Political Al Nuaimi passes

Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi, one of Bahrain's best known political activists, died on Thursday morning after more than four years in coma, his family said. Born in in 1944 in Hidd, a small village on Muharraq Island, Bahrain's hotbed for pan-Arabism, Al Nuaimi graduated from the American University in Beirut in 1966 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He became politically active in 1961 when he joined the pan-Arab Movement in 1961 before becoming member of the Popular Front. In 1974, he was secretary general of the movement. Al Nuaimi left Bahrain in 1968 and was exiled for 33 years, but returned home in 2001 when King Hamad launched a series of political reforms that allowed all exiles to go back to Bahrain. He worked on establishing a political society that would be an umbrella for liberals and nationalists in Bahrain and founded the National Democratic Action Society "Waad". He was elected its secretary general in October 2001. He ran for parliamentary elections in 2006, but narrowly lost in the second round. Al Nuaimi lapsed into coma in April 2007 and was treated in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Throughout his life, he took part in several regional, Arab and international conferences and authored several books and articles on local and Arab issues. Al Nuaimi will be buried in Hidd after the Friday prayers.