
Reports that Bassel Khartabil has been sentenced to death - ahtierney
http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2015/11/13/urgent-reports-.html
======
corndoge
I hate feeling completely powerless in these kinds of situations. All I can do
short of flying to Syria and taking up arms against such tyranny is upvoting
this post. Absolutely pathetic.

Update: The least we can do:

[http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-
now/syria...](http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/syria-
release-bassel-khartabil-ua-22015)

~~~
DiabloD3
Yeah, honestly, its shit like this other countries should go to war over. The
United States was founded on free speech, not just having it, but spreading
that ideal everywhere. FOSS is free speech.

We dropped bombs on Iraq for non-existant WMDs, and invaded Afghanistan over a
CIA agent that was living in Pakistan, yet we won't do anything to an out of
control government bent on destroying what little society it has left and is a
legitimate threat to national security.

Fuck that.

~~~
stoolpigeon
How is Syria a legitimate threat to national security of the US? (not
rhetorical)

~~~
mangeletti
Syria is a very much a threat to US interests, because it has a regime hostile
to us, friendly to Russia and Iran, and it borders the Mediterranean Sea,
giving competitors to the US that could be friendly to Turkey (read: Russia
via Georgia) a trade and supply route to the Mediterranean. Because of this,
the economics that are favorable to Turkey, in a situation where Syria "falls"
to Russia, create interests that conflict with those of the US, particularly
during war.

In other words, from geopolitical and war strategy standpoints, Syria is
currently one of the more important countries in the world, to the US.

~~~
venomsnake
Ex country. Syria is a territory now. The only ways it could resemble some
form of country - lets say they are unacceptable from moral view. The winning
faction - no matter which - will surely go on a rampage of power consolidation
with ethnic and religious cleansing in the mix :( So we have two harrowing
option - yet another autocrat committing atrocities and generating suffering.
Or warring camps that will commit atrocities and generate suffering.

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pbreit
I wish the USA would get rid of the death penalty. Completely barbaric, cruel
and unusual. I still think we have the high road on our sides in situations
like this.

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jqm
Does anyone know what specifically he was accused of doing?

If he had ties with Western intelligence his detention is understandable (I
don't support death penalty in this case, nor Assad, and it would be cool if
they released the guy to the West, I'm only saying it's understandable if he
was active in opposition spheres). Just because a person is a "hacker" doesn't
mean they weren't involved in trying to violently overturn Assad's government.

~~~
elipsey
He blogged about people being arrested by state security during the protests.

It's not clear that he has been formally acussed of anything in particular
beyond "treason". Detailed formal charges may be an unessecary formality in
Syria.

[https://www.eff.org/offline/bassel-
khartabil](https://www.eff.org/offline/bassel-khartabil)

~~~
jqm
Well.. that doesn't say he didn't have ties to Western intelligence.

But I followed the links and sent an email to Syrian ambassador for the UN
appealing for Khartabil's release.

[http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-
now/syria...](http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/take-action-now/syria-
release-bassel-khartabil-ua-22015)

------
Camillo
There is no indication that the sentence has been carried out, AFAICT. The
black ribbon on the homepage is premature.

~~~
mej10
The current black ribbon is due to Gene Amdahl's death.

~~~
Camillo
Oh, right, I just noticed it farther down on the page. :(

