Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani (حمد بن جاسم بن جبر آل ثاني; born 1959 ), who was also known informally by his initials HBJ, is a Qatari politician.

Hamad was born in Doha, Qatar, in 1959.

He is the fifth son of Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.

Through his father, he is the grandson of Jaber bin Mohammed Al Thani.

Jaber was a younger brother of Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, the founding father of modern Qatar.

Between 1982 and 1989, Hamad was the director of the office of the minister of municipal affairs and agriculture.

In July 1989, he was appointed minister of municipal affairs and agriculture and in May 1990, he was appointed deputy minister of electricity and water along with his post as minister of municipal affairs and agriculture, where he supervised several successful projects and developed the agriculture sector.

Hamad facilitated the agreement that led to a unity constitution in Yemen in May 1990, ratified by the populace in May 1991.

It affirmed Yemen's commitment to free elections, a multiparty political system, the right to own private property, equality under the law, and respect of basic human rights.

On 1 September 1992, Hamad was appointed as foreign minister of Qatar by the 8th Emir.

Parliamentary elections were held on 27 April 1993.

He was retained in his post when the Emir's son, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani came to power in a coup in 1995.

Hamad played an important role in the overthrow of the 8th Emir.

Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013, was the first Arab politician received by Nicolas Sarkozy after the latter's election to the French presidency in May 2007.

Additionally, Hamad held several other key positions including member of the supreme defense council, which was established in 1996; head of Qatar's permanent committee for the support of al Quds, which was formed in 1998; member of the permanent constitution committee, formed in 1999; member of the ruling family council, which was established in 2000; and member of the supreme council for the investment of the reserves of the state, which was established in 2000.

In 1996, he worked to settle a brief war between Eritrea and Yemen over the Hanish Islands.

As part of the agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed, through the negotiating effort of Hamad, to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 1998.

On 16 September 2003, Hamad was appointed first deputy prime minister while retaining his position of minister of foreign affairs.

He was the Prime Minister of Qatar from 3 April 2007 to 26 June 2013, and foreign minister from 11 January 1992 to 26 June 2013.

On 2 April 2007, he was appointed as prime minister, following the resignation of Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani; Hamad also continued to serve as foreign minister.

HBJ had vast foreign policy goals for Qatar during his tenure.

Hamad was reported to have had strong connections with the US government.

He serves on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution and chairs the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center.

He has stakes in many strong businesses such as Qatar Airways and the Foreign Investment Company, Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, The Pearl Island and Harrods.

He is a partner in Project Grande (Guernsey), the developer of One Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom.

A May 2008 diplomatic cable sent by then U.S. chargé d'affaires in Doha, alluded to a dispute between HBJ and the Qatari intelligence officials over a Qatari senior bank official imprisoned for 6 months over his role in funding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the al-Qaeda mastermind of September 11.

The senior bank official was Khalifa Muhammad Turki al-Subaiy who financed KSM while working at Qatar Central Bank.

The French government made of Qatar under Hamad's guidance a strategic partner, and the list of partnerships between the two states includes Total, EADS, Technip, Air Liquide, Vinci SA, GDF Suez, and Areva.

France was, under the Hamad government, the primary arms supplier to the Emirate.

In February 2009, under the Sarkozy government, France accorded special beyond-OCDE investment privileges to Qatar, its ruling family and its State-Owned Enterprises; one example of the privileges is capital gains exemptions in France.

The US embassy to Doha claimed, in a cable leaked in December 2010, that "Sheikh Hamad (HBJ) told then US senator John Kerry that he had proposed a bargain with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, which involved stopping broadcasts in Egypt in exchange for a change in Cairo's position on Israel-Palestinian negotiations, and that 'we would stop al-Jazeera for a year' if Mubarak agreed in that span of time to deliver a lasting settlement for the Palestinians."

On 25 June 2013, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani abdicated as Emir of Qatar, and on the next day, 26 June, Hamad resigned from office.

Some have questioned whether this was because the new emir pulled him from his post after realizing how much power HBJ had amassed.

He was replaced by Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani as prime minister and by Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah as foreign minister.

On 3 July, Hamad was also relieved from the post of deputy head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

It was under HBJ that Qatar began assisting rebels in Syria by supplying them with arms.

This move brought criticism upon Qatar, as some questioned whether these arms ultimately ended up in the wrong hands.

In June 2021, High Court of Justice in London issued a claim, according to which Hamad bin Jassim's private office was at the heart of clandestine routes by which money was transferred to an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front.

In March 2022 Hamad bin Jassim said to a Qatari television that the Military Operations Command in Jordan and Turkey have spent $2 trillion to remove Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Hamad has worked actively to settle political conflicts in both Africa and the Middle East over the last 20 years.