3 ms·

Taken Offline: Years in Prison for a Love of Technology

34 points by dannyobrien 11y ago

jnbiche 11y ago
Can someone who knows about these things explain what concrete steps we in the US could take when trying to lobby for the release of individuals like Bassel Khartabil? EFF mentions contacting "the embassy in our country", I would assume they mean the Embassy of Syria, in this case. Unfortunately, I don't think that Syria has an embassy here in the US, as its operations were suspected last year. Can we in the US do anything for Khartabil? Edit: Actually, I see that the US officially recognized the opposition a few months back and that they will (or have) opened an embassy here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27287650 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27287650 However, the article said that Khartabil's prison is on the front lines, and evenly split between the forces. Which side of the prison is he on, I wonder? I'll need to do additional research. In any case, my original question stands, which is what exactly can we do, what tone should the letter take, etc?
- pakled_engineer 11y ago
  http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/11/Rebels-storm-Syria-s-largest-prison-near-Damascus.html http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/11/... That prison will eventually be overrun and everybody freed, I guess the best thing to do is 'raise awareness' with whoever your local political representatives are like the EFF is doing so he doesn't just quietly dissappear should the regime forces left over decide to massacre the remaining prisoners before fleeing. There's a Syrian regime embassy in Russia you can contact, whether or not they will do anything who knows.
  - zeveb 11y ago
    > That prison will eventually be overrun and everybody freed Or murdered. Given that the name 'Bassel' is likely Christian (Basil), it wouldn't surprise me to read that he's been slain.
- dannyobrien 11y ago
  It's a really good question in Bassel's case. It's actually one of those areas where "raising awareness" can have an effect -- if you look back on previous successes, it's often a chain of improbabilities: meeting an individual who recognises the name, or an opportunity to use the public recognition to get to see someone in charge at just the right moment. So just more people looking at the problem, and talking about it can help. (It may not be you who knows the answer, or even someone you know, but someone who heard from the person who heard the story from you might be able to help.) I know this is a bit vague, but genuinely Bassel is in a very fluid situation right now. The attack on the prison was earlier this month, and we're still trying to understand what's going on and how to address it. If you join the campaign at http://freebassel.org/ http://freebassel.org/, they will keep you updated. I'll be writing more about Bassel and the other cases at EFF's Deeplinks, too.

34 points by dannyobrien 11y ago

Can someone who knows about these things explain what concrete steps we in the US could take when trying to lobby for the release of individuals like Bassel Khartabil? EFF mentions contacting "the embassy in our country", I would assume they mean the Embassy of Syria, in this case. Unfortunately, I don't think that Syria has an embassy here in the US, as its operations were suspected last year. Can we in the US do anything for Khartabil? Edit: Actually, I see that the US officially recognized the opposition a few months back and that they will (or have) opened an embassy here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27287650 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27287650 However, the article said that Khartabil's prison is on the front lines, and evenly split between the forces. Which side of the prison is he on, I wonder? I'll need to do additional research. In any case, my original question stands, which is what exactly can we do, what tone should the letter take, etc?

pakled_engineer 11y ago
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/11/Rebels-storm-Syria-s-largest-prison-near-Damascus.html http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/11/... That prison will eventually be overrun and everybody freed, I guess the best thing to do is 'raise awareness' with whoever your local political representatives are like the EFF is doing so he doesn't just quietly dissappear should the regime forces left over decide to massacre the remaining prisoners before fleeing. There's a Syrian regime embassy in Russia you can contact, whether or not they will do anything who knows.
- zeveb 11y ago
  > That prison will eventually be overrun and everybody freed Or murdered. Given that the name 'Bassel' is likely Christian (Basil), it wouldn't surprise me to read that he's been slain.
dannyobrien 11y ago
It's a really good question in Bassel's case. It's actually one of those areas where "raising awareness" can have an effect -- if you look back on previous successes, it's often a chain of improbabilities: meeting an individual who recognises the name, or an opportunity to use the public recognition to get to see someone in charge at just the right moment. So just more people looking at the problem, and talking about it can help. (It may not be you who knows the answer, or even someone you know, but someone who heard from the person who heard the story from you might be able to help.) I know this is a bit vague, but genuinely Bassel is in a very fluid situation right now. The attack on the prison was earlier this month, and we're still trying to understand what's going on and how to address it. If you join the campaign at http://freebassel.org/ http://freebassel.org/, they will keep you updated. I'll be writing more about Bassel and the other cases at EFF's Deeplinks, too.