Former Qatari emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani dies at 74
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former emir of Qatar, has died at 74 . He ruled from 1995, when he took power from his father, until 2013, when he handed the throne to his son Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in a rare voluntary abdication by a Gulf hereditary ruler.
Over that period Hamad turned a small peninsula into an outsized diplomatic and economic actor. He oversaw Qatar’s rise to become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas — the foundation of its wealth — and founded Al Jazeera in 1996, giving Qatar a media reach that reshaped Arab politics. He also introduced the country’s first permanent constitution and municipal elections that included women, and laid the groundwork for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Qatar declared a four-day mourning period beginning Monday, with government offices closed and flags lowered. His death comes as the Gulf is absorbing direct Iranian strikes, underscoring the volatility of the region whose diplomatic weight he did much to build.