The Gaddafi archives – in pictures

Muammar Gaddafi and Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet Union, holding hands in Moscow, 27 April 1981 Photograph: Courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown/Human Rights Watch

Gaddafi, Gaafar Nimeiry of Sudan and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt are mobbed by crowds in Tripoli, 25 December 1969 Photograph: Courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown/Human Rights Watch

Nasser, Gaddafi and a fan at Benghazi stadium during Nasser's visit to Libya, December 1969 Photograph: Courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown/Human Rights Watch

Two people are executed at Benghazi sea port, 7 April 1977 Photograph: Courtesy of Peter Bouckaert/Human Rights Watch

Gaddafi in the desert in Libya with friends Photograph: Courtesy of the estate of Tim Hetherington/Human Rights Watch

Gaddafi and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat in about 1970, possibly for the first anniversary of the revolution of 1969 Photograph: Courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown/Human Rights Watch

Gaddafi in air force uniform at the Arab summit in Tripoli in December 1977 Photograph: Courtesy of Michael Christopher Brown/Human Rights Watch