Khalifa Bin Salman al-Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, Dies at 84 years old

BEIRUT, Lebanon Prince Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who led the Bahraini government as prime minister for nearly five decades while defending the ruling dynasty and destroying the opposition, died on Wednesday. He was 84 years old.

The Bahraini State News Agency said he died at the Mayo Clinic in the United States without giving further details. (The main clinic campus is in Rochester, Minn.) He had previously had at least two heart attacks and had undergone heart surgery.

At his death, Prince Khalifa, a brother of the former Bahraini monarch and uncle of its current king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, was the world’s tallest prime minister. He was known by his friends and enemies as a traditionalist who had run the day-to-day affairs of the Bahraini government since the country gained independence from Britain in 1971.

During those years Bahrain experienced steady economic development and formed a close alliance with the United States. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, an island nation of 1.5 million people in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Prince Khalifa rose to prominence for his long tenure at the helm of the Bahraini government. When asked about this in 2012, he told reporters for the German magazine Der Spiegel, What?

Democratic systems are very different, he said. Why can’t we be different?

In the same interview, he criticized the Arab Spring uprisings, including one in Bahrain, which erupted in 2011.

This is not an Arab spring, he said. Spring is associated with flowers, happy people and do not want death, chaos and destruction.

Bahrain has been rocked by occasional outbursts of popular discontent, mostly among its Shiite Muslim majority, who accuse its Sunni Muslim rulers of systematic discrimination.

Late Wednesday, Bahrain announced that Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the eldest son of kings, would become the new prime minister. Prince Salman, 51, is also the deputy commander of the Bahraini army.

Prince Khalifa was a son of the al-Khalifa dynasty that has ruled Bahrain since 1783, including his time as British protectorate before gaining independence in 1971.

His father, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, ruled Bahrain from 1942 to 1961 and Prince Khalifa embellished it, teaching the affairs of government.

Prince Khalifa’s brother, Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, took power in 1961 and continued as Emir of Bahrain after independence. While his brother served as the diplomatic and ceremonial head of state, Prince Khalifa became prime minister, giving him oversight of government and the economy.

The Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 frightened Bahraini leaders, who feared that its Shiite revolutionary ideology would take root in their Shiite population and challenge their rule. In the 1980s, Bahrain said it had thwarted two pro-Iranian coup attempts.

In the 1990s, Bahrain’s Shiites rose up to demand economic development and political reform, and Sheikh al-Khalifa supported efforts to quell the unrest by shutting down thousands of people.

As Bahrain’s economy developed, Prince Khalifa was prosecuted on corruption charges.

I believe Sheikh Khalifa is not entirely a negative influence, wrote a US diplomat in 2004 in a cable released by WikiLeaks. While certainly corrupt, he has built most of modern Bahrain.

The diplomat called Prince Khalifa a traditional Arab and predicted that his conservatism would make him a drag on the pace of reform.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, a human rights monitor in opposition, said in a statement released Wednesday that Prince Khalifa had left behind a legacy of abuse and power.

In 2017, Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt in severing diplomatic relations with Qatar and boycotting this small Gulf neighbor, accusing it of interfering in other countries’ affairs and supporting terrorism. The Qataris have denied the allegations.

Last month, Bahrain agreed to open diplomatic relations with Israel, making it the fourth Arab state to do so.

Prince Khalifa’s health had been declining for years and he left Bahrain in August for what the government at the time called a private visit abroad.

His nephew declared a black week, the state news agency said. Prince Khalifa will be buried after his body is returned from the outside.