15 Facts About Ali Tarhouni

Ali Abdussalam Tarhouni is a Libyan economist and politician.

Ali Tarhouni was stripped of citizenship, sentenced to death in absentia, and put on a government hit list in 1981.

Ali Tarhouni was named to head both the oil and finance ministries of the National Transitional Council, an opposition council formed to coordinate anti-Gaddafi elements during the Libyan Civil War in March 2011.

Ali Tarhouni acted as a frequent spokesman for the council and wielded considerable influence as a prominent liberal in the opposition.

Ali Tarhouni officially announced the transfer of the NTC from Benghazi to Tripoli on 25 August 2011.

On 3 September 2011, Ali Tarhouni, acting as deputy chairman of the NTC's executive board, announced he was chairman of a Supreme Security Committee, responsible for all security matters in Tripoli.

Ali Tarhouni was named deputy prime minister on 2 October 2011 after acting in that capacity for several months.

Ali Tarhouni succeeded Mahmoud Jibril as acting prime minister following Libya's declaration of liberation just 21 days later.

In 2012, Ali Tarhouni founded the National Centrist Party, becoming its first leader.

Ali Tarhouni said that his party would collaborate with Mahmoud Jibril's National Forces Alliance.

Ali Tarhouni was elected as the head of the constituent assembly on 22 April 2014.

Ali Tarhouni said at a press conference in late November 2011 that he was offered a position in Keib's government, but he declined, claiming the new cabinet was "supported from the outside by money, arms and PR" in an apparent reference to the role of Qatar in backing the NTC.

Ali Tarhouni criticised Keib's selection of government ministers as "the elite" and said the government was not sufficiently representative of the country.

In December 2011, Ali Tarhouni returned to Seattle for a week.

Ali Tarhouni walked back his earlier criticism of the interim government, expressing confidence in its good intentions.