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Omar Mukhtar (aka Omar Al-Mukhtar) (1862-1931) was
from the tribe of Mnifa, born in a small town
called Zawia Janzour. He was the leader of the
resistance movement against the Italy | Italian
occupation of Libya in the 1920s and 1930s. In
1912, following the Italian capture of Libya from
the occupying Turks the previous year, Omar
Mukhtar organized and devised strategies  for the
Libyan resistance against the Italian
colonization. 

A teacher of the Koran by profession, Mukhtar was
also skilled in desert guerrilla tactics. He knew
his country’s geography well, and he knew how to
use that to his advantage in battles against the
Italians, who were not accustomed to desert
warfare. He led his small mobile groups into
skillful and successful attacks against the
Italians and then faded into the terrain.
Mukhtar’s men attacked outposts, ambushed
troops, and cut lines of supply and communication,
leaving the Italians astonished and embarrassed to
be outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a
“bedouin.”

In an effort to weaken the resistance movement led
by Mukhtar, the Italian fascists decided to
imprison Libyan men, women and children in
concentration camps. By holding these people in
the camps, the Italians were weakening the Libyan
resistance in two ways: they were cutting off
economic and moral support for the resistance, and
they were preventing more men from joining the
resistance. About 125,000 Libyans were forced into
these camps, about two thirds of which perished.
Still Mukhtar was determined to continue the
struggle. 

Mukhtar’s nearly twenty year struggle came to an
end when he became wounded in battle and was
subsequently captured by the Italian army.
Mukhtar’s capture was a serious blow to his
people. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to
be hanged on September 16, 1931.

Mukhtar was hanged before his people (on orders of
the Italian court) with the goal of ensuring that
the Libyan resistance movement would wither and
die without him. 

His final years were immortalized in the movie The
Lion of the Desert (1981), starring with Anthony
Quinn and Irene Papas. When he was sentenced to
death and Mukhtar was asked if he wanted to say
anything, he replied, “From God we have come,
and to God we must return.”