Executive Director and founder of The Center for Democracy and Human Rights.
(Ali) was born and raised in south west, Saudi Arabia, on the Saudi-Yemeni borders. He worked for the oil industry in Saudi Arabia prior to coming to study in the US. Ali graduated with a Ph. D in government from the Claremont Graduate School, in Southern California.
Thesis title: The Impact of Modernization on the Stability of the Saudi Monarchy.
Ali was North America’s representative of the first pan Arab Organization for Human Rights, based in Cairo, Egypt. He was the director of the Middle East Educational Peace Program, a division of the American Friends Service Committee, San Francisco office.
Ali is the founder and executive director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, CDHR, located in Washington DC. CDHR focuses on promoting peaceful and incremental democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia, including empowerment of women, religious freedom, free flow of information, free movement, free press, privatization of government industries, free elections, non-sectarian constitution, codified rule of law, transparency and accountability.
Ali consults with US officials, media, think tanks and educational institutions regarding Saudi domestic and foreign policies as they relate to human rights, spread of Saudi austere religious ideology (known as Wahhabism), US-Saudi relations and Saudi regional and global influence. He has participated in conferences throughout the United States as well as in London, Egypt, Sudan, and Israel. He is a proud father of two: a former US Army Officer, Siraj and an avid human right activist and soon to be an inspiring lawyer, Norah.