Saeed al-Shehabi (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

:سعيد الشهابي, born 1954) is a London-based

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

i political activist, journalist, commentator and member of the Bahrain Freedom Movement.

Education

Shehabi did his primary and secondary education in Bahrain before moving to the United Kingdom in 1973 to study for advanced degrees. Shehabi earned his BSc and PhD (in Control Engineering) from the

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

.Centre for the Study of Terrorism

Career

Shehabi was a pro-democracy activist in Bahrain and founder of al-Wefaq, a pro-democracy political organization in Bahrain which the government of Bahrain dissolve

The Bahrain government has repeatedly and publicly denounced Dr Shebabi, as a result of his political activism and demanded that he be expelled from the United Kingdom. In the past, Bahrain opposition groups have been accused of links to the Iranian government, which has sought to annex the island nation based on historic and demographic claims for decades. According to the London-based Centre for the Study of Terrorism, of which he is a Trustee, Shahabi edited the London-based Pan-Arabic weekly ''Al Aalam'' from 1983 to 1999 and, in addition to being Chairman of the Gulf Cultural Club, serves as a trustee of two Muslim charities located in London, the Dar Al-Hekma Trust and the Abrar Islamic Foundation, and writes "regularly" for Al-Quds and '' The Muslim News''. The BBC describes Shehabi as "leader of a Bahraini opposition group in London". Shehabi gained British citizenship in 2002. In 2012 the Kingdom of Bahrain stripped Shehabi of his Bahraini citizenship, accusing him and 30 other activists with being a "threat to the state's security"

Personal life

Al-Shehabi has one daughter, Ala'a Shehabi, who is a democracy rights activist in Bahrain. In 2015 She published a book with British scholar Marc Owen Jones on the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

protests in Bahrain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shehabi, Saeed Living people 1954 births 20th-century Bahraini people Al Wefaq politicians Alumni of City, University of London Bahraini activists Bahraini expatriates in the United Kingdom Politics of Bahrain