Moussa Ibrahim موسى إبراهيم |
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Moussa Ibrahim March 2013
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Born |
Sirte |
7 December 1974
Nationality | Libya |
Alma mater |
University of Exeter School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London |
Occupation | Government spokesman |
Organization | Libyan Arab Jamahiriya |
Known for | Libyan Civil War |
Moussa Ibrahim (Arabic: موسى إبراهيم ; romanized also as Mussa and Musa, born 7 December 1974) is a Libyan political figure who rose to international attention in 2011 as Muammar Gaddafi's Information Minister and official spokesman, serving in this role until the government was toppled in the Libyan Civil War. Ibrahim held frequent press conferences in the course of the war, denouncing rebel forces and the NATO-led military intervention, often in defiant and impassioned tones. His status and whereabouts remained unknown following the Battle of Tripoli in which the Gaddafi government was overthrown, although there were several claims and subsequent refutations of his capture. Eventually, in late 2014, it was discovered he was in Egypt before he was deported and fled to Serbia. On January 12, 2015 Moussa Ibrahim spoke publicly by video link at a political event hosted at the Committee Rooms Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London from an undisclosed location, also the Director of Private Security Company.
Ibrahim was born on 7 December 1974 into Gaddafi's Qadhadhfa tribe. He studied politics at the University of Exeter in the early 2000s, where he met his future wife Julia Ramelow, a German-born theology student, with whom he has a young son. He worked on a PhD in media arts at Royal Holloway, University of London, completing his final exam in May 2010, although he has not formally received his doctorate as supervisors are awaiting a small number of required amendments to his thesis. One of Ibrahim's lecturers at the University of Exeter, Dr. Larbi Sadiki, described him as an engaging, friendly but serious student — "a nice guy but with a short fuse." He told Sky News: "I lived in London for 15 years. I know every street in London. I know how decent the British people are."