After nearly a decade of pre-trial detention, Hannibal Gaddafi—the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi—has been granted conditional release by a Lebanese court. The decision, handed down on October 17, 2025, marks a dramatic turn in a saga that has entangled Lebanese, Libyan, and international interests for years, all centered around the mysterious disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr in 1978.
Hannibal Gaddafi, now 49, was ordered released on $11 million bail and prohibited from leaving Lebanon, according to multiple sources including Shafaq News, LBCI, and NDTV. The bail, set by Investigative Judge Zaher Hamadeh, is among the highest ever imposed in Lebanon. Gaddafi’s lawyer, French attorney Laurent Bayon, immediately denounced the decision as "completely unacceptable in a case of arbitrary detention," confirming plans to appeal. "Release on bail is totally unacceptable in a case of arbitrary detention. We will challenge the bail," Bayon told AFP. He further argued that international sanctions on his client make it impossible for him to pay such a sum, pointedly asking, "Where do you want him to find $11 million?"
The roots of this legal drama stretch back to August 1978, when Imam Musa al-Sadr, an Iranian-born Lebanese Shiite cleric and founder of the Amal Movement, vanished along with two aides during an official trip to Libya. The Gaddafi regime at the time claimed that al-Sadr and his companions left Libya for Italy, but the delegation never arrived, and the cleric’s fate remains one of Lebanon’s most enduring mysteries. The disappearance remains a raw wound for Lebanon’s Shiite community and a persistent source of tension between Beirut and Tripoli.
Hannibal Gaddafi has consistently denied any knowledge of the case, maintaining that he was only two years old when al-Sadr disappeared. "I am a victim of injustice," Gaddafi stated during his recent court appearance, a sentiment echoed by his legal team and international rights organizations. Human Rights Watch described his detention as "arbitrary" and based on "fraudulent charges," urging Lebanese authorities to release him immediately. The group’s August statement highlighted that Gaddafi had been held on "apparently unsubstantiated allegations that he was withholding information" about the disappearance, despite his young age at the time.
Gaddafi’s ordeal began in December 2015, when he was living in Syria as a political refugee after fleeing Libya in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled his father’s regime. He was abducted in Syria by a group led by former Lebanese MP Hassan Yaacoub, whose own father, Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub, disappeared alongside al-Sadr. Lebanese authorities subsequently released Gaddafi from his captors, only to detain him on charges of concealing information about the imam’s fate. He has remained in Lebanese custody ever since, never facing trial.
Throughout his decade-long detention, Gaddafi’s health has steadily deteriorated. According to LBCI and NDTV, he suffers from a serious liver disease that causes severe abdominal pain and has required multiple hospitalizations. His lawyer recently sounded the alarm about his declining health, citing severe depression and the urgent need for medical care. Gaddafi’s wife, Lebanese model Aline Skaf, resides in Lebanon with their two younger children, while their eldest studies in Europe. This family separation has added a deeply personal dimension to the already politically charged case.
The legal proceedings have not been without controversy. One unexpected twist emerged when Zaher Badr al Din, son of journalist Abbas Badr al-Din—who disappeared with al-Sadr—publicly supported Gaddafi’s release. In a court document cited by Asharq al Awsat, he wrote that he hoped Gaddafi’s freedom might "cooperate in clarifying my father's fate." This marked the first time a family member of one of the victims expressed openness to Gaddafi’s release, signaling a possible shift in the long-standing opposition from the victims’ families. Lebanese procedure allows plaintiffs to accept or oppose such releases, making this gesture particularly significant.
Political and diplomatic tensions have swirled around the case for years. The disappearance of Imam al-Sadr has long strained relations between Lebanon and Libya. In August 2023, the Libyan Ministry of Justice offered to negotiate Gaddafi’s release, but Lebanese judicial authorities rejected the proposal, arguing it did not address the core issue of the imam’s fate. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who succeeded al-Sadr as head of the Amal Movement, has repeatedly accused Libya’s post-Gaddafi authorities of failing to cooperate in resolving the mystery, an accusation Libyan officials deny.
The Gaddafi name continues to cast a long shadow across the region. After Muammar Gaddafi’s fall in 2011, his family scattered. Hannibal’s brother, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, once seen as a likely successor, was arrested in Libya, sentenced to death in 2015, but later granted amnesty. He even announced a presidential run in 2021, though elections were postponed indefinitely. Other siblings, like Aisha and Saadi, found asylum in Algeria and Oman, while Mutassim and Khamis died during the 2011 conflict. These scattered fates underscore the ongoing instability and unresolved legacies left by the Gaddafi era.
Adding yet another layer of intrigue, French investigations into alleged Libyan funding of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign have intersected with the Lebanese case. According to NDTV, there were reports of attempts to corrupt Lebanese judges in 2021 in hopes of securing Hannibal Gaddafi’s release and obtaining information that might clear Sarkozy’s name. Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, a central figure in the Sarkozy case, died in Lebanon last month, further complicating the legal landscape.
As of now, Hannibal Gaddafi remains in Lebanon, his fate uncertain. The $11 million bail, combined with his international sanctions and travel ban, leaves his future in limbo. His legal team vows to continue their fight, and human rights advocates maintain that his detention was never justified. Meanwhile, the families of the disappeared—and the Lebanese public—wait for answers that have eluded them for nearly half a century.
The story of Hannibal Gaddafi’s detention and release is a window into the tangled web of Middle Eastern politics, unresolved historical wounds, and the personal costs of international intrigue. As the legal battles continue, the search for truth and justice in the case of Imam Musa al-Sadr remains as urgent—and elusive—as ever.
