The youngest son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal Gaddafi, has been released after nearly a decade in prison. He was accused of involvement in the disappearance of a Shiite cleric, Reuters reported.
In 2015, Gaddafi was kidnapped by militants in Syria, where he had been living in exile with his wife and children after his father was killed during the Libyan uprising in 2011. He was later handed over to Lebanese authorities, who charged him with concealing information about the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, a Lebanese Shiite religious leader who disappeared during a visit to Libya in 1978.
At the time, Hannibal was only two years old and held no public office. Human rights activists have repeatedly criticized the conditions of his detention, calling the charges “false.” In 2023, Gaddafi went on a hunger strike to protest his long imprisonment, which led to a sharp deterioration in his health and hospitalization.
Last month, a Lebanese court ordered his release on bail of $11 million. After an appeal by the lawyers, the court reduced the amount to about $900,000 and lifted the ban on leaving the country, a Lebanese judicial source said.
“Gaddafi’s release came after his lawyers paid bail”, the National News Agency reported.
The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) of Abdulhamid al-Dbeyba thanked the Lebanese president and the speaker of parliament for their “cooperation that led to Gaddafi’s release”. The UNE statement also notes that the “sincere intentions expressed by the Lebanese leadership to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries and develop cooperation in the political, economic and security spheres” are an important step in the normalization of relations between the two states.
