Lebanon has released Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, after nearly a decade in detention without trial, the country’s National News Agency reported on Monday.

Hannibal, who was living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife and children after his father’s death in the 2011 Libyan uprising, was abducted by militants in Syria in 2015. Lebanese authorities immediately took him into custody, accusing him of concealing information regarding the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, a prominent Shi’ite cleric who vanished in Libya in 1978 along with his companions.

Though Hannibal was only two years old when Sadr disappeared and held no senior official position in Libya as an adult, he remained in detention for nearly ten years. Human rights organizations criticized his imprisonment, calling the charges “spurious”. In 2023, Hannibal went on a hunger strike, leading to a deterioration in his health and hospitalization.

Bail and release

As reported in Reuters, last month, Lebanon’s judiciary ordered his release, initially setting bail at $11 million. His lawyers successfully contested the amount, and the court lowered it to roughly $900,000, while also lifting his travel ban. Hannibal’s defense lawyers subsequently paid the bail, and he was freed on Monday.

Diplomatic implications

The Tripoli-based Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU), led by Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, welcomed Hannibal’s release. The GNU expressed gratitude to Lebanese authorities for their role and emphasized hopes to reactivate diplomatic relations between Libya and Lebanon, as well as to expand political, economic, and security cooperation.