Lebanese authorities have released Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after nearly a decade in detention, following the payment of $900,000 bail, officials confirmed on Monday. Gaddafi, now in his late 40s, had been held in Lebanon since 2015 over allegations that he withheld information about the disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who vanished during a visit to Libya in 1978. Gaddafi was under three years old at the time, and his lawyers have long argued that the charges were politically motivated and baseless.
His lawyer, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, confirmed the release on Monday evening, saying, “Hannibal is officially free and has the full right to choose the destination that he wants.” He declined to disclose Gaddafi’s travel plans, citing security reasons. The release follows a Lebanese judicial ruling last week that reduced his bail from $11 million to 80 billion Lebanese pounds (about $900,000) and lifted a long-standing travel ban. The bail was paid by a Libyan government delegation, which had been in Beirut negotiating Gaddafi’s release. Libya’s Justice Ministry, part of the Tripoli-based government, confirmed the payment in an official statement.
Before his release, Gaddafi’s defense team also withdrew a complaint filed in Geneva against the Lebanese state for unlawful detention without trial. The decision helped clear the final legal obstacles to his freedom. Gaddafi’s detention began in December 2015, when he was reportedly abducted in Syria where he had been living in exile with his Lebanese wife Aline Skaf and their children by Lebanese militants demanding information about al-Sadr’s fate. Lebanese security forces later recovered him in Baalbek, and he was transferred to a Beirut prison, where he remained without formal trial for nearly ten years.
Libya had formally requested his release in 2023, citing his deteriorating health after he launched a hunger strike to protest his prolonged detention. The fate of Moussa al-Sadr, a revered cleric who founded Lebanon’s Amal Movement, remains one of the country’s most enduring mysteries. While many Lebanese believe he was killed shortly after his disappearance, his family continues to insist he may still be alive in Libya, where he would now be 96 years old.
