Syrische internet-activist: toegang internet behoort tot mensenrechten (en)

BRUSSELS - What do Dutch Liberal MEP Marietje Schaake and Syrian software engineer Bassel Safadi, imprisoned by the Assad regime, have in common?

Both of them believe that access to the Internet is a key enabler of human rights.

In Schaake's words: "To understand the crackdown on dissidents in Syria, it is important that decision-makers in the EU are aware of the targeted arrests of people with technological skills which they used to advance digital freedoms for all Syrians."

Safadi, also known as Khartabil, an open-source software engineer, embodies her ideas fully.

Recently recognised by US Foreign Policy magazine as the 19th most influential thinker in 2012 (with the European Central Bank's Mario Draghi coming in at number 20), Safadi is responsible for enabling Syria’s access to the Internet.

Since 15 March 2012, Bassel has been detained by the Assad regime without formal charges or legal assistance. He has been subjected to physical and psychological torture and, until recently, he has been denied all family visits.

Bassel has been at the forefront of Internet freedom for more than half his life. Learning to programme software at the age of 15, he lent his professional capabilities to several volunteer projects in Syria and beyond: Creative Commons, Mozilla, Wikipedia, Fabricatorz and Sharism.

He has always believed in a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Syria.

Before his final arrest, his house was bombed and he had already been imprisoned and tortured, but he always refused to leave his country.

In one of his last tweets he said: "The people who are in real danger never leave their countries. They are in danger for a reason and for that they don't leave #Syria."

Although Bassel has been moved back to the civilian prison from the military one where he was being held, he is still at risk of court martial and faces a sentence of life in prison.

In the midst of the overwhelming humanitarian crisis in Syria, the true extent of which we cannot evaluate or verify, Schaake believes that "to end the killings, and to solve the humanitarian disaster, the EU should push for a UN Security Council resolution, ensuring safe delivery of aid and increase assistance."

While a strong believer in the necessity of keeping the suffering of the entire Syrian population in mind, Schaake says that Safadi’s case is emblematic of wider problems.

The MEP, who is the European Parliament's rapporteur on the EU Digital Freedom Strategy, a call for EU foreign policy to tackle the increasing crackdown on digital freedoms in repressive states, noted: "The frontline in the struggle for human rights is increasingly digital. On the one hand people can access information and freely express themselves or assemble online. At the same time, the empowerment of individuals frightens those in power and has led to mass surveillance, tracking and tracing of dissidents."

"The EU needs to lead globally in defending and advancing digital freedoms," she added.

The web community, friends, representatives of human rights rights and academia have all joined a campaign to #FreeBassel and #FastForBassel.

His colleagues at Creative Commons, the California-based pro-open-source data group, have set-up the http://freebassel.org/ website.

Bassel has also been nominated by the Index on Censorship, the London-based pro-free-speech organisation, for the digital freedom award 2013 for his work "advancing open source and related technologies to ensure a freer internet."

The campaign has been helpful in keeping Safadi alive, for now.

In a recent short message (which was verified as authentic, den though questions remain as to the circumstances in which it was written) he said: "Dear friends, I cannot find words to describe my feelings about everything you did for me, what you did saved me and changed my situation for the better."

Herself strongly active in digital media, including Twitter, Schaake has shown her support for his specific case both on-line and off-line.

She has also said, time and again, that European firms should stop giving dictators the technology to shut don voices such as those of the Syrian Internet dissident.

"In countries where severe human rights abuses take place, such as in Syria, the documentation and sharing of human rights abuses can help in the process of holding perpetrators to account," she noted.

"Repressive regimes are using mass surveillance technologies. The very least we should do is to end the export of the most aggressive ones that are made in Europe and used to violate human rights," Schaake added.