Abdul Rahman Al Bakir

Abdul Rahman Al Bakir (; 1917–1971) was a leading activist and one of the independence leaders in the Arab Gulf states in the 20th century. He was the founding member and secretary of the National Union Committee (NUC), a non-sectarian and pan-Arab independence group established in Bahrain in 1954.

Early life Al Bakir was born in Manama, Bahrain, in 1917. His family were Jews lived in Baghdad who later converted to Islam. The parents of Al Bakir were from Qatar.

Activities and arrest Al Bakir was employed at the Bahrain Petroleum Company in 1936 and then worked in Dubai, Qatar and in some African countries. In the late 1940s he settled in Doha, Qatar, where he involved in ice business, but in 1952 he returned to Bahrain. Al Bakir published articles in Sawt al-Bahrain using a pseudonym, Ibn Taymiyyah. He joined the editorial team of the weekly newspaper Al Qafilah in 1952. The authorities asked Al Bakir to leave the country after the start of the large-scale demonstrations in country, and he left Bahrain for Cairo where he stayed between the end of March and September 1956. They were detained and sent to Jidda Island.

They were sent to exile into the island of Saint Helena on the orders of Salman bin Hamad on 27 January 1957. Al Bakir and others made an application to the Supreme Court of St Helena and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to use the habeas corpus which was admitted. Each of them was paid £15,000 for compensation and £5,000 for expenses.

Personal life and death Al Bakir was married and had four children, two sons and two daughters. As of 2002 his wife and daughters were living in Qatar. One of his daughters married Jassim Buhejji, cofounder of the National Union Committee.

Al Bakir died in Beirut on 8 July 1971. His body was brought to Bahrain, but the Bahraini authorities did not allow his family to bury him there. Instead, he was buried in a cemetery in Doha, Qatar.