Investigative journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering Syrian and Middle Eastern affairs. He is the founder and executive director of the Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism unit — SIRAJ, the first investigative journalism unit in Syria. SIRAJ aims to promote a culture of investigative and in-depth reporting in newsrooms and to provide training and professional development for Syrian journalists.
Bassiki’s investigations focus on public spending, financial investigations, tracing funds, budgets and companies, as well as human rights violations. He produces and publishes collaborative investigations on Syria with international and Arab investigative teams, with the aim of promoting transparency, creating accountability, and strengthening laws in times of uncertainty.
Bassiki has been a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington, D.C., United States, since May 2023, and is a member of its Communications and Outreach Committee. His investigations were selected among the best investigations from the Middle East and North Africa in 2022 by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) — Editors’ Picks.
Bassiki collaborates with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the international investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, El País, Finance Uncovered in the United Kingdom, and others.
The investigations Bassiki has worked on have been nominated for several international awards, including the 2026 European Press Prize, the 2025 Shining Light Award, the True Story Award in Bern, Switzerland, in 2024, the 2022 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism for cross-border journalism from the European Union in Strasbourg, France, and the International Center for Journalists award in Washington, D.C.
