Nasser al-Awlaki ( ar, ناصر العولقي; 1946 – 28 September 2021) was a

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

i scholar and politician. He was the father of Anwar and grandfather of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who were killed in separate U.S.

drone strikes Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakis ...

. Nasser's granddaughter's Nawar al-Awlaki was also killed in a U.S. raid in Yemen in 2017, the

Raid on Yakla The Raid on Yakla was a United States/United Arab Emirates military operation carried out on January 29, 2017 in al-Ghayil, a village in the Yakla area of the Al Bayda Governorate of central Yemen, during the Yemeni Civil War (2014–present). A ...

Biography

He was a Fulbright Scholar and earned a master's degree in agricultural economics at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

in 1971. He received a doctorate at the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, and worked at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

from 1975 to 1977. Nasser al-Awlaki served as Agriculture Minister of Yemen in

Ali Abdullah Saleh Ali Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (, ''ʿAlī ʿAbdullāh Ṣāliḥ al-Aḥmar;'' 21 March 1947There is a dispute as to Saleh's date of birth, some saying that it was on 21 March 1942. See: However, by Saleh's own confession, he was born in 1947 al ...

's government. He was also President of Sana'a University. Yemen's

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

from 2007 to 2011,

Ali Mohammed Mujur Ali Mohammed Mujawar (Arabic: علي محمد مجور; born 26 April 1953) served as Prime Minister of Yemen between 7 April 2007 and 10 December 2011, and prior as electricity minister. Following the anti-government uprising in Yemen, Presid ...

, was a relative. After the deaths of his son and grandson, Nasser published a six-minute audio message condemning the U.S. for the killings. In the audio, he said of then-President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

: : Al-Awlaki claimed his son Anwar was far from any battlefield. In 2010, al-Awlaki also said he believed Anwar had been wrongly accused and had not been a member of al-Qaeda. On 29 January 2017, Nawar al-Awlaki, Nasser's 8-year-old granddaughter, was the third member of his family to be killed by the U.S. The girl was among several civilians killed in the Yakla raid, the first covert operation ordered by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

. Nasser said that “She was hit with a bullet in her neck and suffered for two hours,” “Why kill children? This is the new (U.S.) administration - it’s very sad, a big crime.” Nasser al-Awlaki's son Anwar was a U.S. citizen, born in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

in 1971 while Nasser was earning his master's degree. Al-Awlaki died on 28 September 2021 after suffering from illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awlaqi, Nasser 1946 births 2021 deaths Government ministers of Yemen New Mexico State University alumni University of Minnesota faculty University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Anwar al-Awlaki People from Shabwah Governorate Presidents of Sanaa University