Hannibal Gadhafi Released From Lebanese Detention After 10 Years
Hannibal Gadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, was released from Lebanese custody today after paying $900,000 bail, ending a decade-long detention related to the disappearance of a Lebanese cleric.
Gadhafi was released Monday evening after the completion of necessary paperwork, according to his lawyer, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, who stated, “Hannibal is officially free and has the full right to choose the destination that he wants.” The release followed a decision by Lebanese judicial authorities earlier this week to lift a travel ban and reduce bail from $11 million. The bail was reportedly paid by a Libyan delegation, as confirmed by the Justice Ministry of the Tripoli-based government.
He was initially detained in 2015 and accused of withholding information regarding the 1978 disappearance of Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr during a visit to Libya. Gadhafi, who was a young child at the time of al-Sadr’s disappearance, had been living in exile in Syria before being abducted and brought to Lebanon by militants seeking information about the cleric’s fate. This case has long been a sensitive issue in Lebanese-Libyan relations, and al-Sadr remains a significant figure in Lebanese Shiite politics. For more on the history of Lebanon, see Britannica’s Lebanon page.
As part of the agreement for his release, Gadhafi’s defense team withdrew a case filed in Geneva against the Lebanese state over his prolonged detention without trial. His family has scattered across various countries since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011; his brother, Saif al-Islam, remains in Libya, while other siblings reside in Oman and Turkey.
