Khaberni - Hannibal Gaddafi's defense team, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, stated exclusively to "Al Arabiya/Al Hadath" that the bail amount is prohibitive and illogical, especially since Gaddafi does not own this amount.
The Lebanese judiciary ordered today, Friday, the release of Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after ten years of detention without trial, in exchange for a financial bail set at 11 million dollars.
The French News Agency quoted a Lebanese judicial source saying, "The judicial investigator in the case of the kidnapping and disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, Judge Zaher Hamade, agreed to release Hannibal Gaddafi in exchange for a bail of 11 million dollars," also noting the travel ban imposed on him.
On his part, French lawyer Laurent Payen told the French News Agency that "conditional release on bail is absolutely unacceptable in cases of arbitrary detention like this. We will contest the bail”, pointing out that his client "is subject to international sanctions" and cannot secure this amount.
The release order came after he was interrogated on Friday by the investigating judge. Hannibal Gaddafi has been in Lebanese prisons for ten years without any formal charges being brought against him.
Hannibal Gaddafi (49 years old), who is married to a Lebanese model, was detained in December 2015 by Lebanese authorities on a charge of "withholding information" regarding the case of the disappearance of the Lebanese leader Musa al-Sadr and two accompanying individuals during a visit to Libya on August 31, 1978, when his father was in power.
The anticipated release follows his lawyers' reports of his illness while in his cell at the police headquarters in the capital, Beirut.
Moreover, the Human Rights Watch organization demanded in a report published last August the immediate release of Gaddafi, considering his detention "based on allegedly unfounded allegations related to withholding information about the disappearance" of al-Sadr.
The Lebanese authorities accuse Muammar Gaddafi of being behind the mysterious disappearance of Imam Sadr and his companions, who was then two years old.
Muammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011 during a popular uprising that ended his rule. At that time, his son Hannibal was a political refugee in Syria before being lured to Lebanon by a group led by former MP Hassan Yaacoub, whose father Sheikh Mohammed Yaacoub disappeared with Sadr.
Since then, he has not been brought to trial and has remained in solitary confinement. Last week, his lawyer informed the French News Agency that his health condition was "concerning" after he was hospitalized for several days.
Musa al-Sadr's disappearance
Musa al-Sadr was a Lebanese Shiite clergyman and political leader born in 1928, who played a prominent political role in the 1970s and disappeared during a visit to Libya.
Shiite leaders in Lebanon hold Muammar Gaddafi responsible for the disappearance of Sadr and his companions. However, the previous Libyan regime consistently denied the allegation confirming that the three left Tripoli heading to Italy. However, Rome denied their entry into its territory.
The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri who succeeded Musa al-Sadr as the leader of "Amal Movement", accused the new Libyan authorities of non-cooperation in this case.
Last week, the Libyan Foreign Ministry issued a statement holding "the Lebanese authorities responsible for the health and life of (Hannibal)", adding that Libya "has shown cooperation, most recently through the official memorandum sent through diplomatic channels to the judicial and legal authorities in Lebanon" since April, and "included a fair offer to resolve the case." However, it said that it has not received a response from Lebanon.
Hannibal Gaddafi's name was also mentioned in the case of Libyan financing of the campaign of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was sentenced to five years in prison in this file.
The investigations of the French judiciary showed a possible attempt to bribe Lebanese judges in the first half of 2021 in order to release Hannibal Gaddafi in exchange for information that could exonerate Sarkozy in the case of Libyan financing.
