Omar El-Hariri

Who is Omar El-Hariri?

Omar Mokhtar El-Hariri was a leading figure of the National Transitional Council of Libya who served as the Minister of Military Affairs in 2011, during the Libyan civil war. He controlled the National Liberation Army and the Free Libyan Air Force from March to May 2011. Though he no longer serves on the council Executive Board after being replaced by Jalal al-Digheily, he still heads Military Affairs in the unicameral National Transitional Council legislature.

El-Hariri was involved in the initial 1969 coup against the monarchy that began Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule of Libya. He organised a plot to overthrow Gaddafi in 1975. When the coup was uncovered, 300 men were arrested, four of whom died during interrogation. Of the remainder, 21 were sentenced to death, including El-Hariri. He was imprisoned for 15 years from 1975 to 1990 under a death sentence, with four and a half years in solitary confinement. Gaddafi commuted the sentence in 1990 and El-Hariri was subsequently placed under house arrest until the Libyan civil war broke out in 2011. After breaking free of his detention, El-Hariri eventually became the political head of the National Transitional Council's armed forces.