哈桑·迪亚布1959—

在内阁成立之前，他于2019年12月19日被任命为黎巴嫩总理，翌年1月21日上任。在担任总理之前，迪亚布在米歇尔·苏莱曼总统的领导下于2011年至2014年期间担任黎巴嫩教育部长。

早年生活

迪亚卜于1959年1月6日出生于贝鲁特。他获得了通讯工程学学士学位，并于1981年从利兹城市大学获得了学位。迪亚卜在涉入政治生涯前，曾在贝鲁特美国大学担任副校长30年。

政治生涯

2011年至2014年，迪亚卜担任黎巴嫩教育部长。

2019年10月17日开始，黎巴嫩多地爆发大规模游行示威，要求政府辞职、组建新的技术专家型政府等。10月29日，时任总理萨阿德·哈里里宣布辞职。12月19日，黎巴嫩总统奥恩任命迪亚卜为新一届政府总理，授权其组阁。2020年1月21日，迪亚卜完成组阁。

2020年8月4日，贝鲁特港发生大爆炸，造成至少200人死亡、6000多人受伤，另有数十人下落不明。爆炸发生后，贝鲁特连续3天发生大规模示威活动，抗议发生大爆炸以及当局腐败等。8月10日，迪亚卜宣布辞职，获得总统米歇尔·奥恩的批准，其内阁随着解散。他谴责前朝政府的腐败是导致4日发生的摧毁首都的灾难性大爆炸。

法律诉讼

12月10日，负责调查爆炸案的黎巴嫩检察官法迪·萨旺以涉嫌玩忽职守的罪名向迪亚布和三名前部长发起诉讼。迪亚布随后通过总理办公室发表声明不愿接受萨旺的调查，他在一份声明中称对自己被列为调查目标感到惊讶，称其以负责任和透明的方式处理了爆炸问题。声明中也指责法官指控绕过议会，违反宪法。总理办公室声明说：“这一令人惊讶的目标超越了个人和职位本身，哈桑·迪亚布不会允许任何政党将总理职位作为目标。”

Hassan Diab (Arabic: حَسَّان دِيَاب, romanized: Hassān Diyāb; born 1 June 1959) is a Lebanese academic, engineer and politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Lebanon from 21 January 2020 to 10 September 2021. He was appointed by President Michel Aoun in 2019 to succeed Saad Hariri as prime minister. He submitted his resignation on 10 August 2020 in wake of the 2020 Beirut explosion and served as caretaker prime minister until Najib Mikati formed a new government on 10 September 2021. Prior to his premiership, he served as the minister of education from June 2011 to February 2014 under President Michel Suleiman.

Early life and education

Diab was born in Beirut on 1 June 1959. He has a bachelor of science degree in communications engineering (with Honors), which he received from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1981. Then he obtained a master's degree in systems engineering (with Distinction) from the University of Surrey in 1982, and a PhD in computer engineering from the University of Bath in 1985.

Academic career

Diab was a career academic, joining the American University of Beirut (AUB) as a computer engineering professor in 1985. He has published over 160 articles and papers in scientific journals and scientific conferences. He was called an advocate for educational reform in Lebanon and authored books on the topic. He also served as vice president for regional external programs at the AUB from October 2006 to June 2011.

On 13 June 2011, Diab was appointed minister of education and higher education as part of Najib Mikati's cabinet, replacing Hasan Mneimneh in the post. Diab's term ended on 15 February 2014, and Elias Abu Saab succeeded him in the post.

Premiership

Diab was designated as the next prime minister succeeding Saad Hariri on 19 December 2019, amidst the protests that had caused Hariri's resignation. Diab's candidacy won the support of 69 members out of 128 of the Lebanese parliament, and his support came from parties that co-form the March 8 Alliance, and received the backing of 26% of Sunni votes.

Diab is an independent, not vocally supporting any political group, and had a low public profile at the time of his appointment.

Lebanon's new government was formed on 21 January 2020 after Diab and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met with President Michel Aoun. Diab then announced the new twenty-member cabinet made up of technocrats reporting that they would work on new election law, seeking an independent judiciary and the return of looted public funds. His cabinet included for the first time in the history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which comprises 21 Arab countries, 30% women ministers including deputy prime minister, minister of defence, minister of Justice, and minister of labor. During the first session of the new cabinet, Diab made all the ministers sign an attestation that they will not be eligible to submit their nomination for parliamentary elections as well as lifting banking secrecy from their accounts, and announced that his first official visits would be to countries "in the Arab region, especially the Gulf". He said nothing about abiding by the reforms promised by Hariri and chose to maintain the ministry of information, which Hariri had promised to abolish. On 3 February, Diab signed the state budget for 2020, reducing spending by $700 million and on 6 February the cabinet approved a financial rescue plan to present to the parliament.

On 7 March 2020, Diab announced Lebanon would default on a sovereign debt for the first time in its history.

In the wake of the Beirut explosion, the Diab cabinet declared a two-week state of emergency in the Lebanese capital, thus giving the Lebanese military full powers in the city.

On Saturday, August 8, mass protests broke out against the government, dramatically escalating as protestors, angry at the Lebanese government for their failure to prevent the disaster (and the general crisis), seized multiple government buildings and clashed with the military. In the evening, in a televised address, Diab declared that Lebanon could not get out of the crisis without early parliamentary elections, echoing the demands of the protestors, and added that on Monday, he would propose to his cabinet a bill to call for early parliamentary polls.

Personal life

Diab is married to Nuwar Mawlawi and has three children. He is a Sunni Muslim.