New Judicial Investigator Appointed in Al-Sadr's Disappearance Case

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi appointed on Tuesday a new judicial investigator into the disappearance of revered spiritual leader Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

"In response to his request, Judge Samih al-Hajj has been exempted from looking into the case as an investigator at the Judicial Council,” Rifi announced in a released statement.

And Judge Zaher Hamade, the attorney general of appeals in the Bekaa, was handed the case instead of al-Hajj.

Al-Sadr disappeared in 1978 with his two companions in Libya when he was in the capital Tripoli for a week of talks with officials.

They were never seen or heard from again. The day he was last seen, on Aug. 31, 1978, is still marked annually in Lebanon.

At the time, the previous Libyan regime of Moammar Gaddafi insisted al-Sadr and his aides left on a flight to Rome at the end of their visit and suggested the imam fell victim to an inter-Shiite power struggle.

Since the mysterious disappearance of the cleric, ties between Libya and Lebanon have been strained.

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Y.R.