Qatar’s former emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, a sweeping moderniser who seized power in 1995 and broke with tradition to hand it over to his son 18 years later, has died at the age of 74.
Qatar’s top government body, the Amiri Diwan, announced that Sheikh Hamad had died on Sunday morning. It did not mention the cause of his death.
The Qatar that the current Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani inherited was already well on its way to being remade by his father.
Sheikh Hamad presided over one of the most consequential periods in the country’s history, driving a rapid transformation of the tiny desert state that reshaped its economy, global profile and political ambition.
A forceful, independent-minded personality, he explained in a speech to mark his abdication in 2013 that he wanted a new generation “with their innovative ideas and active energies” to take over.
Sheikh Hamad was the architect of Qatar’s effort to develop its liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure that allowed it to get its vast gas reserves to global markets, turning the state into one of the world’s largest exporters and laying the foundations for its vast wealth.
