After nearly a decade of detention in Lebanon, Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has finally been granted his freedom. On November 6, 2025, Lebanese authorities lifted a longstanding travel ban and drastically reduced bail requirements, paving the way for his long-awaited release. The move comes after years of diplomatic wrangling, legal challenges, and mounting health concerns, all rooted in one of the Middle East’s most enduring mysteries: the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya.
According to multiple sources, including AFP and The Associated Press, the breakthrough followed a series of negotiations between Lebanese officials and a Libyan delegation that recently visited Beirut. In mid-October, a Lebanese judge had ordered Hannibal Gaddafi’s release on an $11 million bail, coupled with a ban on leaving the country. But Gaddafi’s lawyers protested, insisting he did not have the funds and seeking permission for him to depart Lebanon. Their persistence paid off: on Thursday, the bail was slashed to 80 billion Lebanese pounds (about $900,000), and the travel ban was lifted. As one of his lawyers, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, told The Associated Press, “We have just been informed and will discuss the matter.”
Hannibal Gaddafi’s ordeal began in December 2015. At the time, he was living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and their children, having fled Libya after the 2011 uprising that toppled his father’s regime. Armed Lebanese militants abducted him, spiriting him across the border to Lebanon. The militants were seeking information about the fate of Musa al-Sadr, who vanished during an official visit to Libya in 1978. Lebanese authorities soon took custody of Gaddafi from the northeastern city of Baalbek, and he’s been held in a Beirut prison ever since—without trial.
The legal basis for his detention has always been controversial. Lebanese authorities accused Gaddafi of withholding information about al-Sadr’s disappearance, even though he was just two years old at the time. As AFP reported, his French lawyer, Laurent Bayon, has long insisted that Gaddafi’s connection to the case is tenuous at best. “The fact that the judge decided he does not have to pay compensation to the victims implies that he is innocent in the Sadr case,” Bayon said after the latest ruling. The original bail had been split: $10 million for victims, $1 million as an appearance guarantee. With the compensation now removed, the legal shadow over Gaddafi appears to be lifting.
The Lebanese judiciary’s decision to ease Gaddafi’s release conditions was not made in a vacuum. It followed sustained diplomatic efforts from Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU), which, in an official statement on Thursday, described the release as the outcome of efforts to resolve the case “within a legal and humanitarian framework that preserves the dignity of Libyan citizens.” The GNU expressed gratitude to the President of Lebanon, the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, and other Lebanese authorities for their “positive response.” The statement emphasized that this move reflects the “spirit of brotherhood and historic ties” between the two nations, and that it could mark a turning point in restoring trust and strengthening judicial cooperation.
For Lebanon, the case has been a persistent irritant in its relations with Libya. The disappearance of Musa al-Sadr—founder of the Shiite Amal movement, now allied with Hezbollah—remains a deeply emotional and political issue. Al-Sadr vanished along with two companions, Abbas Badreddine and Mohammed Yacoub, during a trip to Libya. While al-Sadr’s family holds out hope that he may still be alive in a Libyan prison (he would now be 96 years old), most Lebanese assume he is dead. The government in Beirut has long blamed the elder Gaddafi for the cleric’s fate, and the episode has strained bilateral ties for decades.
Hannibal’s own journey has been marked by turbulence and tragedy. After the fall of his father’s regime in 2011—Muammar Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters, ending his four-decade rule—Hannibal sought refuge in Syria. His marriage to Lebanese model Aline Skaf added another layer of complexity to his already fraught circumstances. When he was kidnapped in 2015, Lebanese authorities intervened to release him from his captors, only to detain him immediately afterward. Since then, he has languished in a Beirut jail, his health reportedly deteriorating. In 2023, Libya formally requested his release, citing his declining condition following a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial.
The recent developments have brought both relief and a sense of unresolved business. Gaddafi’s lawyers have indicated that the reduced bail will be paid “really quickly,” and that Hannibal will leave Lebanon soon—though his exact destination remains undisclosed. As for his family, officials say his daughter will follow him once he is safely out of the country. The legal and political implications of his release, however, are likely to reverberate for years to come.
The GNU’s statement also signaled a desire to turn the page, welcoming Lebanon’s willingness to “reactivate diplomatic relations and expand collaboration in political, economic, and security fields.” For many observers, this is a hopeful sign that both countries may finally be ready to move beyond a saga that has haunted them for nearly half a century. Still, the fate of Musa al-Sadr remains a potent symbol of unfinished business in the region, a reminder of the complex web of alliances, rivalries, and historical grievances that continue to shape Middle Eastern politics.
For now, Hannibal Gaddafi’s release marks the end of a long and uncertain chapter—one that began with a kidnapping in the dead of night and concluded, nearly a decade later, with a quiet legal decision in Beirut. Whether it will pave the way for broader reconciliation between Lebanon and Libya remains to be seen, but for Gaddafi and his family, the prospect of freedom at last is no small thing.
