Gaddafi’s son set to face Lebanese judge after eight years

Hannibal Gaddafi, son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been detained in Lebanon for a decade is now finally being brought before one of the country’s judges for the first time in 8 years, according to The New Arab plus agencies on October 11th.

A source close to local media outlet L’Orient-Le Jour said that his case is expected to be heard by investigative magistrate Judge Zaher Hamadeh at the Court of Justice, with Gaddafi himself expected to be attending alongside one of his three lawyers.

The news comes after suspicions about his potential release were heightened last month.

Hannibal Gaddafi, now 49 years old, was arrested in 2015 by Lebanese authorities after failing to provide information about the disappearance of a journalist Abbas Badreddine, a cleric Mohammad Yaacoub and a prominent imam Moussa Sadr who founded the Amal movement in Libya back in 1978.

Gaddafi, whose wife is Lebanese, had been living in political asylum in Syria prior to 2015, where he was lured to the Syria-Lebanon border‘s Bekaa Valley under the auspice of an interview. He was subsequently ambushed by an armed group, including relatives of imam Moussa Sadr-and reportedly Hassan Yaacoub.

Hasan Yaacoub is particularly interesting in the case: the son of the missing cleric Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub, and a former Member of Parliament who was later detained in connection with Hannibal Gaddafi’s abduction. Following this, Gaddafi was released and subsequently transferred to the custody of Lebanon’s Internal Security Intelligence in Hermel. Judge Hamadé summoned Gaddafi as a witness in the case, although he later charged him with defamation.

Perhaps the most strange part of the whole saga is that Hannibal Gaddafi is unlikely to know much about the disappearances of these individuals, given that he was just 3 years-old during the period of Imam Moussa Sadr’s disappearance.

Human rights organisations have been calling for his release for many years, citing “spurious charges,” and his case has made some progress lately, with his request for release in June being accepted by the Badreddine family who are a civil party in Gaddafi’s proceedings.

This kickstarted the events which have led to the latest court appearance set to take place in the coming days, as Judge Hamadeh made the case’s referral to the public prosecutor Jamal Hajjar, in a bid to seek his opinion on the case. Although Hajjar was granted the opportunity to weigh in, he chose not to do so, in turn, leaving the decision entirely in the hands of Judge Hamadeh.

As for Gaddafi, he has recently been discharged from hospital after spending several days receiving medical treatment, however, we do not seem to be aware of his current condition, as his lawyers have attempted to visit him since his return to prison to no avail.

The New Arab plus agencies, Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch, Maghrebi.org