Lebanon orders release of Hannibal Qaddafi on $11m bail

Lawyers for son of former Libyan leader say he does not have funds to pay

Hannibal Qaddafi pictured in Tripoli in 2010, a year before his father was killed. Reuters

Lebanon has ordered the release of Hannibal Qaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Qaddafi, on $11 million bail. His lawyers said he does not have the funds to pay.

Mr Qaddafi, who has been imprisoned in Lebanon for a decade without being charged, has also been banned from travelling, according to the order issued by Judge Zaher Hamada.

The order for his release comes after his lawyers said he had been ill in his cell at police headquarters in Beirut.

Mr Qaddafi has been held in Lebanese custody since 2015 and has been taken to hospital multiple times during hunger strikes in protest at his situation.

Lebanon has accused him of concealing information about the fate of Imam Musa Al Sadr, a revered Lebanese Shiite cleric who disappeared while on a trip to Libya in 1978.

Mr Qaddafi, who was two years old at the time, maintains his innocence and says he is a victim of injustice.

Libya's Attorney General Siddiq Al Sour formally asked Lebanon to release him in 2023.

Mr Qaddafi fled Libya in 2011, amid an uprising against his father's 42-year rule. Muammar Qaddafi was killed by rebel fighters in the Libyan city of Sirte.

Hannibal Qaddafi had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and their children when he was abducted and taken to Lebanon.

He was later handed over to Lebanese authorities by a local armed group.