Khaled Asaad, a prominent Syria antiquities scholar who led research at the 2,000-year-old Syrian site of Palmyra, was brutally beheaded by Islamic State militants on Tuesday. Syrian state-run SANA News Agency reported on Wednesday that the 80-year-old was beheaded and crucified after being captured by ISIS militants. The group reportedly interrogated Asaad about the location of archeological treasures in Palmyra before killing him and displaying his body on a public street.
The Raqqa-based activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently posted a graphic image of Asaad’s beheaded body hanging from a traffic light pole. In front of Asaad was a sign that said he was “kafir” (an unbeliever) and a “manager of the idols” that seemed to make reference to his role in Palymra.
His death has rattled the archeological community. Support for Asaad has poured in on Twitter and on his Facebook page. Torbjørn Preus Schou, a Norwegian archaeologist who conducted his PhD studies in Palymra, penned a tribute to Asaad. “They executed an 82-year old man, archaeologist, and scholar. Although I personally only met him a few times, the leader of our Palmyrena project knew him well and we would not have been able to conduct our investigations without his aid,” wrote Schou. “May he rest in peace.”
Asaad was born in Palmyra, and took part in the Palmyra Development Project between 1962 and 1966 as he unearthed the largest part of the Great Colonnade and the Great Tetrapylon of Palmyra along with some Byzantine cemeteries, caves and tombs.
[via Mashable]
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