Bassel’s wife has confirmed that she received word and confirmation of his 
death. A number of organizations which follow these protocols, such as Amnesty 
International and Bassel’s own organizations, have sadly all indicated they 
believe confirmation has been met. We are relying on Bassel’s family and 
closely affiliated organizations working with them to determine the situation 
as best we can.

Unfortunately the Syrian regime has been ignoring requests for two years for 
information on Bassel’s status and whereabouts. I am not confident we will get 
public and official word from them anytime soon, if ever. They have made it 
clear they do not respect international protocol. I trust the family would not 
make this announcement without being confident it was true - especially after 
the false rumors in years prior. Additionally based on my own past experiences, 
I do not see any benefit in questioning the family’s judgement or wording in a 
matter like this - especially given the people involved (his wife is a human 
rights activist and shown familiarity with the complexities of a case like 
this) and organizations I believe are providing assistance (although cannot 
offer citations on that).

-greg

-------
Gregory Varnum
Communications Strategist
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
gvar...@wikimedia.org

> On Aug 2, 2017, at 2:54 PM, Ivan Martínez <gala...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Dear all. Sad and terrible news for the movement.
> 
> Just want to be sure about if Wikimedia Foundation and/or Jimmy Wales
> Foundation have proofs of Bassel's death. Some international conventions
> about forced disappearance have protocols to talk in public and confirm
> this terrible cases. One of that protocols is talk about "forced
> disappeared" victims until families have a scientific confirmation from an
> official source. In many cases around the world governments or other
> persons use rumors to undermine morale of the families of the victims and
> organizations around them or force to the victim to be abandoned.
> 
> While we don't have that kind of confirmation for respect we must insist to
> refer our colleague as "dissapeared".
> 
> Best,
> 
> 2017-08-02 12:02 GMT-05:00 Marti Johnson <mjohn...@wikimedia.org>:
> 
>> Such heartbreaking news.  Thank you for sharing it, Katherine.
>> 
>> It's supportive to know he will be remembered and celebrated at Wikimania.
>> I'm grateful that's happening.
>> ᐧ
>> 
>> 
>> *Marti JohnsonProgram Officer*
>> *Individual Grants*
>> *Wikimedia Foundation <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home>*
>> +1 415-839-6885
>> Skype: Mjohnson_WMF
>> 
>> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> <http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY> in the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make
>> it
>> a reality!
>> Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
>> 
>> On Wed, Aug 2, 2017 at 9:49 AM, Ravishankar Ayyakkannu <
>> rayyakka...@wikimedia.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> I am crying :(
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Aug 2, 2017 at 10:04 PM, Shlomi Fish <shlo...@shlomifish.org>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> On Tue, 1 Aug 2017 19:00:19 -0400
>>>> Katherine Maher <kma...@wikimedia.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Dear all,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I am very deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of our
>> fellow
>>>>> community member Bassel Khartabil, also known to some as Bassel
>> Safadi.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Bassel was detained on March 15, 2012 amid arrests on the one-year
>>>>> anniversary of the Syrian uprising. He had been missing since October
>>>> 2015,
>>>>> when he was removed from the Syrian prison where he was being held.
>> His
>>>>> wife, Noura, confirmed earlier today in a statement on Facebook that
>> he
>>>> was
>>>>> executed by the Syrian government shortly after his disappearance.
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Sorry to hear that.
>>>> 
>>>>        -- Shlomi
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
>>>> Beginners Site for the Vim text editor - http://vim.begin-site.org/
>>>> 
>>>> <netgod> Time flies when you’re using Linux.
>>>> <doogie> Yeah, infinite loops in 5 seconds.
>>>> <Teknix> Has anyone re-tested that with 2.2.x ?
>>>> <netgod> Yeah, 4 seconds now.
>>>> 
>>>> Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -
>> http://shlom.in/reply
>>>> .
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Regional Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Asia & Eastern Europe
>>> Wikimedia Foundation
>>> 
>>> Mobile: +91-9986993336 <+91%2099869%2093336>
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> *Iván Martínez*
> 
> *Presidente - Wikimedia México A.C.User:ProtoplasmaKid *
> 
> // Mis comunicaciones respecto a Wikipedia/Wikimedia pueden tener una
> moratoria en su atención debido a que es un voluntariado.
> // Ayuda a proteger a Wikipedia, dona ahora: https://donate.wikimedia.org
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