Bassel Shehadeh

Bassel Shehadeh or Bassel Al Schahade ( Arabic باسل شحادة; born on January 31, 1984 in Damascus , Syria ; died on May 28, 2012 in Homs , Syria) was a Syrian filmmaker and computer scientist and a well-known activist of the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad from 2011 to 2012. He was one of the first to organize peaceful protests in Damascus, to protest the government's violent crackdown on the Arab Spring . Shehadeh was arrested while protesting with fellow activists in al-Midan , a district of Damascus. With his camera he documented the attacks and bombings in Homs by state forces. In 2012 he was killed in a government attack near al-Sassafra in Homs.

Early life

Shehadeh was born in Damascus on January 31, 1984 to a Christian family. His mother was an engineer and his father was a professor of mechanical engineering at Damascus University . He had a brother, Alaa, and a sister, Maria, who first studied medicine at Damascus University and later worked for a news channel in Dubai .

Education

After graduating from high school, Shehadeh began studying computer science at the University of Damascus in 2001, which he successfully completed in 2006 with a focus on artificial intelligence . Shehadeh then began to study archeology and work for the United Nations in Damascus.

Film production and travel to the USA

Shehadeh developed a passion for filmmaking, photography and music. He produced several short films such as:

• Saturday Morning Gift : A short documentary film about the suffering children experienced in the 2006 Lebanon War between Hezbollah and Israel .
• Carrying Eid to Camps : A short documentary about a charitable project Shehadeh participated in. As part of the project, gifts were given out during Eid ul-Fitr , the festival of the breaking of the fast, to children living in refugee camps near Damascus due to the drought in Syria.
• Brakes : A documentary that won the 2011 Tamkeen Prize for the best Syrian documentary at the Dox Box Film Festival.

In 2011, Shehadeh received a Fulbright Scholarship for a Masters degree in film production at Syracuse University in the United States . He left Syria after being arrested for two days for participating in a protest in al-Midan , Damascus, to enroll at Syracuse University for the 2011 winter semester.

He traveled extensively in the United States to film and photograph the Occupy Wall Street protest movement while conducting interviews with several American intellectuals. The film "Singing to Freedom", produced by Shehadeh in 2011, features interviews with many prominent intellectuals, including Noam Chomsky , about their views on peaceful resistance against dictatorial regimes. After the end of the fall semester 2011, he decided to quit his studies and return to peaceful resistance in Syria. He told Rima Marrouch, a reporter for National Public Radio , “I cannot be absent when the revolution is happening. I had to come back. You can always study later. "

Journey from Damascus to New Delhi

Travel was another of Shehadeh's passions. On March 17, 2011, just as the Arab Spring hit Syria, Shehadeh began a 10,156 km drive from Damascus to New Delhi on his 30-year-old Cossack Minsk motorcycle . He drove through Iraq , Iran , Afghanistan , Pakistan and Turkey to get to his destination. After running out of gas during a leg of his trip, he bartered a liter of gas every morning so he could continue his journey. He was the first Syrian to officially cross the border between Iran and Pakistan. He was therefore "escorted" by the Pakistani police on his journey through the western part of the country. In May 2011 he returned to Damascus.

Role in the uprising in Syria

Shehadeh took part in the first demonstrations in Damascus to support the Arab Spring protest movements in Tunisia and Egypt . He called for a sit-in at the Egyptian embassy in Damascus to protest the crackdown on protests against Mubarak's regime in Egypt. The sit-in was violently broken up by the Syrian security forces. Shehadeh participated in several peaceful resistance events during the March 2011 uprising in Syria. He joined the intellectual protest movement in Damascus and was finally arrested on July 13, 2011. He was later beaten by security guards and his diabetes worsened while in detention.

After he was detained, Shehadeh did not let himself be stopped from continuing his protest. He is considered to be the pioneer of the Freedom Money project in Damascus and he filmed many peaceful protests and attacks by government forces. After returning from the United States, Shehadeh worked as a free reporter and reporter for a number of media outlets. He moved to Homs in March 2012 despite the increased military operations of the Syrian regime in the city. He stayed there for almost 3 months until his death.

In Homs he managed to film the government bombings. He trained many activists and photographers to make film recordings. Shehadeh began producing a short film entitled I Will Cross Tomorrow to document the ongoing danger resistance fighters find themselves in in Homs. Shehadeh also formed producer Ahmad al-Assam (also known as Ahmad Abu Ibrahim), who made many videos and produced some news stories about Syria.

death

On May 28, 2012, Shehadeh was shot near al-Sassafra in Bab al-Sebaa, Homs and killed by government forces along with a group of activists including Ahmad al-Assam. Shehadeh was buried in Homs according to his will. Government forces prevented his family and friends from going to Damascus Church to pray for him, including: a. besieged his house. The Syracuse University released a statement in which they condemned his death and the family and friends expressed their sympathy. Commenting on Shehadeh's death, Noam Chomsky said, “Terrible news! [...] A wonderfully courageous person. What will happen to poor Syria when it sinks deeper into the abyss. "

Web links

• Al Jazeera: US students remember slain Syrian friend. Retrieved December 2, 2014 . 
• New York Times: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/syracuse-university-filmmaker-reportedly-killed-in-syria/. Retrieved December 2, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Biography. (No longer available online.) Bassel Shehadeh Foundation, archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; accessed on December 2, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Wissam Kanaan: Bassel Shehade: Syria's Motorcycle Diarist. In: al-Akhbar , Beirut, Lebanon. May 30, 2012, accessed December 2, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Saturday morning gift on YouTube
4. ↑ Carrying Eid to Camps on YouTube
5. ↑ Singing to Freedom on YouTube
6. ↑ ^{a b} Who's who: Bassel Shehadeh. (No longer available online.) In: The Syrian Observer. September 4, 2013, archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; accessed on December 2, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Kelly McEvers: Slain Syrian Filmmaker Traded Study For 'Revolution'. In: NPR. May 29, 2012, accessed December 3, 2014 . 
8. ^ "Freedom Money" project on YouTube
9. ↑ ^{a b} Syrian Filmmaker Who Appeared on Democracy Now! Killed in Homs. In: Democracy Now! May 29, 2012, accessed December 3, 2014 . 
10. ↑ Zead Raad: Filmmaker and Martyr Bassel Shehade. (No longer available online.) In: The Syrian. May 29, 2012, archived from the original on April 3, 2015 ; Retrieved December 4, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Nancy Cantor: Message from Chancellor Cantor about the death of SU graduate student Bassel Al Shahade. (No longer available online.) In: SU News Services. Syracuse University May 29, 2012, archived from the original April 2, 2015 ; accessed on December 2, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.