricatorz, Mozilla, Creative Commons |
Spouse | |
Awards | Index on Censorship 2013 Digital Freedom Award |
Signature | |
Khartabil was born in Damascus and 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[5] and was CTO of Al-Aous,[6] a publishing and research institution dedicated to archaeological sciences and arts in Syria. He has served as project lead and public affiliate for Creative Commons Syria,[7] and has contributed to Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia, Openclipart, Fabricatorz, and Sharism.[8] He "is credited with opening up the Internet in Syria and vastly extending online access and knowledge to the Syrian people."[9]
His last work included an open, 3D virtual reconstruction[10][11] of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria,[12] real time visualization, and development with Fabricatorz for the web programming framework Aiki Framework. This was later created and displayed in his honor.[13]
In 2018, the Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellowship was announced in Khartabil's memory.[14] 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.