Cairo - Mahmoud Jibril, who abandoned
Muammar Gaddafi to become Libya's rebel prime minister during
the 2011 revolution, died on Sunday after contracting the novel
coronavirus, an aide and his party said.
Jibril was interim leader until the country held its first
free elections in four decades in 2012, following the toppling
of Gaddafi the year before. He died in a private hospital in
Cairo where he had been treated since contracting the virus late
last month, said the aide, Fawzi Ammar.
Jibril, who was in his late 60s, had mainly lived in Egypt
in recent years after losing power. A former technocrat in
Gaddafi's regime, he was sidelined following the 2012 election
and the passing of a law which banned former Gaddafi officials
from public office.
Before Jibril passed away, Libya's internationally
recognised government in Tripoli had confirmed 18 coronavirus
cases in the country and one death.