{"id":2017,"date":"2020-05-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2017"},"modified":"2020-06-12T14:50:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T14:50:58","slug":"mohammad-riad-hussain-ismat-writer-and-diplomat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2017","title":{"rendered":"Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat, writer and diplomat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Mohammad_Riad_Hussain_Ismat.jpg?w=810\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-750\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat \u2011 a Syrian writer, critic and theatre director \u2013 died on 13 May 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Ismat served as Minister of Culture of Syria from 3 October 2010 to 23 June 2012.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ismat studied English literature at the Damascus University and graduated in 1968. In 2000, he became Rector of the Academy of Dramatic Arts, after years of teaching. In 2003, Ismat became Director General of Syrian State Radio and Television, then held the post of Syrian Vice-Minister of Culture. In 2005, he was appointed Ambassador to Pakistan and in 2010, Syrian Ambassador to Qatar. In October 2010, Ismat was appointed as Minister of Culture, serving in that post until 23 June 2012. From 2013 to 2014 he served as Buffett Center Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ismat has directed more than 15 theatrical productions, including interpretations of Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Frank Wedekind, as well as producing his own personal vision of The Arabian Nights. He founded the first mime troupe in Damascus and taught mime, acting &amp; directing at the Syrian Academy of Dramatic Arts. There he used to teach the Stanislavsky-based method of acting. His breakthrough as a playwright came with The Game of Love &amp; Revolution; among his best known dramatic works are: Was Dinner Good, dear Sister; Mourning Becomes Antigone; Sinbad; Shahryar&#8217;s Nights; Abla &amp; Antar; Mata Hari; The Banana Republic and In Search of Zenobia. Ismat also directed his own television trilogy for Syrian TV, &#8220;The Artist &amp; Love&#8221;, 1985.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ismat had published 35 books, including short stories and several books on Arab and World drama. He had also written a book on the Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz and a book on cinema. As a television script writer, he had written the scripts for seven television serials.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Mohammad Riad Hussain Ismat \u2011 a Syrian writer, critic and theatre director \u2013 died on 13 May 2020. Ismat served as Minister of Culture of Syria from 3 October 2010 to 23 June 2012. \u00a0 Ismat studied English literature at the Damascus University and graduated in 1968. In 2000, he became Rector of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[46,7019,15],"tags":[4648,890,303,1042,782],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Mohammad_Riad_Hussain_Ismat.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2808,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2808","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":0},"title":"Hadi Khosroshahi, cleric & diplomat","date":"February 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Seyyed Hadi Khosroshahi \u2013an Iranian cleric and diplomat who served as the first Iranian Ambassador to the Vatican \u2013 died\u00a0 from Covid-19 on 27 February 2020. When he was 15 years old, Khosroshahi joined the leader of militant Fada'iyan-e Islam (Devotees of Islam), Sayyid Mojtaba Mir-Lohi, nicknamed Navvab Safavi. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Iran&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1945,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1945","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":1},"title":"Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes, politician","date":"April 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes a Chilean politician who served as a member of the cabinet during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet died on 19 April 2020 due to COVID-19. Coming from a rural background, he studied agriculture at the University of Chile. He first became involved in politics in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;High Profilers&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2074,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2074","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":2},"title":"Erik Jean Christian Antoine Belfrage, diplomat and businessman","date":"April 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Erik Jean Christian Antoine Belfrage \u2011 a Swedish diplomat, banking executive, and political consultant \u2011 died at Saint G\u00f6ran Hospital in Stockholm due to COVID\u201119 on 18 April 2020. \u00a0 Belfrage was the son of diplomat Kurt-Allan Belfrage and his wife, Ren\u00e9e France Paule Puaux. His brother, Frank Belfrage, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;High Profilers&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3623,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3623","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":3},"title":"Hans Prade, diplomat & politician","date":"April 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hans Orlando Prade, a Surinamese diplomat and politician, died on 3 April 2020 due to coronavirus. After graduating from Leiden University, Prade returned to Suriname, and founded the short lived Nationale Volkspartij together with Ronald Venetiaan. Later Prade became a member of the Progressieve Nationale Partij. During the coup, Prade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;High Profilers&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2814,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2814","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":4},"title":"Mohammad Mirmohammadi, politician","date":"March 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi \u2013an Iranian politician who served as the senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and a member of Expediency Discernment Council \u2013 died due to coronavirus on 2 March 2020. He was the member of the 6th and 7th Iranian parliaments for Qom. Mohammad was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;High Profilers&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2766,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2766","url_meta":{"origin":2017,"position":5},"title":"Wen Zengxian, politician","date":"February 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Wen Zengxian \u2013a Chinese politician who served as Deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department of Hubei Province from 1997 to 2010 \u2013 passed away on 31 January 2020 after contracting Covid-19. \u00a0 Wen was born in Xinye County, Henan. In April 1972, he started to work at Xiangfan Municipal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;China&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5994,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2017\/revisions\/5994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}