Kamel Hassan Maghur (; 1 January 1935 – 4 January 2002) was a

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

n lawyer, diplomat, and writer.

Biography

Kamel Maghur was born in Dahra, Tripoli, Italian Libya on January 1, 1935. He graduated from Cairo University with a degree in law. Maghur became a recognized lawyer, leading several notable trials, including representing the Libyan Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and the Arab Nationalist Movement in the early 1960s. In late 1960s, he represented several high ranking officials of the Kingdom of Libya in the Libyan People's Court, a televised trial. He then participated in the negotiations leading to the closure of foreign military bases in Libya and the oil agreement. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Supreme Court and responsible for the Supreme Court Journal. The start of his diplomatic career was marked by his appointment as Libya's permanent representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and ambassor to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. At the UN, he held the role of Chairman of the UN Arab group and led initiatives which adopted Arabic into the

official languages of the United Nations The official languages of the United Nations, are the six languages used in United Nations (UN) meetings and in which the UN writes and publishes all its official documents. In 1946, five languages were chosen as official languages of the UN: Eng ...

in 1973 and granted observer status to the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

. He then served as ambassador to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the first ambassador of Libya to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Maghur led the Libyan delegation to the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

related to the continental shelf dispute between Libya and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The result of the ICJ judgement led to Libya's eventual development of the Bouri Field, the largest producing oilfield in the Mediterranean. In March 1982, he was appointed the minister of oil after a US ban on Libyan oil imports was applied. During this period, he helped ensure the oil sector was kept afloat. He was President of the

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

Conference at the 69th and 70th Meetings of the Conference, acting as Secretary General in 1984. In 1986, he was briefly Libya's minister for foreign affairs, before returning to the legal profession he endeared. He subsequently founded Maghur & Partners, his private law practice. In the early 1990s, he led the defense team in the Libya–Chad Territorial Dispute case, once again appearing before the ICJ. In the late 1990s, he was Libya's Head of Delegation at the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

. Maghur lawyer handling sanctions and charges associated with the Lockerbie bombing. Maghur led the defense team in negotiations with Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations, to secure just trial conditions and the right to a fair trial for the two Libyan accused in 1998. This led to the presence of the two accused before a special sitting of the Scottish Court in the Netherlands at the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and the lifting of decade-old sanctions on Libya. He continued to head the defense team of Lamin Khalifah Fhimah and Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, in addition to their respective solicitors and advocates who represented them. KamelMaghurLibrary

Maghur was a pioneer of the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

in Libya. His works reflect his people's hardships and aspirations. In his semi-autobiographical ''Mahatat'', published in 1995, Maghur mirrors his life between his birth in Dahra, Tripoli and his formative years in Cairo. Maghur's body of work includes seven collections of short stories and two articles and essays. He and his wife, Suhir El Gheryani had seven children. Honouring his legacy, his daughter Azza Maghur, who is also a lawyer and short story writer, established the Kamel Maghur Library in 2024. The library features a diverse collection of over 3,000 multilingual titles within literature, history, periodicals and law. It is located in central Tripoli, Libya (Dahra district), where he was born. In parallel, the Kamel Maghur Short Story Award was launched. The award recognizes exceptional Arabic short story writing. The inaugural winners will be announced on 1 January 2025, on the anniversary of the day he was born, and will continue to be granted annually.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maghur, Kamel 20th-century novelists 20th-century Libyan writers 20th-century lawyers 1935 births 2002 deaths Libyan judges Libyan novelists Libyan Arab Socialist Union politicians Ministers of foreign affairs of Libya Oil ministers of Libya Secretaries general of OPEC Permanent representatives of Libya to the United Nations Ambassadors of Libya to Canada Ambassadors of Libya to China Ambassadors of Libya to France