Ali Jerbi

Sayed Ali Assad Ibrahim al-Jerbi was a Libyan politician. He was the first defence minister of Libya after independence.

Personal life

Jerbi was born in Derna, Libya. In 1911 he studied in Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He lived in Istanbul until 1923, when he returned and worked as a teacher. He died in April 1969.

Career

Before independence

He held the post of Minister of Transport of Cyrenaica Emirate from September 1949 – July 1950. He then entered the interim government, where he served as Foreign minister, Health minister and Justice minister.

Defence minister

He became minister for defence in the first cabinet formed after independence from December 1951 to February 1954.

Ambassador

He became the Libyan ambassador to Turkey and non-resident ambassador in Iraq from 1954 to 1961. He became ambassador to France 1961–1967.