A memorial service was held for the late Dr Alaaddin Jango (known as Dr Alaa) in the ceremony hall of Prof Dr Ali Qaradaghi at the University of Human Development (UHD) on October 20^th, 2021.

Dr Alaa was originally from Syria. He was born into a religious family in 1974 in Aleppo. He spent many years in the United Arab Emirates before he finally settled in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and assumed the position of a full-time lecturer at the Department of Law of UHD almost 10 years ago. He continued working at this department until he passed away of stroke on September 24^th, 2021.

A one-minute silence was observed at the beginning of the service which was followed by the recitation of the Holy Quran. Then Dr Alaa’s life story was briefly presented to the audience in a video which was prepared by some students and staff members of the Law Department. Also, the UHD president Prof Dr Mariwan Ahmed Rashid gave a speech in which he referred to the great academic contributions of Dr Alaa to the UHD and wider society. He pointed out that Dr Alaa had successfully managed the affairs of the Syrian students at UHD and said that in the honour of Dr Alaa the UHD will remain committed to providing free seats for the Syrian refugee students.

Another video was shown during the service which displayed eight of Dr Alaa’s books that have been published in the last few years. The books included novels, biography of famous Kurdish religious scholars in Syria and textbooks for students of the Law Department.

The service became more touching when two students read separate poems on how much they missed their teacher and how hard they were struggling to cope with his death. 

In a letter read during the service, the family of the late Dr Alaa thanked the UHD administrative and teaching staffs for being with them wholeheartedly in those recent difficult times.