Libya’s Hannibal Kadhafi released on $900,000 bail after 10 years in Lebanese detention over missing cleric case, lawyer confirms his departure from Lebanon.
BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities have released Hannibal Kadhafi, son of former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, on bail after nearly ten years in prison.
His lawyer Laurent Bayon confirmed the development to AFP on Monday, stating “We left, he is free” hours after the $900,000 bail payment was processed.
The 49-year-old Kadhafi had been detained since 2015 over allegations he withheld information about the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Mussa Sadr in Libya.
He was never formally tried for the charges and was just two years old when Sadr vanished.
“The bail was paid this morning,” Bayon told AFP earlier. “Hannibal Kadhafi will finally be free. It’s the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years.”
A judge initially set bail at $11 million in October before reducing it to $900,000 last week following defense appeals.
A Lebanese judicial source confirmed the bail payment and completion of release procedures.
Bayon indicated his client would leave Lebanon for an undisclosed destination using his Libyan passport.
“If Kadhafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it’s because the justice system was not independent,” the lawyer stated.
He attributed the release to restored judicial independence under Lebanon’s reformist government formed in January.
Mussa Sadr, founder of the Amal movement and Hezbollah ally, disappeared during a Libya visit along with an aide and journalist.
Beirut has long blamed the disappearances on Moamer Kadhafi, who was overthrown and killed in the 2011 uprising.
The case has strained Lebanon-Libya relations for decades.
Hannibal Kadhafi, married to Lebanese model Aline Skaf, fled to Syria after the Libyan uprising began.
Armed men kidnapped him in December 2015 and brought him to Lebanon, where authorities took him into custody. – AFP
