Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the late Muammar Gaddafi. (Credit: AFP/ File photo)
Hannibal Gaddafi, 47, son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been incarcerated in Lebanon since 2015. He has been moved from a Lebanese prison to a hospital in "critical condition," Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV reported on Sunday.
Gaddafi went on hunger strike early June.
In 2015, Gaddafi was kidnapped in Syria by an armed group and taken to Lebanon were he was imprisoned under vague circumstances.
He remains imprisoned in Beirut, likely in an Internal Security Forces detention center. He is being prosecuted by the Lebanese judiciary for allegedly withholding information concerning the disappearance of the Lebanese Shiite Imam Musa al-Sadr.
Sadr, who founded the Amal movement, along with his two companions, Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine, disappeared during a visit to the Libyan capital in 1978.
Lebanese Shiites hold Gaddafi's regime, which was overthrown in 2011, responsible for the disappearances.
Despite being only three years old at the time of Sadr's disappearance, the Lebanese judiciary suspects Hannibal Gaddafi in the case, given his high status in his fathers regime, where he controlled maritime management.
Here are the main points of the Hannibal Gaddafi case, from his arrest in Beirut in 2015 onwards.
December 2015
- On December 11, Gaddafi, who took refuge in Syria after fleeing Libya in 2011, was briefly kidnapped and beaten by an armed group. He then appeared in a video, with a swollen face and black eyes, and invited anyone with information on the Musa al-Sadr case to come forward. He was then taken to Lebanon and released. Soon after, the intelligence services of the Internal Security Forces interrogated him.
- On December 14, Gaddafi was charged with concealing information about the disappearance of Musa al-Sadr and his companions. Other sources claim that Mr. Gaddafi was kidnapped while in Lebanon, having been lured there by his captors.
- On the 17th, former MP Hassan Yaacoub, son of Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub, one of the men who disappeared along with Imam Musa al-Sadr, was taken into custody. He is accused of orchestrating Gaddafi's kidnapping.
July 25, 2016
- On July 25, Hassan Yaacoub is released after the rigorous mobilization of his family and supporters.
2016
- During an interrogation, Gaddafi was accused and prosecuted for making direct threats against investigating judge Zaher Hamadeh, who was in charge of the Sadr case.
Jan. 24, 2017
- Judge Ghassan Khoury decided to cancel the legal proceedings.
March 21, 2018
- Hannibal Gaddafi is sentenced to one year and three months in prison and fined two million pounds in the contempt of court case.
January 2019
- Minister of Justice Selim Jreissati, asked the head of the Judicial Inspectorate to asses the case and ascertain the judicial relevance of the continued incarceration of Gaddafi, who was still not tried in the case of withholding information on Sadr. Jreissati's request comes on the heels of a series of demands from Libyan officials, who pushed for Gaddafi's release, and from the Russians who intervened at the diplomatic level .
- Protests in Shiite circles, notably by the Amal movement and Sadr's family, refused that Gaddafi be released and held that he might possess information on the case.
November 2021
- the topic of Hannibal Gaddafi's imprisonment is once again raised, this time in connection with Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in France. French justice was investigating suspicions of "corruption" by Lebanese magistrates who had tried — and failed — to get Hannibal Gaddafi out of prison, in hopes obtaining evidence to clear Sarkozy of the accusation that he received Libyan funding for his 2007 presidential campaign.
June 2023
- On June 2, Gaddafi went on hunger strike "because he considers himself innocent of the allegations against him and that he is a political prisoner," announced his lawyer Paul Romanos. The latter refused to divulge further information, given the "secrecy of the investigation." It is not clear which jurisdiction is currently investigating the case.
- On the 8th, Libyan authorities announced plans to form a follow-up committee chaired by the Libyan Minister of Justice, tasked with holding talks with Lebanese authorities to find a solution to the Gaddafi case.
- In a video posted a few days later on TikTok, Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah said he held talks with outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Najb Mikati on the subject. The latter's press office denied this information. According to various Arabic-language media outlets, the Dbeibah government is under pressure from supporters and tribes close to Gaddafi.
- On the 21st, Gaddafi was transferred to the Hôtel-Dieu de France in Beirut and placed under strict surveillance, according to his lawyer. "He was suffering from a drop in blood sugar levels as a result of his hunger strike, as well as low blood pressure and serious infections in his spine. Back then, his condition was stable," Romanos had told L'Orient-Le Jour on the 24th.
July 2023
- On July 2, Gaddafi was moved again to another hospital. he was in "critical condition," Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV reported.
Citing unidentified sources, Al-Hadath said he suffered a sharp blood sugar level drop.