Son of Muammar Gaddafi freed on bail after a decade in Lebanese custody

Lebanese authorities have freed Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of the late Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, after spending close to a decade behind bars without trial.

His lawyer, Laurent Bayon, confirmed the development on Monday, noting that Gaddafi walked free after paying $900,000 (Sh116.2 million) in bail, ending what he described as "a 10-year nightmare."

His release, reports indicate, came shortly after a five-member Libyan delegation visited Beirut, where discussions were said to have advanced efforts to settle the long-running case.

"It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years," Bayon said, according to AFP.

He added that Gaddafi plans to leave Lebanon for a confidential destination and still holds a Libyan passport, while noting that his client's release symbolised progress under the reformist government formed in Lebanon at the start of the year.

"If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent," Bayon said.

Gaddafi, 49, has been detained since 2015 on allegations of withholding information about the 1978 disappearance of prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Mussa Sadr and two of his aides during an official visit to Libya, an incident that soured relations between Beirut and Tripoli for decades.

He was first abducted in Syria near the Lebanese border after being tricked into attending what he thought was a media interview. His kidnappers later took him to Lebanon, where they allegedly tortured and questioned him about Sadr's disappearance, while demanding ransom.

Although Lebanese authorities later rescued him, he was taken into custody soon after. At the time of the trio's disappearance, Gaddafi was just two years old.

A judge had initially set bail at $11 million (Sh1.4 billion) in October, but the amount was reduced last week following an appeal by his defense team. A travel ban on Gaddafi was also lifted by the court, paving the way for his release.

Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have in the past urged Lebanon to free Gaddafi, saying that he had unfairly been jailed. In August, the organisation said he was being held on unproven claims that he knew something about Sadr's disappearance.

"Gaddafi's case is emblematic of a fractured judicial system that has lacked independence and is susceptible to political interference by Lebanon's powerful factions," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"Lebanese authorities should put an end to Gaddafi's nearly decade-long detention and release him immediately."

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