Bahrain's longtime prime minister dies at 84
Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa was among the world's longest-serving prime ministers.
Bahrain’s Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, one of the world’s longest-serving prime ministers, has died at the age of 84.
Without specifying his cause of death, the official Bahrain News Agency announced that Prince Khalifa died Wednesday morning at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The octogenarian prime minister flew in March to Germany for unspecified medical treatment.
The tiny island state’s king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, ordered a week-long official mourning period for his uncle. Government offices will close for three days beginning Thursday, and flags will be flown at half-mast. A limited number of relatives will attend the funeral, the royal statement read.
Prince Khalifa had served as prime minister since Sunni-led Bahrain declared its independence from Britain in 1971. Pro-democracy protesters called for his ouster during the Gulf country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, but the majority-Shiite demonstrations were ultimately suppressed with the help of neighboring Saudi Arabia.
