Hannibal Gaddafi to be heard by Lebanese judiciary Friday for the first time in eight years

BEIRUT — Zaher Hamadeh, the investigative judge with the Judicial Council case involving Hannibal Gaddafi, will question the former Libyan leader’s son on Friday, Oct. 17, a source close to the case told L'Orient Today. It will mark the first time in eight years that Gaddafi will appear before the Lebanese judiciary.

He is expected to be accompanied by one of his three lawyers, the source added.

Gaddafi, whose wife is Lebanese, was arrested in December 2015 over allegations of "concealment of information" related to the 1978 disappearance in Libya of Imam Musa Sadr and his two companions, journalist Abbas Badreddine and Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub.

The case gained momentum for the first time in a decade when the Badreddine family, acting as a civil party, approved a June request for Gaddafi’s release. The investigative judge then referred the file to Attorney General Jamal Hajjar at the Court of Cassations for his opinion, but Hajjar declined to comment, leaving the decision to the investigative judge.

Gaddafi was discharged from a hospital on Tuesday after several days of treatment and returned to prison. His lawyers have since sought visits, but permission has not been granted.

Gaddafi was abducted in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Dec. 11, 2015, by an armed group that included the son of Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub, former MP Hassan Yaacoub, who was detained for seven months in connection with the case.

Following his release by the kidnappers, who handed him over to the Internal Security Forces in Hermel, Gaddafi was questioned as a witness by Judge Hamadeh, who initiated defamation proceedings. Gaddafi was just three years old when Sadr disappeared.