Mohammed Emhamed Awad Najm (1943 – 13 December 2016; also transliterated as Muhammad Nejm) was a Libyan

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

and political figure. He was one of the original twelve members of the

Libyan Revolutionary Command Council The Revolutionary Command Council () was a twelve-member governing body that ruled the Libyan Arab Republic after the 1969 Libyan coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement (Libya), Free Officers Movement, which overthrew the Kingdom of Libya, Se ...

(RCC) and also served as the Libyan

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Biography

Born and raised in

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

, Najm graduated from the Benghazi Military University Academy in 1963, where he met

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

. He was a leading figure in the

1969 Libyan coup d'état The 1969 Libyan revolution, also known as the al-Fateh Revolution or 1 September Revolution, was a coup d'état and revolution carried out by the Free Officers Movement (Libya), Free Officers Movement, a group of Arab nationalism, Arab nationali ...

that overthrew

King Idris Idris (, Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi; 13 March 1890 – 25 May 1983) was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his ousting in the 1 September 1969 coup d'état. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 19 ...

and brought Gaddafi to power. In addition to being part of the RCC, he also served as chairman of the court in the trial of former Minister of Defense, Lieutenant Colonel Adam al‐Hawaz, and former Minister of Interior, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Moussa, who was accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the RCC, in April 1970. Najm served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

and Unity from October 1970 to February 1972. He then played a leading role in Gaddafi's

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, partaking in activities such as leading a "People's Committee" of youth to seize a radio station in Tripoli. He quit the RCC in 1973 due to Gaddafi favoring members of his own tribe, the

Qadhadhfa The Qadhadhfa (also ''al-Qaddafa'', ''Gaddadfa'', ''Qaddadfa'', ''Gaddafa''; ) is one of the Arabs, Arab Sharif, Ashraf tribes in Libya, living in the Sirte District in present-day northwestern Libya. They are traditionally counted amongst the c ...

, for promotions. He was not implicated in Umar Muhayshi's attempted coup against Gaddafi in August 1975. After a series of disagreements with Gaddafi, Najm withdrew from politics in the late 1970s and lived as an ordinary citizen in his hometown of Benghazi. In May 2002, he was involved in a car accident and fractured one of his spine vertebrae. He subsequently spent a long time undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. During the

First Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

in July 2011, it was reported that Najm had defected to the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

. Najm went to

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 ...

for medical treatment in late 2016 and died in a hospital in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

on 13 December 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Najm, Mohammed 1943 births 2016 deaths Benghazi Military University Academy alumni Ministers of foreign affairs of Libya People of the Libyan civil war (2011) 20th-century diplomats 20th-century Libyan politicians 20th-century military personnel People from Benghazi Libyan defectors