Libya and Lebanon discuss Lebanese Imam’s 46 year absence
Libyan authorities visited Beirut to revisited a decade old deal regarding the disappearance of Imam Musa Al Sadr, according to The National.
During the two-day trip to the Lebanese capital, week of 15th January, Lebanese and Libyan authorities discussed their 2014 deal where Lebanon was permitted access to the case and Libya committed to amplifying their support.
Imam Musa Al Sadr was last seen in 1978, during a trip to Libya where he was accompanied by an aid and a journalist. His fate has been unknown for 46 years.
Mass protests, organised by the Amal Movement – a political party founded by Sadr in 1974 – have been an annual occurence since Sadr vanished.
An attempt to revisit and implement the deal was made in 2016, however, a Lebanese judicial source told The National that “none of the promises made in agreement have been kept.” The source further commented that Libya’s most recent visit is the “first time in years that the Libyan side is showing serious signs of co-operation,” in the Al Sadr case.
Discussions between Libya and Lebanon enabled the proposal of additional investigations into the missing persons case, as well as the “separate issue” of the incarceration of Hannibal Qaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi.
READ: Libyans Express Anger Over Hannibal Gaddafi
Hannibal Qaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015. Initially Qaddafi was kidnapped by Lebanese militants who wanted information about Al Sadr. Currently he remains in the custody of the Lebanese judiciary, accused of withholding information about Al Sadr’s disappearance.
In August 2023, a formal request for Qaddafi’s release was made by Libya’s judiciary due to his deteriorating health and multiple hospital admissions.
In January 2024, the Human Rights Watch pressed for Qaddafi’s freedom as he was merely two-years-old when Al Sadr disappeared.
Hanan Salah, HRW’s associate Middle East and North Africa director stated that the “arbitrary detention on spurious charges after spending eight years in pretrial detention makes a mockery of Lebanon’s already strained judicial system.”
The National
