[2] Belonging to a poor family without influence, Ben Amer rose to national prominence at a public execution staged by the Gaddafi government in 1984.
The event in Benghazi's basketball stadium had been announced as the trial of one of Gaddafi's political enemies, al-Sadek Hamed Al-Shuwehdy, an engineer who had been peacefully campaigning against the colonel's rule.
While the hanged man writhed on the gallows, Ben Amer stepped forward and grabbed al-Shuwehdy's legs, pulling him down until he stopped struggling and died.
He subsequently promoted Ben Amer to high government posts, including twice mayor of Benghazi and a leading member of the Legion Thoria, Gaddafi's organization of revolutionary committees.
[2] On 2 September 2011, Guma el-Gamaty, the UK coordinator of the National Transitional Council posted on Twitter that Ben Amer had been arrested in Tripoli by NTC forces.