Hannibal Gaddafi wanted for his father’s actions
Undated photo made available Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, of al-Saadi Gaddafi, centre, and Hannibal Gaddafi, right, sons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Hannibal Gaddafi is currently detained in Lebanon on charges of withholding information. (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany, File)
In early December, Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of the former Libyan dictator Muammer Gaddafi, appeared in a video aired on news stations in Lebanon. Visibly battered, bruised and exhausted, Gaddafi reassured all those that were watching:
“Anyone who has been worried about my life and my health should know that I’m in good health and comfortable,” he said into the shaky video camera.
The video was taken by a group that kidnapped Gaddafi to question him on the disappearance of Lebanon’s most prominent Shiite Sheikh of the 20th Century Musa al-Sadr, who went missing after travelling to Libya to visit Muammer Gaddafi in 1979.
Gaddafi’s captors handed him over to Lebanese authorities that have held on charges of withholding information about Sadr’s capture. The Lebanese state joins Libyan authorities, and the International Criminal Court in the list of groups that want to question Gaddafi on the actions of his father.
The 40-year old Gaddafi is widely considered the playboy son of the former dictator. With little interest in politics, he was notorious for his lavish lifestyle, which included opulent cruise ships in Miami and vacations in Ibiza.
“He was enjoying his father’s money, constantly travelling around Europe,” said Anas al-Gomati, founder and General Director of the Sadeq Institute, a think-tank that specializes in Libyan affairs.
His trips to Europe made headlines on a number of occasions. The most notable was a scandal in Switzerland in 2008 when Gaddafi and his Lebanese wife Aline Skaf were arrested for abusing their staff while staying in Geneva. This led to a straining of diplomatic ties between Switzerland and Libya.
Following the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that led to the death of his father, Gaddafi fled across the border to Algeria before claiming political asylum in Oman with his family.
According to local media in Lebanon, Gaddafi was later granted political asylum in Syria. He was lured from Damascus into Lebanon where he was kidnapped.
Since his captors handed him over to Lebanese authorities for questioning, the requests for Gaddafi have mounted.
First, the Syrian government requested he be returned to Syria, which the Justice Minister in Lebanon promptly denied.
Then news media reported the ICC requested Gaddafi to be questioned on crimes against humanity committed by his father. When asked for clarification on this request, the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC told the Financial Times that they could not “confirm or deny” those reports.
A delegation from Libya later flew into Lebanon with the hope of bringing Gaddafi back for questioning. Ties between Lebanon and Libya were fraught prior to the Arab Spring and have not had a chance to recover under Libya’s current fractured state. The delegation was told to leave the country as quickly possible.
Gaddafi remains in the hands of Lebanese authorities, being questioned on a case that occurred when he was four years old. His lavish lifestyle is long behind him, as he continues to pay the price for his father’s actions.