Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Abu Meniar el-Gaddafi was born in the North African desert, south of Sirte, Libya in 1942. (The exact date is unknown although some sources day June 1, while others say sometime in September.) The son of a poor Bedouin nomad, Gaddafi lived in his family's remote desert camp until he went away to school at age 9.

While a student at a secondary school at Sebha, Gaddafi was inspired by the speeches of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser and he became a committed Arab nationalist. Gaddafi organized his fellow students into revolutionary study groups at Sebha; he continued the practice at the University of Libya in Tripoli, where he received a history degree in 1963. Following his graduation, Gaddafi entered the Libyan Military Academy in Benghazi where he found many of the cadets were sympathetic to his anti-Western nationalism.

Commissioned into the Libyan army in 1965, he began laying groundwork for an overthrow of the Libyan monarch, King Idris, whom he considered a pawn of the Western European nations. Within four years, Gaddafi took control of the army and on September 1, 1969, he seized power in a carefully planned coup. Assuming command of the government as chairman of the ruling Revolutionary Council, Gaddafi declared himself commander-in-chief of Libya's armed forces and its government, with the rank of colonel.

Gaddafi soon began implementing his long-dreamed plans for Libya by nationalizing all foreign banks and oil companies and insisting on closing down all European military bases in Libya. In 1970, Gaddafi seized the private assets of Libya's Italian and Jewish residents, driving them from the country.

Since assuming power, Gaddafi has given heavy support to a wide variety of terrorist groups and regimes including: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Uganda, the Palestine Liberation Organization and its sub-groups, as well as the Irish Republican Army. Heavily supported by the Soviet Union, he fought an unsuccessful war against Egypt and a disastrous war against Chad and its ally France for control of the northern regions of Chad, attempting to force the French out of Chad.

Gaddafi has provoked several incidents with the USA, one of which led to an American retaliatory bombing raid on his headquarters in Tripoli on April 15, 1986. Gaddafi escaped with only minor injuries and to this day he remains in firm control of his government.

Overthrew the monarchy of Libya in the so-called "Green Revolution" in 1969, establishing a socialist Arab state under his leadership.
Was once (as a child) publicly slapped by one of his teachers. Many say that this is the source of his resentment for academics, apparent in many of his speeches and essays.
He has been Libya's dictator since 1969.

Wrote "The Green Book" which is Libya's constitution.

His eldest son, Saif al-Islam, is expected to be Libya's next president.
Had a son who is a professional football player in Italy.

On 20 October 2011, a National Transitional Council (NTC) official told Al Jazeera that Gaddafi had been captured that day by Libyan forces near his hometown of Sirte. He had been in a convoy of vehicles that was targeted by a French air strike on a road about 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of Sirte, killing dozens of loyalist fighters. Gaddafi survived but was wounded and took refuge with several of his bodyguards in a drain underneath the road west of the city. Around noon NTC fighters found the group and took Gaddafi prisoner. Shortly afterward, he was shot dead. At least four mobile phone videos showed rebels beating Gaddafi and manhandling him on the back of a utility vehicle before his death. One video suggested a Libyan fighter sodomized him "with some kind of stick or knife" after his capture. In another video, he was seen being rolled around on the ground as rebels pulled off his shirt, though it was unclear if he was already dead. Later pictures of his body showed that he had wounds in the abdomen, chest, and head. A rebel fighter who identified himself as Senad el-Sadik el-Ureybi later claimed to have shot and killed Gaddafi. He claimed to have shot Gaddafi in the head and chest, and that it took half an hour for him to die. Gaddafi's body was subsequently flown to Misrata and was placed in the freezer of a local market alongside the bodies of Defense Minister Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr and his son and national security adviser Moatassem Gaddafi. The bodies were put on public display, with Libyans from all over the country coming to view them. Many took pictures on their cell phones.

Libya's Prime Minister and several NTC figures confirmed Gaddafi's death, claiming he died of wounds suffered during his capture. News channels aired a graphic video claiming to be of Gaddafi's bloodied body after capture.