Muammar Gaddafi: a life in pictures

Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi seized power in a military coup in 1969. After rebels finally take his home town of Sirte, the former leader was reported dead by the Libya’s National Transitional Council

Main image: Muammar Gaddafi attends a ceremony marking the birth of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed in Tripoli Photograph: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters

  • 1971: A young Muammar Gaddafi in army fatigues
    Muammar Gaddafi : 1971: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

  • July 1973: Gaddafi waves to demonstrators gathered in Benghazi to show support for his return to office after he resigned as leader of the Revolutionary Command Council. The council refused to accept his resignationPhotograph: Genevieve Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : July 1973: Muammar Gaddafi waves to demonstrators gathered in Benghazi

  • August 1973: Gaddafi prays in the Libyan desert near SirtePhotograph: Genevieve Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : August 1973: praying in the desert near Surt

  • November 1973: Gaddafi is jostled by press and TV reporters outside the Elysee palace in Paris after talks with President Georges PompidouPhotograph: Agence France Presse/Getty Images
    Muammar Gaddafi : November 1973: Muammar Gaddafi is jostled by press in Paris

  • 1977: Gaddafi with Cuban leader Fidel Castro
    Muammar Gaddafi: 1977: Fidel Castro with Muammar Gaddafi

  • November 1978: Gaddafi arrives at the 1978 Arab summit in Baghdad for Arab countries opposed to Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's decision to sign the Camp David agreement with Israel. The summit resulted in Egypt's suspension from the Arab League
    Muammar Gaddafi : November 1978: Muammar Gaddafi at the 1978 Arab summit

  • August 1981: Gaddafi attends a graduation at the women's military academy in Tripoli. The academy opened in 1979 during Gaddafi's push to include women in Libya's armed forcesPhotograph: Christine Spengler/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : Gaddafi at women's military academy graduation in 1981

  • 1986: Posters of Gaddafi and Uncle Sam on a wall in Libya. The US accused Libya of masterminding a bombing in west Berlin in 1985. Tensions culminated in a US air and sea bombing raid on Libya in March 1986Photograph: Shepard Sherbell/Corbis Saba
    Muammar Gaddafi : Posters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Uncle Sam in 1986

  • September 1987: Gaddafi appears at a parade in Tripoli to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Libyan revolutionPhotograph: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : Gaddafi appears at a parade in 1987 to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Libyan revolution

  • September 1987: Gaddafi speaking in Tripoli at a parade to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the Libyan revolutionPhotograph: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : September 1987: Libyan leader Gaddafi makes a speech

  • December 1988: The nose section of Pan Am flight 103 lies in a field outside the village of Lockerbie in Scotland
    Muammar Gaddafi: December 1988: The nose section of Pan Am Flight 103

  • September 1990: Gaddafi attends a summit in Djanet, AlgeriaPhotograph: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : September 1990: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a summit in Djanet

  • 1992: Gaddafi visits Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat in hospital after Arafat was injured in an air crash
    Muammar Gaddafi : 1992: Gaddafi visits Yasser Arafat in hospital

  • February 2001: Gaddafi with Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, who was tried at a special Scottish court in the Netherlands with Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on murder charges relating to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie. Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in jail, while Fhimah was acquitted
    Muammar Gaddafi : February 2001: Muammar Gaddafi with Lamen Khalifa Fhimah

  • March 2004: Gaddafi with Tony Blair. The prime minister's visit to Libya followed Gaddafi's agreement to dismantle Libya's arms programme, accept responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and for the 1984 murder in London of WPC Yvonne FletcherPhotograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
    Muammar Gaddafi : March 2004: British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets Gaddafi

  • June 2009: Gaddafi with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at Ciampino airport in RomePhotograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/Corbis
    Muammar Gaddafi : June 2009: Gaddafi and Italy's PM Berlusconi leave Ciampino Airport in Rome

  • June 2009: Gaddafi waves to photographers as he signs autographs after giving a speech in Rome to women from the business, political and cultural sectorsPhotograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images
    Muammar Gaddafi : June 2009: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi waves to photographers

  • July 2009: Gaddafi gives a thumbs up before a roundtable session at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy
    Muammar Gaddafi: July 2009: Giving a thumbs up at the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy

  • September 2009: Gaddafi arrives for a parade in Tripoli's Green Square to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the military coup that brought him to power
    Muammar Gaddafi: September 2009: Arriving for a military parade in Green Square, Tripoli

  • February 2011: Gaddafi attends a ceremony in Tripoli to mark the birth of the prophet Muhammad
    Muammar Gaddafi: February 13, 2011: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attends a ceremony

  • 22 February 2011: Gaddafi addresses the Libyan nation on state television, vowing to fight protesters and die a martyr
    Muammar Gaddafi: February 22, 2011: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi addresses the nation

  • 10 April 2011: Gaddafi cheers his supporters after a meeting with a delegation of five African leaders at his Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli
    Gaddafi: 10 April 2011: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi cheers his supporters

  • 12 June 2011: A TV still of Muammar Gaddafi during a meeting with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, in Tripoli
    Gaddafi: 12 June 2011: A TV still of Muammar Gaddafi during a meeting
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