CAIRO (REUTERS) - Mr Mahmoud Jibril, who abandoned Muammar Gaddafi to become Libya's rebel prime minister during the 2011 revolution, died on Sunday (April 5) after contracting the novel coronavirus, an aide and his party said.

Mr Jibril was interim leader until the country held its first free elections in four decades in 2012, following the toppling of Gaddafi the year before. He died in a private hospital in Cairo, where he had been treated since contracting the virus late last month, said the aide, Mr Fawzi Ammar.

Mr Jibril, who was in his late 60s, had mainly lived in Egypt in recent years after losing power.

A former technocrat in Gaddafi's regime, he was sidelined following the 2012 election and the passing of a law which banned former Gaddafi officials from public office.

Before Mr Jibril passed away, Libya's internationally recognised government in Tripoli had confirmed 18 coronavirus cases in the country and one death.