Killing of Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi, who had led Libya for over four decades, was killed on 20 October 2011 near Sirte after being captured by fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC) in the closing stages of the Libyan Civil War. Following the fall of Tripoli in August 2011, Gaddafi had fled to his hometown of Sirte, where he remained in hiding with loyalist forces for several months as NTC forces besieged the city.

On the morning of 20 October 2011, Gaddafi and a convoy of loyalists attempted to flee Sirte. NATO aircraft, alerted after intercepting a satellite phone call believed to be Gaddafi's, struck the convoy; a Royal Air Force Tornado had spotted it, and a U.S. Predator drone fired the first missiles before French Mirage 2000D jets continued the bombing. NATO later stated it had not known Gaddafi was in the convoy at the time of the strike but said the strike likely contributed to his eventual capture. After the strike, Gaddafi, his son Mutassim, and former defence minister Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr took shelter in a house and then in drainage pipes as NTC forces closed in. A grenade thrown by one of Gaddafi's own guards exploded, killing the guard and Jabr and wounding Gaddafi.

NTC fighters found Gaddafi in a drainage pipe, and accounts of what followed conflict. Some fighters said he was captured alive and then beaten and killed while being taken away; NTC prime minister Mahmoud Jibril said Gaddafi died from a bullet to the head sustained in crossfire during transport. Widely circulated video footage showed Gaddafi alive and bloodied, being dragged by armed men, and being sodomized with a bayonet, followed by footage of his body with a gunshot wound to the head. A doctor's examination in Misrata found he had been shot in the head and abdomen. His body was publicly displayed in a commercial freezer in Misrata until 24 October 2011, alongside the body of his son Mutassim, who was also killed in Sirte that day under unclear circumstances. Gaddafi, Mutassim, and Jabr were buried in a secret desert location on 25 October 2011; the Misrata military council vetoed a proposed independent autopsy.

The killing drew international criticism as a possible extrajudicial killing and war crime. The United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for an independent investigation. The NTC announced on 24 October 2011 that it had ordered an inquiry and would prosecute those responsible if Gaddafi was found to have died after capture. In October 2012, Human Rights Watch reported new evidence of mass killings at the site of Gaddafi's death. International reactions were mixed: several Western leaders welcomed the death as marking the end of the Libyan civil war, while allies such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Syria condemned it as an assassination or crime. Omran Shaban, the fighter credited with finding Gaddafi in the drainage pipe, was later captured and tortured by pro-Gaddafi loyalists and died of his injuries.