Hannibal Gaddafi in an undated photo. (Credit: AFP archive photo)
Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, detained in Lebanon since 2015, called on Tuesday for the Lebanese judiciary to question former minister Wi'am Wahab regarding the disappearance of the Lebanese Shia imam Moussa Sadr in 1978 in Libya. His request, made in a statement to the Russian news site Sputnik and relayed by local media, follows Wahab’s comments to the al-Ghad news channel, according to which the former minister claimed to have information on this case, Sputnik reports.
"I ask the Lebanese judiciary to consult any information that could help reveal the truth about the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr," Gaddafi told Sputnik. He also called "to consider Wi'am Wahab's statements as an informational note" on this matter.
Wi'am Wahab reportedly has information gathered from Muammar Gaddafi himself but is afraid to disclose it "to avoid problems," Sputnik writes. The former minister, close to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also reportedly stated that Imam Sadr disappeared within the first three days of his visit to Libya.
Abducted in Syria in 2015 by an armed group, Hannibal Gaddafi was then taken to Lebanon, where he was incarcerated the same year under unclear circumstances. He remains imprisoned in Beirut, likely in an Internal Security Forces (ISF) detention center, according to consistent reports. Other versions suggest Hannibal Gaddafi was abducted while already in Lebanon.
Since 2015, he has been pursued by the Lebanese judiciary for the alleged concealment of information regarding the disappearance of Imam Sadr in Libya in September 1978, but no verdict has been pronounced against him so far. Hannibal Gaddafi was three years old at the time of the incident.
