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Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...
Ahmed Al-Zubair al-Senussi, also known as Zubeir Ahmed El-Sharif, ( ar, أحمد الزبير الشريف السنوسي) (born 1934) is a
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
n member of the
Senussi The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi ( ar, السنوسية ''as-Sanūssiyya'') are a Muslim political-religious tariqa (Sufi order) and clan in colonial Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi ( ar, السنوسي ...
house and a member of the
National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council of Libya ( ar, المجلس الوطني الإنتقالي '), sometimes known as the Transitional National Council, was the ''de facto'' government of Libya for a period during and after the Libyan Civil War ...
representing political prisoners.


Biography

He is a great-nephew of
Idris of Libya Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi ( ar, إدريس, Idrīs; 13 March 1890 – 25 May 1983) was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled ov ...
, the only king of Libya, and was named after his grandfather
Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi ( ar, أحمد الشريف السنوسي) (1873 – 10 March 1933) was the supreme leader of the Senussi order (1902–1933), although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal. His daughter, ...
. Ahmed al-Senussi graduated from the Military Academy of
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
in 1958. In 1961 he married his wife Fatilah, since deceased. In 1970, he began planning to overthrow
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
one year after Gaddafi had seized power in a military coup. Along with his brother and other conspirators, he sought to replace the Gaddafi government and allegedly give people a chance to choose between a
monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...
or a constitutional republic. He was arrested and
sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
; however, in 1988 his sentence was commuted to an additional 13 years incarceration, and his family was allowed to visit him. He stayed in solitary confinement for the first nine years of his sentence and was allegedly frequently tortured. He claims that the torture included frequent beatings with sticks, being strung up by his hands and legs, nearly drowned, and having his feet broken. After being let out of solitary confinement, he shared a cell with numerous other prisoners, including
Omar El-Hariri Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri ( – 2 November 2015) was a leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya who served as the Minister of Military Affairs in 2011, during the Libyan Civil War. He controlled the National Liberation Army an ...
. After being transferred to
Abu Salim prison Abu Salim prison ( ar, سجن أبو سليم) is a maximum security prison in Tripoli, Libya. The prison was notorious during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi for alleged mistreatment and human rights abuses, including a massacre in 1996 in which Hum ...
in 1984, he learned that his wife had died while he was in captivity. He received a pardon on the 32nd anniversary of Gaddafi taking power, and received US$ 107,300 (131,000
Libyan dinar The dinar ( ar, دينار (); sign: LD in Latin, ل.د in Arabic; code: LYD) is the official currency of Libya. The dinar is divided into 1,000 dirhams (). It is issued by the Central Bank of Libya, which also supervises the banking system ...
s) and a monthly
pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
of US$ 314.62 (400 Libyan dinars). He was held as a
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although nu ...
for 31 years until his release in 2001, making him the longest incarcerated prisoner in modern Libyan history. On 27 October 2011, the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
chose him with four other Arab people to win
Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...
in 2011. On 6 March 2012, Ahmed al-Senussi was announced as the leader of the self-declared
Cyrenaica Transitional Council Cyrenaica Transitional Council also shortened as CTC is the claimed government of the Libyan Region of Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after t ...
.


Ancestry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senussi, Ahmed al- 1934 births Living people
Ahmed al-Senussi Prince Ahmed Al-Zubair al-Senussi, also known as Zubeir Ahmed El-Sharif, ( ar, أحمد الزبير الشريف السنوسي) (born 1934) is a Libyan member of the Senussi house and a member of the National Transitional Council representing p ...
People of the First Libyan Civil War Libyan Muslims Prisoners sentenced to death by Libya Libyan prisoners sentenced to death Libyan torture victims Government ministers of Libya Members of the National Transitional Council Libyan people of Algerian descent Libyan people of Arab descent Sakharov Prize laureates 20th-century Libyan people