The judicial authorities in Libya have officially requested Lebanon to release one of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons, Libya’s former longtime leader, due to his worsening health condition.
Hannibal Gaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 without any formal charges. His health has been progressively deteriorating since he went on a hunger strike on June 3rd, as a form of protest against his prolonged incarceration without a trial. Since that time, he has been admitted to the hospital on at least two occasions and has consumed only minimal quantities of water.
As per information from two unnamed Lebanese judicial sources, Al-Sediq al-Sour, the prosecutor general of Libya, recently submitted a formal request to his Lebanese counterpart, Ghassan Oueidat, concerning Hannibal Gaddafi. These officials shared this detail with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, as they lacked authorization to communicate with the media.
The note from al-Sour stated that Lebanon’s cooperation in the matter could help reveal the truth regarding the fate of a prominent Lebanese Shia leader, Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya in 1978.
It questioned why Gaddafi was being held and asked that he either be handed over to Libya or be allowed to return to Syria, where he had been living in exile with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and children until he was briefly abducted and brought to Lebanon eight years ago by Lebanese fighters demanding information on the whereabouts of al-Sadr.
Subsequently, the Lebanese police force publicly disclosed that they had apprehended Gaddafi in the northeastern city of Baalbek, where he had been confined. Following his detention in Baalbek, he was transported to a prison facility in Beirut.
The Lebanese prosecutor has now referred the case to Zaher Hamadeh, the investigative judge in the missing al-Sadr case, who is studying the Libyan request.
