Hannibal Gaddafi Freed After Nearly a Decade in Lebanon Detention

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 vanished in Libya in 1978 when Hannibal was just two years old.

Human rights groups condemned these accusations, and his lawyer confirmed that Gaddafi's bail of $900,000 had been settled.

Laurent Bayon, Gaddafi's attorney, stated: It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years. He revealed that a judge had initially set Gaddafi's bail at $11 million, but after an appeal, the amount was decreased last week.

After his release, Gaddafi is set to leave Lebanon for an undisclosed location.

Bayon also commented on the implications of Gaddafi's lengthy detention, emphasizing the lack of independence in Lebanon's justice system.

In 2015, Gaddafi was briefly abducted by an armed group in Lebanon before being captured by the authorities.

Following his father's overthrow and death in 2011, Gaddafi initially fled to Syria and later lived under house arrest in Oman with his wife, Aline Skaf.

Prior to the fall of his father's regime, Gaddafi was known for his extravagant lifestyle.

The disappearance of cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya remains a contentious issue between Libya and Lebanon, with Gaddafi having held no significant position in Libya's government during adulthood.