Hannibal Gaddafi Granted $11M Bail in Lebanon, But “Impossible” Sum Keeps Him Jailed

A Lebanese court has ordered the conditional release of Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, after nearly a decade of controversial, pre-trial detention. However, the ruling, which set a staggering $11 million bail and imposed a travel ban, has been immediately slammed by his legal team as a “prohibitive” and “illogical” maneuver designed to ensure he remains in prison.
The 49-year-old Gaddafi has been held in a Beirut prison since 2015, entangled in one of the Middle East’s most enduring and sensitive political mysteries: the 1978 disappearance of the revered Lebanese Shiite cleric, Imam Musa al-Sadr, and his two companions.
The case of al-Sadr, the charismatic Iranian-born founder of the Amal Movement, is a foundational grievance for Lebanon’s large Shiite community. He and his aides vanished during an official visit to Tripoli, Libya, and were last seen on August 31, 1978. It is widely believed in Lebanon that they were murdered on Muammar Gaddafi’s orders, an accusation the Libyan regime consistently denied, claiming the trio had left for Italy.
Hannibal Gaddafi’s connection to the crime has been the source of immense legal and international controversy. He was only two years old at the time of the imam’s disappearance. The formal charge against him is not for the kidnapping itself, but for “withholding information” about it. Lebanese judicial authorities, under pressure from the Amal Movement, have long argued that as a prominent member of his father’s inner circle, Hannibal must have overhead or later learned crucial details about the fate of al-Sadr and his companions.
His presence in Lebanon is the result of a bizarre cloak-and-dagger operation. After his father’s regime collapsed in 2011, Hannibal fled to Syria. In 2015, he was reportedly lured to what he believed was an interview, only to be kidnapped by an armed group, tortured for information, and smuggled across the border into Lebanon. Lebanese security forces “freed” him from his captors, only to immediately arrest him. He has been held without trial ever since.
Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly condemned his detention as “arbitrary,” “unlawful,” and a “mockery of justice.”
His legal team reacted to the bail order with outrage, not relief. They argue that the $11 million figure is a cynical ploy. As a member of the former Libyan regime, Hannibal Gaddafi is under strict international sanctions, and his assets have been frozen for years, making it impossible for him to access such a sum.
One of his lawyers used a pointed Arabic proverb to describe the ruling: “He who does not want to marry off his daughter demands a high dowry.” The implication is that the court, by setting an unattainable price for his freedom, has found a way to maintain his detention while appearing to follow legal procedure. His lawyers have vowed to appeal the “illogical” amount, but for now, the man at the center of a 47-year-old mystery remains behind bars.