Lebanese authorities released the son of late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi on Monday after he paid a $900,000 bail, ending his 10-year detention for allegedly withholding information about a missing Lebanese cleric, security officials and a member of his defense team said.
One of Hannibal Gaddafi's lawyers, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, told The Associated Press that Gaddafi was released Monday evening after necessary paperwork was finished.
Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, also confirmed that Gaddafi was set free.
The release came days after Lebanese authorities lifted a travel ban and reduced the bail for Gaddafi, paving the way for his release.
Gaddafi, 49, has been in pre-trial detention for nearly a decade after his arrest in Lebanon on charges of withholding information about the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr in Libya.
He was two years old at the time of Sadr's disappearance.
In October, a judge ordered Gaddafi’s release against bail set at $11 million, which was reduced to $900,000 last week after an appeal by his defense team.
Gaddafi’s French lawyer Laurent Bayon told AFP his client was set to leave Lebanon for a "confidential" destination, adding that he holds a Libyan passport.
"If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent," Bayon said.
He said the move towards his client's release reflected a restoration of judicial independence under Lebanon's reformist government that was formed in January.
Sadr -- the founder of the Amal movement, now an ally of the Hezbollah party -- went missing during an official visit to Libya, along with an aide and a journalist.
Beirut blamed the disappearances on then ruler Moammar Gaddafi, who was overthrown and killed decades later in a 2011 uprising.
Ties between the two countries have been strained ever since the trio went missing.
Married to Lebanese model Aline Skaf, Hannibal Gaddafi fled to Syria after the start of the Libyan uprising.
He was kidnapped in December 2015 by armed men who took him to Lebanon, where authorities released him from the kidnappers and later detained him.
