Saturday, October 18, 2025 - A judge in Lebanon has ordered the release on bail of Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi, after nearly a decade of pre-trial detention.
Following questioning, the judge ordered Gaddafi's release on
$11 million bail and simultaneously imposed a travel ban, according to a
judicial official.
Lebanese authorities arrested Gaddafi in 2015, accusing him
of withholding information related to the disappearance of Lebanese Shiite
cleric Mussa Sadr nearly four decades earlier. Sadr, the founder of the Amal
movement, vanished in 1978 during an official visit to Libya, along with an
aide and a journalist. Beirut blamed the disappearances on Moammar Gaddafi, who
was overthrown and killed in 2011.
Gaddafi's lawyer, Laurent Bayon, immediately stated that the
"release on bail is totally unacceptable in a case of arbitrary
detention," and noted they would challenge the ruling. Bayon emphasized
that his client "is under international sanctions" and would be
unable to pay the sum, asking, "Where do you want him to find $11
million?"
Hannibal Gaddafi, who is married to a Lebanese model, had
fled to Syria before being kidnapped by armed men in December 2015 and taken to
Lebanon, where he was ultimately arrested.
In August, Human Rights Watch urged Lebanon to immediately
release Gaddafi, stating he had been wrongly imprisoned on "apparently
unsubstantiated allegations that he was withholding information" about
Sadr.
This month, Bayon had also raised concerns about his client's
health, noting that Gaddafi, who he said suffers from severe depression, had
been hospitalized for abdominal pain.
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