Egyptian tech pioneer and activist Ali Shaath died of a heart attack Wednesday. He was 45.
Shaath, a computer engineer, was the co-founder of the Arab Digital Expression Foundation, a non-profit that runs summer camps for Arab youths ages 12 to 15. The camps focus on “adding Arabic digital content, enabling more varied voices in the Arab World and promoting active and artistic expression.” He spoke of the changes that came from these youth camps at TEDxCairoin 2012.
In addition to summer camps, the ADEF strongly advocated for more Arabic-language and open-source software. Shaath also co-founded the Egyptian Association for Free and Open Software, which criticized the Egyptian government for spending $44 million on Microsoft licenses rather than using locally adapted open-source software.
Egyptian journalists and bloggers mourned Shaath’s death on social media and remembered his contributions to the Arab Spring and Egyptian society.
“Ali was a visionary and a revolutionary mind, who spent decades working on encouraging uplifting Arab digital expression,” Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey told Mashable. “He believed in free knowledge for all people and dedicated his life in that pursuit, never once losing his legendary smile or spirit.”
Shaath was the son of Palestinian leader and Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath.