Arab women scientists mourn the loss of Syrian researcher

Rehab Abd Almohsen
Freelance journalist, SciDev.Net

While the armed conflict in Syria is closing its second year, a gathering of more than 100 Arab women scientists in Kuwait take this as chance to remember the loss of their Syrian colleague, scientist Ahlam Imad who were assassinated by armed groups in June 2011.

The professor at the Faculty of Petrochemical Engineering Faculty at al-Baath University in Homs was killed when a group of gunmen broke into her family house and shot her down along with five of her family members, including three children.

“She was one of the active members of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World [OWSD] and just before she died she was about to establish a national chapter of OWSD in Syria,” Rokshana Ismail, chemistry professor in Aden University told the attendees of the International conference on Women in Science and Technology in the Arab Countries   (21-23 April), in Kuwait City.

Imad is not the only scientist that was killed during the last two years in Syria, a nuclear scientist Aws Abdul Karim Khalil assassinated in Homs in September 2011, the science professor and missiles expert Nabil Zougheib was killed with his wife and two sons on 21 July 2012 in Damascus, Issa Al Khouli, head of Hamish military hospital was killed in Damascus in February 2012.

This blog post is part of SciDev.Net’s coverage of International conference on Women in Science and Technology in the Arab Countries which takes place 21-23 April 2013, in Kuwait City, Kuwait. To read further news and analysis please visit our website.