Mustafa A. G. Abushagur
Mustafa A. G. Abushagur مصطفى ابوشاقور | |
---|---|
Deputy Prime Minister of Libya | |
In office 22 November 2011 – 14 November 2012 | |
Prime Minister | Abdurrahim El-Keib |
Preceded by | Ali Tarhouni |
Succeeded by | Awad al-Baraasi (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Spouse | Fatma Ahmed (1977–present) |
Children | Ousama Soumiea Asmah Sarrah Noor |
Alma mater | University of Tripoli California Institute of Technology |
Mustafa A. G. Abushagur (مصطفى ابوشاقور غيت ابوشاقور; born 15 February 1951) is a
Early life
Abushagur was born in the Souq Al-Jumuah district of Tripoli on 15 February 1951. When he was a few years old, his family moved to the western mountain city of Gharyan, where they resided for sometime before returning to Souq Al-Jumuah in Tripoli.
Education
He began his education in Gharyan. When he was in second grade, he moved to Souq Al-Jumuah schools where he continued his studies until he completed high school. He then studied at the University of Tripoli where he earned a BSc in electrical engineering. In 1975, Abushagur moved to Pasadena, California, to continue his education at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). During his time at Caltech, he earned a MSc in electrical engineering in 1977 and earned his PhD in 1984.[4]
Career
Abushagur began his academic career as a visiting professor at the University of Rochester, New York, in 1984. Then he joined the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in 1985 as an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and became full Professor in 1995. While working in the ECE department, he proposed a plan to start an optical engineering undergraduate program. He went on to develop the curriculum and was the Chairman of the Optical Engineering Committee for the remainder of his time at the university. This program became the first to receive the ABET accreditation in optical engineering in the USA. During his time at UAH, Abushagur received multiple research awards and grants from several federal agencies, such as NASA, NSF, DoD and the FAA. While on sabbatical leave from UAH, Abushagur was involved in two start-up companies. The first start-up was Photronix (M) Sdn. Bhd.[5] in Malaysia, an optical fiber component company, which he founded in 1998 with private equity. From 1998 to 2002, Abushagur was the president and CTO before returning to his position at UAH. His second start-up was LiquidLight, which was an optical networking equipment developer, which was founded through venture capital. He was the co-founder, CTO and vice president of LiquidLight from 2000 to 2001.[6][7]
In 2002, Abushagur was the founding director of the PhD program in microsystems engineering at the
Abushagur's key research areas are nanophotonics, plasmonics, photonic microsystems, adaptive signal processing, optical MEMS, optical computing, optical communications, optical interconnects and fiber sensors. He holds three patents,
In 2013, he received the
Political career
In the 1970s, Abushagur became a staunch opponent of the
At the beginning of the 17 February Revolution, the National Transitional Council (NTC) began appointing representatives from the districts and cities of western Libya in an effort to create a unified front for the entire country against Gaddafi. Due to the military crackdown in the west by Gaddafi, many of the representatives that were chosen by the NTC lived abroad in order to safeguard the identities of anti-Gaddafi figures living in western Libya. Abushagur joined the delegation representing the west, central and south of Libya to Benghazi to show their support for the NTC. For the formal announcement of the NTC representatives in May 2011, Abushagur flew to Benghazi and set foot on Libyan soil for the first time in nearly thirty-two years. For the remainder of the revolution, Abushagur continued to work behind the scenes as advisor with the NTC and was a regular guest on Al-Aan TV and Al-Arabiyah TV as a Libyan affairs analyst.[28][29][30]
On 22 November 2011, Abushagur was named the Deputy Prime Minister of Libya. Two days after being named Deputy Prime Minister, he took his oath of allegiance, which stated: "I swear by Almighty God to perform my duties honestly and faithfully, to stay faithful to the objectives of the Seventeenth of February Revolution, to respect the constitutional declaration and bylaws of the Council, to carefully honor the interests of the Libyan people and to safeguard the independence of Libya, its security and its territorial integrity."[31]
On 12 September 2012, Abushagur became the first elected
While Abushagur was widely referred to as Libya's prime minister, he was never actually sworn in as he was not able to win approval from the GNC for his cabinet proposals. On the submission of his second cabinet proposal, he made an impassioned speech calling on Congress members to reject alleged partisanship and unite in support of his government. Despite this, Congress voted by a large majority to dismiss him, and he was removed from office on 7 October 2012.[32]
After losing the job of Prime Minister-designate, Abushagur continued to serve as Deputy Prime Minister until Ali Zeidan was elected by the GNC to form a government. Zeidan's cabinet won approval from Congress and he was sworn in on 14 November, relieving Abushagur of his role.
