After nearly 10 years in prison, Lebanon releases Gaddafi's son

Hannibal Gaddafi was reportedly abducted in 2015 by fighters in Syria, where he lived in exile with his Lebanese wife and children after his father was killed during Libya’s 2011 uprising.

That same year, Lebanese authorities arrested him and charged him with withholding information about the whereabouts of Imam Musa al-Sadr, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim cleric who disappeared along with his companions during a trip to Libya in 1978.

At the time of al-Sadr’s disappearance, Hannibal was only two years old, and he never held any high official roles in Libya.

Human rights groups have condemned the circumstances of his detention, calling the charges “false.” In 2023, Hannibal Gaddafi launched a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment, which led to a deterioration in his health and required hospitalization.

Last month, in October 2025, Lebanese courts ordered his release on bail of US $11 million. Sources for Reuters say lawyers objected, and the bail was later reduced to roughly US $900,000. The updated ruling also removed travel restrictions on Gaddafi.

"Gaddafi's release came after his defence lawyers paid the bail," the National News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, Libya’s Government of National Unity under Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, based in Tripoli, thanked Lebanon’s president and the speaker of parliament for their "cooperation leading to Gaddafi’s release."

Reuters noted that the mysterious disappearance of cleric Musa al-Sadr nearly half a century ago has fueled decades of tensions between Libya and Lebanon.

The Libyan unity government welcomed Lebanon’s "sincere intentions to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries and develop cooperation in politics, economy, and security."

In 2021, it was reported that another son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, submitted candidacy documents to run for president of Libya.