[12] Ali was born in February 1946 to a Bengali family of Syeds in Gopalganj, then part of the Faridpur district of the Bengal Province.

[15][16] He was also a member of the executive committee of the National Economic Council, the highest political authority for consideration of development projects in Bangladesh, during this time.

[23] Ali has been a lifelong anti-smoking campaigner and played a central role in the banning of smoking in public places [24] in his home country of Bangladesh where nearly 50% of adults use tobacco for recreational purposes.

[1] He was also the vice-president of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) representing the WHO South-East Asia Region from 2010 to 2012.

He was active in negotiations with the military-backed Bangladesh caretaker government regarding sending Hasina, who was detained on corruption charges, abroad for treatment,[28][29][30][31] and threatened to sue the government over negligence regarding Hasina's treatment during her detention in 2008.