Khaled Al-Fayeed



Khaled Al-Fayeed is the father of Bassam and Jamal Al-Fayeed and the former President of Abbudin. A ruthless and cunning man, he went from living in squalor in a small Bedouin village to becoming President of Abbudin. He is the patriarch of the Al-Fayeed family and oversees everything that they do. Khaled gained infamy after the Ma'an Gas Attack, in which more than twenty thousand men, woman and children died. He is not remembered fondly by his children but is widely respected and admired by them. He died after suffering a stroke at his grandson's wedding. Under Khaled's leadership Abbudin became the second (after Saudi Arabia) most prosperous and stable nation in the Middle East.

Khaled is remembered as being constantly angry and almost impossible to please by his children. He attempted to train Jamal, his oldest son and heir, to become a good leader but was disappointed to find that Jamal was a hotheaded brute more interested in pleasure than ruling. He discovered, too late, that his younger son, Bassam, had the qualities needed in a good dictator. This was his one regret, and he told Bassam on his deathbed that he made a mistake choosing Jamal as his heir, telling Bassam "It should have been you."

Biography
Khaled Al-Fayeed grew up in a small Bedouin village, intimate enough that Khaled memorized every villager's name and face. Khaled often brought his children back to the village to remind them of their heritage. It is one of the few places his children remember him being happy. Sometime after his childhood Khaled became a high-ranking politician and eventually the President of Abbudin. He married a British woman, Amira, and had his two sons, Bassam and Jamal.

Khaled's early presidency was marred by civil war. A terrorist rebellion, led by the popular religious leader Sheikh Rashid and based in the Sheikh's home province of Ma'an, threatened to overthrow Khaled's regime. Finally Khaled agreed to sit down and negotiate with the Sheikh to find a peaceful solution but on the eve of the negotiations Khaled allegedly launched a surprise attack against Ma'an, killing twenty thousand men, women and children. The attack was retaliation against an alleged bombing of an Al-Fayeed barracks by Rashid's terrorist forces, though the Sheikh denied responsibility for this attack. In fact the bombing was orchestrated by Khaled's brother, General Tariq, who hoped the attack would convince Khaled to authorize the attack. Khaled refused to do so, however, so Tariq ordered the attack himself and without Khaled's knowledge. Though infuriated by his brother's betrayal and horrified by the massacre Khaled refused to punish his brother because of his fear of his brother's absolute control over the military. Though horrible, this attack ended the civil war and forced the Sheikh to go into exile. Following the attack Khaled led Abbudin into a new era of peace, stability and prosperity.

His family life was not as stable, however. His harsh and crude attempts to train Jamal into becoming a good leader instead caused Jamal to suffer from numerous psychological problems and caused Jamal to become a hotheaded brute. Additionally his other son, Bassam, feeling neglected and horrified by his father's attack against Ma'an, left Abbudin in self-imposed exile when he was 16 and did not return or contact his family for twenty years.

Season 1
Khaled is introduced in season 1 after Bassam returns to Abbudin to visit his nephew's wedding. Bassam shares a brief reunion with his father where his father expresses genuine happiness his youngest son has returned. Khaled later speaks to Jamal privately and informs him that terrorists are planning to attack the wedding. Angered that Jamal could not even handle the security of his own son's wedding, he orders Jamal to bring Bassam with him when he resolves it. Sure enough Bassam offers a more peaceful and practical solution to the issue, confirming Khaled's beliefs about Bassam's superior leadership. Later during the wedding Khaled suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. The doctors predict Khaled will not survive so he calls Bassam in to speak to him privately. There he tells Bassam he made a mistake choosing Jamal as his heir and states, "It should have been you. Without you, they'll kill us all." After dismissing Bassam he speaks briefly to Jamal and dies.

Despite his death Khaled remains a presence in the Al-Fayeed family. In "Sins of the Father" Jamal and Bassam must deal without the fallout from the Ma'an Gas Attack. It is in this episode Bassam discovers his father's innocence in the attack. The revelation that Bassam hated his father his whole life for something he never did devestates Bassam and he sees his father in a new light afterward. He also develops a deep hatred for the real culpret, General Tariq.