Lebanon lifts travel ban on Muammar Gaddafi's son and reduces bail

Lebanese authorities have lifted a travel ban and reduced bail for the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, paving the way for his release.

Hannibal Gaddafi has been detained without trial for nearly a decade for allegedly withholding information about the fate of a revered Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim cleric.

Imam Musa al-Sadr went missing while on a trip to Libya in 1978. Gaddafi’s youngest son was two-years-old at the time.

The decision by the country’s judicial authorities on Thursday came days after a Libyan delegation visited Lebanon.

In October, a Lebanese judge ordered Gadhafi’s release on $11 million bail, but banned him from traveling outside Lebanon.

His lawyers said at the time that he did not have enough to pay that amount, and sought permission for him to leave the country.

That amount has now been reduced to about $900,000 and he will be allowed to leave once bail has been paid.

Judicial officials says Gaddafi has decided to exit Lebanon after his release, adding that his family will follow him later.

In 2023, Libya formally requested he be freed, citing his deteriorating health after he went on a hunger strike to protest against his detention without trial.

Gaddafi had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and children until he was abducted in 2015 and brought to Lebanon by Lebanese militants.

The case of the missing cleric has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon.

His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume he is dead. He would be 96-years-old.

Al-Sadr was the founder of a Shiite political and military group that took part in the long Lebanese civil war that began in 1975, largely pitting Muslims against Christians.

Muammar Gaddafi was killed by opposition fighters during Libya’s 2011 uprising-turned-civil war, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.

Based on reporting by Africanews.