Ibrahim Sharif al-Sayed ( ar, ابراهيم شريف السيد) is an opposition political activist in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, currently serving as the General Secretary of the secular

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

National Democratic Action Society The National Democratic Labour Action Society – Wa'ad ( ar, جمعية العمل الوطني الديمقراطي – وعد) is Bahrain's largest leftist political party. History and profile It emerged from the Popular Front, a "radical" c ...

(Wa'ad).Divided Islamists face poll erosion in Bahrain

The National (Abu Dhabi) ''The National'' is a private English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The newspaper is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and member of the ro ...

, Oct 15, 2010 He succeeded former General Secretary

Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi (1943/1944 – September 1, 2011) was a Bahraini politician and opposition leader. Al-Nuaimi, who spent more than thirty years in self-imposed exile from Bahrain, founded some of the country's most important political opposit ...

, who fell into a coma in April 2007 and died in 2011. Sharif was formerly associated with the underground

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism ( ar, القومية العربية, al-Qawmīya al-ʿArabīya) is a nationalist ideology that asserts the Arabs are a nation and promotes the unity of Arab people, celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language an ...

and

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain The Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير البحرين) was an underground political party in Bahrain with origins in the Arab Nationalist Movement. Its members were inclined towards the le ...

. Sharif is a

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

. On 17 March 2011, Sharif was arrested in his home in

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

for his role in the Bahraini uprising, which called for greater political freedom and for the rights of the

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

majority. Shortly after,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

reported allegations that he was being tortured by state security forces while in detention. The organization named him a prisoner of conscience, and called for his immediate release. On 22 March 2011, the

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (TRA) is the official, independent body recognized by the Government of Bahrain for regulating the telecoms sector in Bahrain. TRA presides over licensing, regulation and policy making, con ...

announced a decision to revoke all licenses from Bahraini telecom firm 2Connect, of which more than 10 percent was owned by Sharif as of 22 March 2011. According to the Gulf Daily News, rumors of the suspension had been circulating since 14 March 2011, although the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority had initially denied these rumors. In a statement to the Gulf Daily News on 23 March 2011, founder and managing director Fahad Shirawi revealed that the company had initiated a process to ensure that the company was 100% owned by himself, a group of Saudi investors, and the employees. The decision to revoke 2Connect's licenses was reversed on 13 April 2011. Also on 13 April 2011, 2Connect released a statement saying that Shirawi was stepping down from his position as managing director and leaving 2Connect after seven years of service, for personal reasons. Sharif was sentenced to five years in prison on 22 June 2011. In September 2012, an appeal court upheld his sentence, despite determining that the evidence against him had been obtained by means of torture. Sharif was released from imprisonment on 20 June 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharif, Ibrahim 1957 births Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Bahrain Bahraini Arab nationalists Bahraini dissidents Bahraini exiles Bahraini left-wing activists Bahraini Sunni Muslims Bahraini torture victims Living people National Democratic Action Society politicians People of the Bahraini uprising of 2011 Bahraini prisoners and detainees

See also

References