After nearly a decade behind bars in Lebanon, Hannibal Gaddafi—the son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi—has been granted release, marking a dramatic turn in a saga that has entangled two countries for years and reignited debate over one of the Middle East’s most enduring mysteries.
On Thursday, November 6, 2025, the Lebanese judiciary agreed to lower Hannibal Gaddafi’s bail from a staggering $11 million to $900,000 and lifted his travel ban, effectively paving the way for his long-awaited freedom. This decision, as reported by Asharq Al-Awsat and confirmed by multiple outlets including Lebanon24, followed a two-hour interrogation at the Justice Palace in Beirut—the first such session since 2017—attended by Gaddafi’s lawyers and representatives of the families of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, Abbas Badreddine, and Mohammed Yacoub.
Hannibal’s release, which was rumored in the weeks leading up to the official announcement, comes after ten years of imprisonment without trial. His detention stemmed from allegations that he withheld information about the 1978 disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, a revered Lebanese Shiite cleric. Yet, as human rights groups and international observers have repeatedly pointed out, Hannibal was only a toddler—two or three years old—when al-Sadr vanished during a trip to Libya. Furthermore, Hannibal never held any official political, military, or security position during his father’s rule, a fact that has fueled claims he was a “political prisoner.”
The Lebanese judiciary’s move to release Hannibal was not made in a vacuum. According to Asharq Al-Awsat, international pressure had mounted steadily in recent years, with human rights organizations arguing that his continued detention was unjustified. The legal process, which had included exhaustive communication with Libyan authorities and repeated interrogations, had, in the words of a judicial source, “exhausted all legal measures.” Judge Zaher Hamadeh, the investigator overseeing the case, ultimately concluded there was no longer any legal basis to keep Hannibal in custody after a decade behind bars.
The story of Hannibal’s detention is itself a tale of international intrigue. Living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and their children, Hannibal was abducted in 2015 by Lebanese militants—identified in some reports as members of the Amal movement—who demanded information about the fate of Imam al-Sadr. He was subsequently transferred to Lebanon, where he was held in a Beirut jail and questioned over his alleged knowledge of the cleric’s disappearance.
Imam Moussa al-Sadr’s fate has haunted Lebanon for nearly half a century. The founder of a Shiite political and military group that would later play a prominent role in Lebanon’s long civil war, al-Sadr disappeared along with two companions, Abbas Badreddine and Mohammed Yacoub, during an official visit to Libya in 1978. While Sadr’s family maintains hope that he may still be alive—possibly languishing in a Libyan prison—most Lebanese have resigned themselves to the belief that he is dead. If alive, al-Sadr would be 96 years old in 2025.
Libya, for its part, has repeatedly denied any involvement in al-Sadr’s disappearance, and the Gaddafi regime consistently rejected accusations of foul play. The issue has remained a persistent sore point in Lebanese-Libyan relations, with periodic flare-ups as new claims or purported evidence surfaced. In 2023, the Libyan government formally requested Hannibal’s release, citing his deteriorating health following a hunger strike in protest of his detention without trial. According to judicial officials cited by Reuters, Gaddafi intends to leave Lebanon after his release, with his family expected to join him later.
Adding to the diplomatic complexity, a Libyan delegation—including government and judicial representatives—visited Lebanon just days before the release decision, meeting with the official committee investigating al-Sadr’s disappearance and with Judge Hamadeh. The Libyan National Reconciliation Authority, in a statement reported by Lebanon24, expressed gratitude to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri “for their assistance and cooperation in resolving this issue.”
The bail reduction itself became a point of contention among the families of the missing cleric and his companions. The original $11 million bail was intended in part as compensation for the families of al-Sadr, Badreddine, and Yacoub. Ultimately, Sadr’s family requested compensation of just one Lebanese pound, Badreddine’s family chose not to seek compensation, and the Yacoub family objected to the hefty bail altogether. These gestures underscored the symbolic nature of the proceedings and the deep emotional wounds the case continues to inflict.
The Gaddafi family’s own history has been marked by upheaval and tragedy. Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule over Libya ended violently in 2011, when he was killed by opposition fighters during the country’s civil war. Since then, the family has scattered, with Hannibal’s years in exile and subsequent abduction serving as a stark reminder of the region’s ongoing instability.
Hannibal’s lawyer, Nassib Chedid, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the latest interrogation had been requested by al-Sadr’s family but did not yield any new evidence. “The Sadr family requested it, but it did not offer any new evidence in the case against him,” Chedid explained. This, coupled with the lack of any direct link between Hannibal and the original disappearance, further eroded the rationale for his continued detention.
For many in Lebanon and Libya, the release of Hannibal Gaddafi raises as many questions as it answers. Was his decade-long detention ever justified? Will his freedom lead to new revelations about Imam al-Sadr’s fate, or will the cleric’s disappearance remain an unsolved chapter in Middle Eastern history? And what does this episode say about the intersection of politics, justice, and memory in a region where the past is never far from the present?
One thing is certain: the release of Hannibal Gaddafi has brought a measure of closure to his own ordeal, but for the families of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his companions, the search for truth continues—its end still tantalizingly out of reach.
