Arrr! Libyan swashbucklers be sailin' to Beirut to be chattin' 'bout that long-lost cleric from 1978!
2024-01-24
Arr, this week a bunch o' Libyan landlubbers sailed to Beirut to parlay with them Lebanese officers about the wee matter of that scallywag Shiite cleric, Moussa al-Sadr. He's been lost at sea in Libya since 1978, and they be aimin' to settle the score.
A Libyan delegation recently visited Beirut to discuss the fate of a prominent Lebanese cleric who has been missing in Libya for decades and the release of Moammar Gadhafi's son, who has been held in Lebanon. The talks aimed to reactivate a 2014 agreement between Lebanon and Libya regarding the investigation into the disappearance of Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr in 1978. Al-Sadr's family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, but most Lebanese presume he is dead.Hannibal Gadhafi, the late dictator's son, has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after being kidnapped from Syria. Lebanese militants demanded information about al-Sadr's disappearance, leading to his abduction. Lebanese authorities initially freed Hannibal Gadhafi but then detained him on accusations of concealing information.
The Libyan delegation spent a few days in Lebanon, meeting with the minister of justice and a judge heading the committee investigating al-Sadr's disappearance. The talks were described as "positive," but no further details were provided regarding any results. The delegation is expected to return next week, and the two cases are being treated separately for now. There is no deal yet for Gadhafi's release.
The visit of the Libyan delegation was not publicly announced, and there has been no response from Libya's internationally recognized government. Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, a Shiite militia that fought in Lebanon's civil war. Many of his followers believe that Moammar Gadhafi ordered his killing over a dispute about Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya maintains that al-Sadr left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome with two companions.
Last August, Libya formally requested Lebanon to release Hannibal Gadhafi due to his worsening health. Human Rights Watch has called for his release, stating that his detention on spurious charges after eight years in pretrial detention is an abuse of Lebanon's judicial system.