Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of the deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been released by Lebanon after nearly 10 years in detention without trial.
The Lebanese authorities seized Mr. Gaddafi, now 49, in 2015, accusing him of concealing information about the fate of a Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in Libya in 1978, when he was just two years old. Human rights groups had denounced the accusations.
His lawyer told the AFP news agency that his $900,000 (£682,938) bail had been paid. Laurent Bayon said, It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years. In October, a judge initially set a $11 million bail against Gaddafi's release, but this was reduced last week following an appeal by his defense team.
Mr. Bayon mentioned that his client would leave Lebanon for a confidential destination. He criticized the Lebanese justice system, stating, If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent, according to AFP.
In 2015, Mr. Gaddafi was briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon before being freed, only to later be detained by Lebanese authorities.
After his father’s overthrow and death in 2011, he fled to Syria and subsequently lived under house arrest in Oman with his wife Aline Skaf. Before the fall of Gaddafi's regime, Hannibal was known for his lavish lifestyle.
The disappearance of Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978 has been a point of contention between Libya and Lebanon for decades. Hannibal Gaddafi was only two at the time and held no senior position in Libya as an adult.
}
