Raphael Luzon, the head of the Libyan Jewish community abroad, died Tuesday after battling illness, at the age of 72.

Luzon, who was known as a controversial figure, was born in Benghazi in 1954 to a Libyan Jewish family and was associated with efforts to document the history of Libyan Jews who lived in Libya before 1967.

Luzon emigrated with his family to Europe in his youth, where he studied political science and worked in the media before becoming the leader of the community. He held Italian citizenship and resided in London.

Throughout his political career, Luzon has been a spokesperson for the Libyan Jewish community on issues related to what he considers their rights and the return of their property. He has participated in numerous dialogues and discussions with Libyan and international parties on the situation of Libyan Jews.

Throughout his political career, Luzon continued to express the Jewish community's demands for recognition of their rights in the Libyan national dialogue and criticized their exclusion from some political talks on the future of the country on February 17, 2011.