Lebanon Lifts Travel Ban and Reduces Bail for Gaddafi’s Son

Lebanese authorities have reduced bail and lifted the travel ban on Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, allowing his release after nearly a decade in detention over the disappearance of cleric Musa al-Sadr.

Lebanese authorities have reduced the bail for Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and lifted restrictions on his travel, clearing the way for his imminent release after almost ten years in custody.

Hannibal was detained in 2015 without trial over allegations that he held information about the disappearance of influential Lebanese Shi’ite cleric Imam Musa al-Sadr, who vanished in Libya in 1978 while on a diplomatic visit. Gaddafi was just two years old at the time of the cleric’s disappearance.

Earlier this year, a Lebanese court had set bail at $11 million and barred him from leaving the country. Judicial officials have now lowered the amount to approximately $900,000, and Hannibal is expected to leave Lebanon once it is paid, with his family planning to join him shortly thereafter.

The decision follows a visit by a Libyan delegation to Beirut and persistent calls from Libyan authorities for his release, citing his declining health and a hunger strike he undertook to protest his prolonged detention without trial.

Hannibal had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and their children before being taken to Lebanon by armed militants. His case has remained a sensitive issue due to its connection to the decades-old disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, whose fate continues to provoke speculation. While his family hopes he may still be alive, most Lebanese believe the cleric died in Libya; he would now be 96 years old.

The case also recalls the legacy of Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for over 40 years before being killed during the 2011 uprising. Hannibal’s detention has long symbolised the lingering political and diplomatic tensions between Lebanon and Libya, intertwined with unresolved questions over the missing cleric.

Analysts suggest that Hannibal Gaddafi’s release could close a long-standing chapter of Lebanese-Libyan legal disputes, though the mystery of Imam Musa al-Sadr’s disappearance remains a sensitive and unresolved issue in the region.