Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was released on Friday by Investigative Judge Zaher Hamadeh of Lebanon’s Court of Justice after posting $11 million in bail, with a travel ban preventing him from leaving the country.
Gaddafi’s lawyer denounced the bail amount as “illogical,” saying his client “does not possess such a sum and has been arbitrarily detained for ten years.”
According to his defense team, Gaddafi is neither a suspect nor a witness in the long-standing case of the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr and his two companions in Libya in 1978, accusing the Sadr family of issuing statements for “media distraction.” They also pointed out that his assets have been frozen under international sanctions since 2012, while the assets of most of his brothers have since been released.
The defense intends to appeal the judge’s decision and request a reduction of the bail amount.
Gaddafi, detained in Lebanon since 2015, appeared in court on Friday morning for his first interrogation in eight years, which lasted just over two hours in the presence of his three lawyers.
He is accused of withholding information about the 1978 disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, journalist Abbas Badreddine and Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub in Libya, a case that has strained Lebanese-Libyan relations for decades. Gaddafi was three years old at the time of the incident.
Before the hearing, Gaddafi’s lawyer Inas Harrak described the session as “a test not only of the Lebanese judiciary but of the conscience of the Lebanese state.”
Lawyers representing the Sadr family and the two missing companions also attended the hearing.
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