Paid $893,000 (1.3 billion KRW) to a Lebanese court

Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Reuters Yonhap News

Hannibal Gaddafi (49), the son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi who had been held in Lebanon for nearly 10 years, was released on bail, the Lebanese state-run NNA news agency reported on the 10th (local time).

According to the reports, Hannibal was freed after his lawyer paid a bond of about $893,000 (1.3 billion KRW) that day. Earlier, a Lebanese court last month set bail at $11,000,000 (16 billion KRW) and imposed a travel ban, but after a delegation from the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU) entered negotiations, the bail was reduced and the travel restrictions were lifted.

Hannibal, the fifth son of Muammar Gaddafi, fled with his family to Algeria when Tripoli, the Libyan capital, fell to rebels in 2011. After passing through Oman, he lived in political asylum in Damascus, Syria, but in 2015 he was abducted by an unidentified armed group and taken to Lebanon. He was then arrested by the Lebanese authorities on suspicion of withholding information related to the disappearance of top Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr and was held without trial.

Al-Sadr disappeared in 1978 after an official visit to Libya at the invitation of Gaddafi, together with two colleagues, and he is also the founder of the Lebanese Shia party 'Amal Movement'. At the time, Hannibal was only two years old and had never held senior office in Libya, leading to persistent suspicions that he was falsely accused.

In 2023, Hannibal staged a hunger strike to protest his detention, after which his health deteriorated and he received treatment.

한글기사 원본(Original Korean Story)