Ahmed al-Senussi

Ahmed Al-Zubair al-Senussi, also known as Zubeir Ahmed El-Sharif, (Arabic: أحمد الزبير الشريف‎) (born 1933) is a Libyan member of the Senussi house and a member of the National Transitional Council representing political prisoners.^[1][2] He is a great-nephew of Idris of Libya, the only king of Libya, and was named after his grandfather Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi.^[2][3] Ahmed al-Senussi graduated from the Military Academy of Iraq in 1953. In 1961 he married his wife Fatilah, since deceased.^[2]

In 1970, he began planning to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi one year after Gaddafi had seized power in a military coup. Along with his brother and other conspirators, he sought to replace the Gaddafi government and give people a chance to choose between a monarchy or a constitutional republic.^[3] He was arrested and sentenced to death; however, in 1988 his sentence was commuted to an additional 13 years incarceration. He stayed in solitary confinement for the first nine years of his sentence and was frequently tortured.^[2] He claims that the torture included frequent beatings with sticks, being strung up by his hands and legs, nearly drowned, and having his feet broken.^[3] After being let out of solitary confinement, he shared a cell with numerous other prisoners, including Omar El-Hariri. After being transferred to Abu Salim prison in 1984, he learned that his wife had died while he was in captivity.^[2] He received a pardon on the 32nd anniversary of Gaddafi taking power.^[3] He was held as a political prisoner for 31 years until his release in 2001, making him the longest incarcerated prisoner in modern Libyan history.^[4]

On 27 October 2011, the European Parliament chose him with four other Arab people to win Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2011.^[5]

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