Hannibal Gaddafi Freed After 10 Years in Lebanese Detention Following Reduced Bail

Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been released from detention in Lebanon after a decade in custody, officials confirmed on Monday.

Gaddafi was freed after posting bail of approximately £678,000, following a decision by Lebanese judicial authorities last week to reduce the original bail of £8.3 million and lift a travel ban. His release came after a Libyan delegation visited Beirut for talks aimed at resolving the longstanding case.

Gaddafi was arrested in 2015 on accusations of withholding information about the fate of Shi’ite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a visit to Libya in 1978. Gaddafi was under the age of three at the time of the cleric’s disappearance, and has denied any knowledge of the case.

Two security officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed that the payment was made on his behalf. Libya’s Tripoli-based justice ministry later announced that its delegation had covered the bail amount.

The disappearance of al-Sadr remains a politically charged issue in Lebanon, with successive governments accusing Libyan authorities of failing to cooperate fully with investigations.

Hannibal Gaddafi’s release marks the latest chapter in a turbulent family history. Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya for more than four decades before he was deposed and killed in 2011, plunging the country into ongoing conflict and political fragmentation. Several of his children were killed, captured, or forced into exile.

After the fall of his father’s government, Hannibal fled to Algeria and later Syria, where he was granted asylum. He was captured in Syria by Lebanese militants and handed over to Lebanese authorities in 2015.