Hannibal Gaddafi: Muammar Gaddafi’s Son Released After 10 Years in Lebanese Jail
- Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of Muammar Gaddafi, has been released from prison in Lebanon after spending a decade behind bars without trial
- The 50-year-old was granted bail and allowed to travel abroad, ending what his lawyer described as 'a 10-year nightmare' in detention in the country
- Hannibal was jailed in 2015 after being abducted by militants who accused him of withholding information on Moussa al-Sadr’s 1978 disappearance
Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has been released from prison in Lebanon after being held for 10 years without trial.
Source: UGC
The youngest son of the controversial former president was released on $900,000 bail on Monday, November 11, and has been granted freedom to travel out of the country, essentially bringing his long-term incarceration to an end.
"It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years," Laurent Banyon, a member of his legal team, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent," he added.
Why was Hannibal Gaddafi arrested?
Hannibal Gaddafi was abducted by Lebanese militants in 2015 while living in exile in Syria after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's government in 2011.
Lebanese police seized him from militants and threw him into a jail in Beirut, where he remained incarcerated until his release in 2025.
He was accused of withholding information about the whereabouts of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a trip to Libya in 1978.
According to the BBC, he was only two years old at the time of al-Sadr's disappearance.
Gaddafi embarked on a hunger strike to protest his detention, and in 2023, Libya formally requested his release.
A judge ordered his release in October on $11 million bail before it was later reduced to $900,000.
“Hannibal is officially free and has the full right to choose the destination that he wants,” Charbel Milad al-Khoury, a member of his legal team, told the Associated Press.
According to the Libyan Observer, the South African government has agreed to host the late Libyan leader’s son.
Who is Hannibal Gaddafi?
Hannibal was born to Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife, Safia Farkash, in Tripoli in 1976.
He attended the Marine Academy of Maritime Studies, where he earned a degree in Marine navigation.
He also attended the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, graduating with an MBA in Shipping Economics and Logistics.
He is married to Lebanese national Aline Skaf, with whom he has three children.
Below is a Facebook photo of Hannibal Gaddafi after his release.
Source: Facebook
Ghanaian fugitive arrested in Libya
Previously, YEN.com.gh reported that a Ghanaian said to be an internationally wanted criminal has been arrested by Libyan armed forces.
The suspect, nicknamed Begi, was arrested in a raid that also freed 11 women of different African nationalities from the suspect's sanctuary.
The military unit raided the premises of the wanted criminal on June 29 to rescue the victims and arrest the suspect during a daring operation.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
