Fate of Hannibal Gadhafi Pending Interpol Response on his Arrest
The son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Hannibal, will remain held in Lebanon until authorities receive a response from Interpol about him, reported the daily An Nahar.
General Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud told the daily that Lebanon can go ahead and continue investigations with him based on the arrest warrant issued against him on Monday.
It could also await the response from Interpol seeing as Hannibal is wanted by Libyan authorities.
He noted however that he received a message from the Libyan justice minister informing him that the position of general prosecutor is vacant in the country and therefore no wanted suspects can be handed over to the concerned authorities there.
Asked about the failure to file a complaint against the detainee, Hammoud told As Safir newspaper that this issue is pending the response from Interpol.
Lebanon should have a response within 15 days, he explained.
“If a reply is not made within that time, then the Lebanese judiciary could release Hannibal as long as he is not wanted for a crime committed in Lebanon,” the revealed.
He remarked however that the fact that a Lebanese arrest warrant has been issued against him gives Lebanon the priority to carry out investigations with him before any other power.
“He cannot be handed to Libyan authorities until Lebanon is done with him,” Hammoud said.
The Interpol red notice against Hannibal Gadhafi, and 15 other Libyan officials, including his father,, was issued in 2011.
Hannibal was briefly kidnapped in Lebanon last week before being released on Friday.
He said that he was abducted by a group that is "loyal to the cause of Imam Moussa al-Sadr," the founder of Lebanon's AMAL Movement who disappeared while on a trip to Libya in 1978.
The judiciary on Monday issued an arrest warrant against Hannibal on charges of withholding information linked to the case of Imam Moussa al-Sadr.
He confessed that the Libyan regime was involved in the abduction of Imam al-Sadr, naming the person who impersonated the imam and traveled to Rome in 1978.
He noted that the sources of his information were his brother Seif al-Islam and intelligence official Al-Mutassem Billah.
On August 25, 1978, al-Sadr and two companions -- Sheikh Mohammed Yaaqoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine -- departed for Libya to meet with government officials.
The visit was paid upon the invitation of then Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. The three were seen lastly on August 31. They were never heard from again.
The Lebanese judiciary indicted Moammar Gadhafi in 2008 over al-Sadr's disappearance, although Libya had consistently denied responsibility, claiming that the imam and his companions had left Libya for Italy.
Hannibal was among a group of family members -- including Gadhafi's wife Safiya, son Mohammed and daughter Aisha -- who escaped to neighboring Algeria after the fall of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
He is married to Lebanese lingerie model Aline Skaff.
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