A Libyan delegation visited Beirut this week to reopen talks with Lebanese authorities on the fate of a prominent Lebanese cleric who has been missing for decades in Libya and the release of late dictator Moammar Gaddafi’s son who has been detained in Lebanon for years, officials said.
The talks were aimed at reviving a largely dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, reached in 2014 to cooperate in the investigation of the 1978 disappearance of Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, security and judicial officials said.
The fate of the clergyman is a delicate subject. His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, although most Lebanese assume that al-Sadr, now 94, is dead.
The son of the late Libyan ruler, Hannibal Gaddafi, has been held in Lebanon since 2015, after being kidnapped in neighboring Syria, where he was living as a political refugee. He was kidnapped by Lebanese militiamen who demanded information about al-Sadr’s fate.
Lebanese authorities released him from the kidnappers, but later detained him, accusing him of hiding information about al-Sadr’s disappearance.
An official familiar with the case said the delegation left Beirut after spending several days in Lebanon, where they met with the justice minister and a judge who heads a committee investigating Al-Sadr’s disappearance.
The official described the talks as “positive” but did not elaborate or say whether they achieved any results. The delegation is expected to return next week, he said, adding that Lebanese and Libyan authorities are treating the two cases separately. He said there is “no agreement” so far for Gaddafi’s release.
All of the officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.