Hussein Hajj Hassan

Hajj Hassan was born into a Shia family in the Beqaa Valley in 1960. He holds a PhD in molecular biophysical chemistry, which he received from the University of Orléans, France in 1987.

Hajj Hassan is a member of the Lebanese Shia party Hezbollah.[1] He ran on the latter's electoral list in Lebanon's 1996 general election and was elected MP of the Beqaa's Baalbeck/Hermel constituency. In May 1998, he argued that although Islamic state is an ideal solution, Hezbollah is aware of its inapplicability in Lebanon.[2]

He was reelected in the 2000, 2005 and 2009 polls.[3][4] In 2009, he was among Hezbollah's 11 members of parliament.[5] In June 2009, he met with the then European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Beirut, representing Hezbollah.[5] From 2000 to 2005 he led the parliamentary commission on agriculture and tourism. He is part of the "Loyalty to the Resistance", an opposition parliamentary bloc.[6]

He was named on 9 November 2009 minister of agriculture in Saad Hariri's national unity government.[7] In January 2011, he and other two ministers, Gebran Bassil and Mohamad Jawad Khalifeh, resigned from the cabinet, leading to the collapse of Hariri government.[8]

He was appointed to Najib Mikati's cabinet again as a minister of agriculture in June 2011.[9]

• Lebanese government of November 2009
• Members of the 2009-2013 Lebanese Parliament