2014 Election
Abushagur was elected to the Libyan House of Representatives in the
Kidnapping
On the early afternoon of 29 July 2014, Abushagur was kidnapped from his home in Hay al-Andalus by an armed group, who were travelling in several vehicles, including an unmarked ambulance. The group reportedly forced him at gunpoint into the unmarked ambulance, in front of his wife, daughters and another relative. As Abushagur was being driven away with a gun pointed at his head, a relative who was present at his home attempted to follow them in his personal vehicle; however, two other vehicles that were involved in his abduction moved in and blocked the road, preventing him from pursuing.[33]
Abushagur was released at approximately 3:00 am on 30 July. Abushagur was released unharmed, with no ransom being paid.[34]
The following day, Abushagur held a press conference at the
At the conference Abushagur stressed that his kidnappers did not physically harm him, and also stressed that he believed the militia was not acting on behalf of the city of Zintan, but were instead acting on their own initiative. Abushagur claimed that he was freed after another Zintani suddenly released him, and stated that he was still unsure of the reasons for his abduction. At the end of his statement Abushagur refused to take any questions.[35]
In late August 2017, Abushagur resigned from the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR), accusing it of blocking the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).[36]
References
- ^ "Full List of Official NTC Executive Board". feb17linfo. Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- ^ a b c Ashraf Abdul Wahab; Michel Cousins (12 September 2012). "Abushagur to be new prime minister". Libya Herald. Tripoli. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
- ^ "Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur to stand down". BBC News. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ^ "Mustafa Abushagur (PhD '84) Chosen as Libya's New Prime Minister". alumni.caltech.edu. Retrieved 22 April 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Photronix(M) Founders". photronixm.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ a b "RIT Dubai Faculty". Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "LiquidLight Inc. Appoints Dr. Mustafa A.G. Abushagur as Chief Technology Officer". Archived from the original on 3 March 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ "RIT to Open Dubai Campus in Fall 2008". rit.edu. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "Rochester Institute of Technology Names First President of RIT Dubai". Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "US Patent No. 6,385,364". uspto.gov. Archived from the original on 8 December 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "US Patent No. 6,813,018". USPTO. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "US Patent No. 7,265,476". uspto.gov. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ^ "Microsystems Engineering". Rochester Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8194-1772-5
- ISBN 978-0-12-064470-4
- ISBN 978-0-12-012128-1
- ISBN 978-0-8247-2295-1
- ISBN 978-981-02-2022-8
- ISBN 978-0-8493-8595-7
- ^ "The Optical Society - Awards & Grants". The Optical Society of America. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Prof. Mustafa Abushagur". SPIE. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Inventions and Contributions Board". NASA. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "The Optical Society Announces 17 Award Recipients for 2013". 15 March 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ "OSA's Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award". Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ "Professor Elected as Prime Minister". The Washington Times. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ^ "الآن; ستديو الان ; د. أبو شاقور: الكيب من الأسر العريقة في طرابلس وساهم في معارضة القذافي". Alaan TV. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ http://www.libyansfl.com[permanent dead link]
- ^ "اخبار الآن تقارير الآن; مصطفى ابو شاقور - ناشط سياسي ليبي". Alaan TV. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "اخبار الآن ; تقارير الآن ; مصطفى ابو شاقور ناشط سياسي ليبي". Alaan TV. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "اخبار الآن ; تقارير الآن ; مصطفى ابو شاقور ناشط سياسي ليبي". Alaan TV. 20 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Interim Prime Minister and his Cabinet are Sworn into Office". eolibya. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
- ^ "Libyan parliament votes to dismiss PM". Al Jazeera.
- ^ a b Abdul-Wahab, Ashraf (29 July 2014). "Abushagur reported kidnapped". Libya Herald. Tripoli.
- ^ Fornaji, Hadi (30 July 2014). "Abushagur freed". Libya Herald. Tripoli.
- ^ a b Zaptia, Sami (1 August 2014). "Zintani militias kidnapped me – Abushagur". Libya Herald. Tripoli.
- ^ "Abushagur resigns from House of Representatives". Libya Herald. 28 August 2017.