Disappearing Syrian internet whiz Bassel Khartabil executed by government, wife announces

Khartabil’s family lost contact with him after he was moved from the Adra prison in October 2015 [Bilal Randeree/Al Jazeera]
The Syrian government “executed” Syrian-Palestinian web developer and cyberactivist Bassel Khartabil in 2015, his wife has said.

“I cannot get the words out of my mouth,” Noura Ghazi Safadi wrote in a Facebook post late on Tuesday.

“Today, I announce in my name, the name of Bassel’s family and my family, the confirmation that the order to execute my husband Bassel Khartabil was carried out days after he was moved to the Adra prison in October 2015.”

She did not indicate how she was able to confirm his death.

The computer engineer, also known as Bassel Sadafi and credited with “vastly extending online access and knowledge to the Syrian people”, was detained on the first anniversary of the 2011 uprising in Syria.

He was routinely denied access to his family and lawyers, rights groups and his wife said.

He disappeared from official records in October 2015 when he was transferred from the Adra prison in northeast Damascus.

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