Salaam - Lebanon may lower $11m bail for Hannibal Qaddafi, judicial source says
Salaam alaykum - Lebanon might reduce or cancel the $11 million bail set for the release of Hannibal Qaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, according to his lawyer and a judicial source on Monday. Lebanese authorities arrested Hannibal in 2015, accusing him of not providing information about the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Mussa Sadr in Libya. His lawyer says Hannibal is now 49, and was about two years old when Sadr went missing.
The judicial source, speaking anonymously, said a Libyan delegation met with Lebanon’s judicial officials and President Joseph Aoun. The delegation presented the judge handling the Sadr case with copies of Libyan investigations and transcripts of questioning of several political and security figures from the former Qaddafi regime.
The official added there has been “significant flexibility” from Lebanon in Hannibal’s case, and the $11 million bail could be lowered to the minimum so it no longer blocks his release. The judge also appeared open to lifting the travel ban on him. Hannibal’s lawyer, Laurent Bayon, told reporters the bail “should be significantly reduced or even canceled.” Bayon said the bail had been split into $10 million for the victims and $1 million as a guarantee of appearance, and the judge might keep only the $1 million guarantee - though Bayon still seeks full cancellation of what he calls an unjustified sum.
Mussa Sadr, founder of the Amal movement and later allied with Hezbollah, disappeared during an official visit to Libya along with an aide and a journalist. Beirut has long held Muammar Qaddafi responsible; he was overthrown and killed in the 2011 uprising. The judicial source said Lebanon’s courts will review the Libyan materials to see if they help determine what happened to Sadr and his companions. May Allah grant guidance and justice to all involved.
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