Hannibal Gaddafi, offspring of the deceased Libyan autocrat Muammar Gaddafi, has been admitted to a Lebanese medical facility following a fortnight of self-imposed starvation in protest against his continued confinement without trial since 2015, stated Lebanon’s Interior Minister this Thursday.
Accused of withholding knowledge about the whereabouts of Imam Musa Al Sadr, a revered Lebanese Shiite Muslim scholar, Hannibal has been under incarceration in Lebanon since charges were pressed against him. Sadr, also the founder of the influential Lebanese Amal Movement, mysteriously vanished in 1978 during a sojourn in Libya.
Hannibal, a mere toddler at the time of Mr Al Sadr’s unaccounted departure, declared his fast earlier this month, decrying the allegations and claiming to be an innocent party to the events surrounding the disappearance.
Critics among the Lebanese Shiites have long pointed fingers at the Gaddafi administration for the supposed abduction of Mr Al Sadr during his 1978 Libya visit. Muammar Gaddafi was slain by rebels amid the 2011 revolt against his four-decade-long reign.
Due to the fast causing a deterioration in his health, Hannibal was moved from the security forces’ edifice, where he was detained, to a hospital this past Wednesday, according to Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.
In a conversation with Reuters, Reem Al Dabri, a representative for Gaddafi, drew attention to Hannibal’s tender age during Mr Al Sadr’s disappearance and stressed his non-involvement in the incident. She further labelled him a “political captive for undisclosed motives”.
In the face of a rebellion against his father’s rule in 2011, Hannibal fled Libya, finding sanctuary in Syria. He was reportedly seized and transported to Lebanon in 2015, asserted Mr Al Dabri.
Despite Libyan authorities insisting that Sadr had left their nation unharmed, prevailing belief suggests he was terminated shortly after his apprehension.
Sadr is the initiator of the Amal Movement, a powerful force in Lebanese Shiite politics, alongside Hezbollah. The movement has been under the leadership of Nabih Berri, the Parliamentary Speaker, since 1980.
