The members of Libya's National Transitional Council
Libya's National Transitional Council released an expanded list of its membership last week. Here's what we know about them.
Last week, Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) released an expanded list of its members and their geographic affiliation.
Kristen Chick, who's in eastern Libya, took the trouble to transcribe the Arabic list into English for me. Just tossing it up here since I haven't seen the full list elsewhere.
Below is the list, with a little bit of detail on some of the members (a lot of them we know next to nothing about). There have been rumblings in western Libya that a lot of the names assigned to towns there are longtime exiles who don't have local support.
The NTC has said the council will be expanded to about 80 people after Muammar Qaddafi is captured and cities still in loyalist hands, like Sirte and Sabha, fall.
I plan to revisit this list and update with a little basic information on some of the people below as I come across it.
- Mustafa Mohamed Abdel Jalil, president of the NTC: Mr. Jalil was Mr. Qaddafi's minister of justice when the uprising began in February, and he defected quickly, becoming the first senior official to abandon Qaddafi. From the eastern Green Mountains town of Bayda, he had a reputation for piety and honesty while serving Qaddafi and tried to bring some independence to Libya's judiciary.
- Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy president of NTC: Mr. Ghoga has often acted as the NTC's chief spokesman in Benghazi. Ghoga, a lawyer and human rights activist, was among a group of lawyers representing the families of the victims of the 1996 Abu Salim massacre, in which 1,000 political prisoners were murdered at the Tripoli prison. Demands for justice over that issue helped spark the uprising against Qaddafi in February.
- Ahmed Al Zabeer: Mr. Zabeer is a member representing political prisoners.
- Othman El Mageerhi: Mr. Mageerhi is from Tobruk.
- Ashour Burashad: Mr. Burashad is from Derna.
- Ahmed El Abar: Mr. Abar is a businessman from Benghazi.
- General Amr Al Beheiry: Mr. Beheiry is a member for military matters.
- Abdallah El Mehub: Mr. Mehub is from Qaba.
- Salwa El Deghali: Ms. Deghali is a constitutional law professor from Benghazi. She is the only women known to be on the council.
- Fathi El Baja: Mr. Baja is a well known academic and anti-Qaddafi activist from Benghazi.
- Fathi Terbil: Mr. Terbil is a human rights activist and lawyer from Benghazi. He was briefly detained in Benghazi on Feb. 15 while petitioning the local court on behalf of victims of the Abu Salim massacre. That detention sparked mass demonstrations in Benghazi, the first step of the Libyan revolution. I met Terbil in Benghazi in March and wrote a piece about my impressions of him and other NTC leaders more generally.
- Suleiman El Furteih: Mr. Furteih is from Misrata.
- Abdel Megid Seif El Nasr: Mr. Nasr is from Sabha.
- Hassan El Druae: Mr. Druae is from Sirte.
- Hassan El Sagheer: Mr. Sagheer is from El Shate.
- Farhat El Sharshare: Mr. Sharshare is a businessman from Sarman.
- Mustapha El Salheen El Huni: Mr. Huni is from Jofra.
- Ali Qlma Mohamed Ali: Mr. Ali is from Marzuk.
- Fawzy Abdel Ali: Mr. Ali is from Misurata.
- Abdel Naset Abu Bakr Naama: Mr. Naama is from Tarhouna.
- Abdel Razeq Mukhtar: Mr. Mukhtar is from Tripoli.
- Abdel Razaq Abdel Salam Al Aradi: Mr. Aradi is a businessman from Tripoli who used to live in Vancouver.
- El Sadeeq Amr Al Kabeer: Mr. Kabeer is a banker with ABC Bank from Tripoli who has lived outside Libya.
- Alamin Belhaj: Mr. Belhaj is a past leader of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood from Tripoli and a longtime exile in the United Kingdom. His brother is Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the military commander the NTC appointed to run operations in Tripoli.
- Mohamed Nasr El Hareezi: Mr. Hareezi is from Tripoli.
- Khaled Mohamed Nasrat: Mr. Nasrat is from Zawiya.
- Emad Nour El Din Naseer: Mr. Naseer is from Zawiya.
- Salem Qnan: Mr. Qnan is from Nalut.
- Khaled Ali Zakri: Mr. Zakri is from Jadu.
- Ibrahim Bin Ghashir: Mr. Ghashir is from Misurata.
- Abdullah El Turki: Mr. Turki is from Zintan.
- Ahmed Miftah Hassan El Zouwi: Mr. Zouwi is from Kofra.
- Othman bin Sasi: Mr. Sasi is a businessman from Zuwara who has lived in the south of France for decades.
- Mohamed El Sa’eh: Mr. Sa'eh is from Jufara.
- Moussa El Kouna: Mr. El Kouna is from Oubara.
- Taher Salem Theyab: Mr. Theyab is from El Merj.
- Mohamed Zein El Abdeen: Mr. Abdeen is from Baten El Jabl.
- Ali Al Manea: Mr. Manea is from Ghadames.
- Idris Abu Fayed: Mr. Fayed is from Gharyan.
- Mubarak El Fatmani: Mr. Fatmani is from Bani Walid.