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Syrian Open Source Developer Bassel Khartabil Believed Executed (www.cbc.ca)
TheSync writes: The Syrian open source developer, blogger, entrepreneur, hackerspace founder, and free culture advocate Bassell Khartabil was swept up in a wave of military arrests in March 2012. A CBC report states that his wife wrote on Facebook late Tuesday that she has received confirmation that security services executed Khartabil in October 2015 after torturing him in prison. Before his arrest, his most recent work included a 3D virtual reconstruction of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria.
At the time of his arrest, Khartabi was 30 years old -- after which he started a blog called "MeInSyrianJail" and a Twitter account called "Live from my cell." Though he spent the last three and half years of his life in prison, he once tweeted that "Jail is not walls, not the executioner and guards. It is the hidden fear in our hearts that makes us prisoners." The latest tweet on his feed says "Rest in power our friend."
Thursday the Creative Commons nonprofit described the developer as "our friend and colleague," and announced the Bassel Khartabil Memorial Fund, "which will support projects in the spirit of Bassel's work."
At the time of his arrest, Khartabi was 30 years old -- after which he started a blog called "MeInSyrianJail" and a Twitter account called "Live from my cell." Though he spent the last three and half years of his life in prison, he once tweeted that "Jail is not walls, not the executioner and guards. It is the hidden fear in our hearts that makes us prisoners." The latest tweet on his feed says "Rest in power our friend."
Thursday the Creative Commons nonprofit described the developer as "our friend and colleague," and announced the Bassel Khartabil Memorial Fund, "which will support projects in the spirit of Bassel's work."
his wife wrote on Facebook late Tuesday
And the CBC report is from Thursday.
Today is Sunday, Slashdot. What took you so long to put up this story?
"Slashdot: old news for nerds, stuff that once mattered."
I won't claim that the U.S. is a fascist dictatorship, but your pointing at another country torturing people and executing civilians without a proper trial isn't really a good example, don't you think?
Interestingly enough, that 'golden age' only occurred at the beginning of Iran's conversion to Islam: some of the people usually lionized had unknown origins, and were clearly converts to Islam from something else - be it Zoroastrianism, Christianity or Judaism. Iran did have a great culture during the Sassanid dynasty, and that didn't collapse overnight. The Samanids, who aside from Islam, were proud of their Iranian heritage, continued to patronize that for a bit, but once their empire collapsed, it went south from there.
Aside from that, there is also the fact that a lot of the 'achievements' were imports from the east - be it China or India. They love boasting about the 'Arabic' numerals, ignoring the fact that those things, and the number zero, originated in India, and was at one time called either 'Hindu numerals' or at worst 'Hindu-Arabic numerals'. Other works were translations into Arabic or Farsi, which, while noteworthy, is not the same as being an original creator.
Also, if all these achievements were products of Islam, why wasn't that replicated anywhere else in the Islamic empire? There were a myriad number of Muslim sultanates and emirates throughout history, from Mali to Brunei. So why weren't there more Islamic scholars from these various kingdoms who contributed meaningfully to culture? Reason is that 'bida', or innovation, is considered verboten in Islam, which is why it's rarely done.