Libyans Demand Lebanon Release Hannibal Gaddafi

Hannibal Gaddafi. (EPA
Hannibal Gaddafi. (EPA
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Libyans Demand Lebanon Release Hannibal Gaddafi

Hannibal Gaddafi. (EPA
Hannibal Gaddafi. (EPA

Libyan and Tunisian activists said that they have urged international and African organizations to act immediately to release Hannibal al-Gaddafi, son of late President Moammar Gaddafi, who has been detained in Lebanon for four years.

Hannibal is being held “on charges of concealing information about the disappearance of the founder of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, Imam Musa al-Sadr, during his visit to Libya in August 1978, at the invitation of his father, Moammar Gaddafi."

"The Arab League for Hannibal" said Thursday that it handed Human Rights Watch a memorandum regarding Hannibal and all prisoners and detainees of the former regime. It added that it had dispatched a delegation to Tunisia earlier this week to hand the African Union Commission, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and human rights and humanitarian missions a memorandum regarding "the imprisonment of Hannibal Gaddafi, and the other figures symbols of the former regime who had been arrested wrongfully, oppressively and unjustly."

Russia had intervened to demand Hannibal’s release amid other intensified efforts to resolve the issue and allow him to rejoin his Lebanese wife Aline Skaff and three children who used to live with him Damascus where he was kidnapped and taken to Lebanon.

A source close to Gaddafi's family was puzzled by what he called “improvisations” of laws in Lebanon. He told Asharq al-Awsat that investigation authorities there “did not provide any evidence of Hannibal’s involvement in the Sadr case, and it became clear to them that he was a young child at the time, yet they insist on keeping him prisoner. He demanded his immediate release.

The delegation sent to Tunisia was headed by Bechir Essid, the head of the defense of Hannibal and the Libyan detainees. The League pointed out that the concerned organizations "showed great understanding of what was in the memo”.

Hannibal’s defense team stressed that "no crime under the category of concealment of information could be validated against him, given that he was less than two-years-old. It revealed that Hannibal first learned of the crime in 1997 while he was on vacation in Morocco.

Besides Hannibal, who was arrested in Lebanon, his brother Al-Saadi is still being held in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The Gaddafi family had previously threatened to file lawsuits, locally and internationally, demanding the release of their son. It held the “concerned authorities” that are detaining him responsible for his safety, charging that he has been "tortured and denied medical treatment.”

In April 2018, a court in Tripoli acquitted Al-Saadi of the charge of killing player and coach of the Al-Ittihad football team, Bashir Al-Rayani. Despite the verdict, he remains in al-Hadba prison, despite pledges from Tripoli authorities that he will be released.



Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
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Egypt Says Israel-EU Agreement Has Not Increased Aid to Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)
Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty arrives for a meeting of Palestinian and Israeli foreign ministers on the sidelines of the EU-Southern Neighborhood Ministerial Meeting at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 14 July 2025. (EPA)

Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

"Nothing has changed (on the ground)," Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels on Monday.

The EU's top diplomat said on Thursday that the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza's humanitarian situation, including increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.

Asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar referred to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on implementation.

Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains "catastrophic".

"There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation of the Israeli siege," he said.

Safadi said Israel allowed the entry of 40 to 50 trucks days ago from Jordan but that was "far from being sufficient" for the besieged enclave.

EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ahead of Monday's meeting that there have been some signs of progress on Gaza aid but not enough improvement on the ground.

Israel's continued military operations and blockade have left the entire population of 2.3 million people in Gaza facing acute food insecurity, with nearly half a million at risk of famine by the end of September, a joint United Nations report said last month.