Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa

Who is Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa?

Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa was born on 3 June 1933 in Jasra and became ruler of Bahrain in 1961 on the death of his father, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. He led the country to independence from Britain in 1971, choosing to withdraw from talks on joining the United Arab Emirates and instead establishing Bahrain as a fully sovereign state, at which point he adopted the title of Emir and appointed his brother Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa as the country's first prime minister. In 1973 he introduced a limited form of parliamentary democracy with elections for men, though he dissolved the National Assembly in 1975 after it rejected a state security law, and he governed thereafter with concentrated executive authority. Over his thirty-eight years as Emir, Bahrain transformed from a modest pearling and oil economy into one of the Gulf's leading financial and banking centers. He died of a heart attack on 6 March 1999 at Government House in Manama and was succeeded by his eldest son, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa" · Unofficial Royalty, "Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, Emir of Bahrain"