King Hamad Al Khalifa Biography

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa is the latest head of the family that since 1783 has ruled the country of Bahrain, an archipelago of 30 islands tucked in a gulf between Saudia Arabia and Qatar. King Hamad, whose earlier posts included that of defense minister (1971-1988), became emir in 1999 upon the death of his father. His title changed to King in 2002, when Bahrain, formerly an emirate, became a constitutional monarchy. The Khalifa family is of the Sunni branch of Islam, and the fact that most Bahranis are Shiite Muslims has contributed to political tensions, including those in which government forces fired on apparently peacful protesters in February 2011. The protests were a symptom of the country’s religious divide, but they were also a call for greater democracy. In that way they resembled the secular uprisings that swept Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia in early 2011, but King Hamad remained in power in the years that followed.