this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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Today I Learned (TIL)

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[–] gcheliotis@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago

FWIW the person appearing on the thumbnail is Bassel Khartabil Safadi, a Palestinian Syrian who for all intents and purposes was just an ordinary guy who wished for democracy in his country. A husband, open source advocate, and a friend. And someone who found himself in the extraordinary situation of being kidnapped by Assad’s security apparatus during the uprising of 2011, imprisoned, and eventually executed by the regime. Just because he advocated for freedom and democracy. As we think of the plight of the Palestinian people today and the unequal fight fought by everyone who dares speak out against the autocratic regimes of the Middle East, let’s take a moment to remember him and all those who the powers that be are keen to label terrorists and a threat to national security, many of whom are people like you and me who had the misfortune to live under regimes with virtually no respect for human rights. May he rest in peace and may the people of the Middle East, be it Muslims, Jews, atheists, or Christians, rise up and demand a life of freedom, solidarity, human rights, and dignity.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 60 points 1 day ago (2 children)

As a past victim of GBoard I will not pile on to OP for their glaring typo. Instead, here's the quote from the Wikipedia article linked above

Osama Khalid (أسامة خالد), a Saudi Arabian former administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, was sentenced to five years imprisonment in September 2020 for "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals" by making edits "critical about the persecution of political activists in the country." Khalid's sentence was increased to 32 years in September 2022 as part of a campaign to lengthen the sentences of political detainees, according to Democracy for the Arab World Now and SMEX, a Lebanese non-governmental organization.

Ziyad al-Sofiani (زياد السفياني), also a former administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, was likewise charged with "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals" by making edits "critical about the persecution of political activists in the country." He was sentenced in September 2020 to eight years in prison and was released in March 2025.

[–] msprout@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Countries thinking they can control the influence of the internet is just so fucking frustrating. Hopefully the US doesn't get the same idea.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 29 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just the other day i was on a Canadian gov website looking for information and they linked to american research and the links where dead because the US took down the webpages

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

There's a lesson for us Canadians in here somewhere, I can't quite put my finger on it...

[–] msprout@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don't worry, I'm sure the Supreme Court will strike it down once it starts getting abused.

[–] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago

~/s~ here....think you dropped this

[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 day ago

Fixed it. I am using GBoard, though I don't know if it was me or the keyboard. Thanks for the quote and being nice.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

What keyboard would you recommend on android?

I've been using Gboard for a while but I've been slowly switching away from Google services (now on Organic Maps, switching away from Google Drive after backing everything up)

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Unfortunately I don't have a recommendation.

I tried Heliboard but it just didn't do it for me

[–] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

Ah fair enough, I tried other boards that were kinda the same for me so I know the feeling

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

How were they caught? Did Wikipedia reveal user data to the authorities when prompted?

[–] the_trash_man@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Your IP address is shown publicly when you make edits on Wikipedia

[–] Kalcifer@sh.itjust.works 1 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

What benefit is there for that to be publicly viewable?

[–] the_trash_man@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago

Probably helps to stop vandalism of pages.

[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

Banning bad actors ip's. Or more horrifically, this.

[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Saudi Arabia

Osama Khalid (أسامة خالد), a Saudi Arabian former administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, was sentenced to five years imprisonment in September 2020 for "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals" by making edits "critical about the persecution of political activists in the country." Khalid's sentence was increased to 32 years in September 2022 as part of a campaign to lengthen the sentences of political detainees, according to Democracy for the Arab World Now and SMEX, a Lebanese non-governmental organization.

Ziyad al-Sofiani (زياد السفياني), also a former administrator of the Arabic Wikipedia, was likewise charged with "swaying public opinion" and "violating public morals" by making edits "critical about the persecution of political activists in the country." He was sentenced in September 2020 to eight years in prison and was released in March 2025.

[–] TammyTobacco@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

OP: You can edit titles on Lemmy

[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 day ago

Done. Thanks.

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Tried to do a Google search to see if such a place exists. Yeah they need to fix the title

[–] YaDownWitCPP@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago