Answering my own question (and Rouge's), he's Abdullah Al-Nafisi, a Kuwaiti professor by trade.
Born in 1945, he graduated from Victoria College in Cairo, and later earned his B.A. in Politics from the American University in Beirut. He received a Ph.D. in Politics in 1972 from Cambridge University (yes, the Cambridge University). He was an MP in Kuwait's parliament, then went on to Chair the politics department at the University of Kuwait, where he remains a professor.
He's also apparently a member of the Majlis al-shoura (or al-shura), which is an advisory body to the king of Saudi Arabia and which also has some legislative functions (I reckoned I'd find a link to Saudi Arabia if I looked hard enough). He is also apparently a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood - a multinational fundamentalist Islamic political organization which seeks to have the Qur'an as the basis of law and order and life in general, and in particular Sunni interpretations thereof.
This speech apparently took place in Bahrain, and aired on Al-Jazeera back on February 2, 2009, just after Cheers.
I can't find any info on who the audience is.
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