Prominent Kuwaiti liberal thinker Ahmad Al Baghdadi dies

Manama: Ahmad Al Baghdadi, one of Kuwait's best known secular writers and academician, has died after a long battle with illness.

Al Baghdadi, 60, died in Shaikh Khalifa Hospital in Abu Dhabi where he had been admitted.

Born on January 1, 1950, Al Baghdadi is regarded as a prominent leader in liberal activism in Kuwait and an outstanding figure in calling for secularising laws.

He worked as a teacher at the college of political science in Kuwait and wrote columns in several liberal newspapers in Kuwait, Bahrain and other countries.

Al Baghdadi holds a BA in political science and economy from the University of Kuwait (1974), an MA in Western political thought from an American university (1977) and a PhD in Islamic philosophy from Edinburgh (1981).

He has written several books on the renewal of religious speeches and ideology and on the use of rational thinking in addressing issues.