Lebanon lifts travel ban on Hannibal Gaddafi, lowers bail

BEIRUT,— Lebanese judicial authorities have lifted a travel ban and lowered bail for Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, paving the way for his possible release after nearly a decade in detention, according to judicial officials and one of his lawyers on Thursday.

Officials said the move followed renewed discussions between Lebanon and a Libyan delegation that visited Beirut earlier this week to advance talks over Gaddafi’s case.

In October, a Lebanese judge ordered Hannibal Gaddafi’s release on bail set at 11 million dollars but prohibited him from leaving the country.

His defense team argued at the time that he could not pay that amount and sought to have both the bail reduced and the travel restriction lifted.

On Thursday, Lebanese authorities agreed to lower the bail to about 80 billion Lebanese pounds, roughly 900,000 dollars, and canceled the travel ban.

The decision allows Gaddafi to leave Lebanon once the amount is paid, according to three judicial officials and one security source who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, citing judicial regulations.

The officials said Gaddafi intends to depart Lebanon once released, and his family is expected to join him later. “We were informed of the new decision today and will review the procedures,” his attorney Charbel Milad al-Khoury told AP.

Gaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 without trial, accused of withholding information about the disappearance of prominent Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who vanished during a visit to Libya in 1978. At that time, Hannibal Gaddafi was less than three years old.

Libyan officials formally requested his release in 2023, citing his poor health and a hunger strike he began to protest his lengthy detention without trial.

Gaddafi had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and their children until he was abducted in 2015 by Lebanese militants in Baalbek, who were seeking details on al-Sadr’s fate. Lebanese security forces later took him into custody and transferred him to a Beirut prison, where he has been held since.

The mystery surrounding al-Sadr remains one of Lebanon’s most contentious unresolved cases. His family believes he may still be alive in Libya, though most Lebanese presume he died decades ago. Al-Sadr would now be 96 years old.

Al-Sadr, along with Abbas Badreddine and Mohammed Yacoub, disappeared during a trip to Libya. He founded a Shiite political and armed movement that later became a major faction during Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990.

Muammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011 during Libya’s uprising, which ended more than 40 years of his rule.

(With files from AP)