By Moutaz Ali.
Tripoli, 26 July 2016:
Muammar Qaddafi’s son Hannibal may shortly be released by the Lebanese according to his lawyer.
Hannibal was seized by Amal militiamen last December during a visit to Beirut, according to some sources, in an attempt to effect a reconciliation with his estranged wife. Early reports that he had been released proved inaccurate.
The militiamen apparently grabbed him in the hope of winkling out information about their religious leader, Sheikh Musa Sadr who went missing with three colleagues during a visit to Qadaffi in 1978, when he was reportedly critical to the dictator’s face. He and his companions were never seen again. Hannibal was three years old when this happened.
His lawyer has reportedly argued that her client had been granted political asylum in Syria and should be allowed to return there. As far as is known Hannibal and other members of Qaddafi’s family have been granted asylum in Oman, after being thrown out of Algeria. This is the first time that the Syrian government of Bashar Al-Assad has been involved in the fate of the late dictator’s son.