held in pre-trial detention for nearly a decade. Lebanon’s National News Agency confirmed Gaddafi’s bail ruling on Friday in connection with the case surrounding the kidnapping and disappearance of revered Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya.

The court’s decision was met with ridicule by Gaddafi’s lawyer, Laurent Bayon.
 “The release on bail is totally unacceptable in a case of arbitrary detention. We will challenge the bail,” Bayon told the AFP news agency.

Bayon also said his client “is under international sanctions” and could not afford the large bail amount. “Where do you want him to find USD 11 million US?” Bayon asked.

Lebanese authorities arrested Gaddafi in 2015, accusing him of withholding information about the disappearance of al-Sadr in Libya in 1978 — a case that continues to capture public attention in Lebanon.

Al-Sadr, a highly influential figure in Lebanon, had travelled to Libya to meet then–Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The founder of the Amal Movement — now allied with Hezbollah — al-Sadr vanished during that visit along with an aide and a journalist. None have been heard from since.

Al-Sadr’s disappearance has fuelled decades of speculation and accusations of official involvement by Gaddafi, who was overthrown and killed during Libya’s 2011 uprising. Relations between the two countries have remained strained since the incident.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri — who succeeded al-Sadr as head of the Amal Movement — has accused Libya’s current authorities of failing to cooperate on the case, an allegation that Tripoli denies.

In what many view as an attempt to extract information about al-Sadr’s fate, Hannibal Gaddafi has been held in a Lebanese prison since 2015 without trial. (Aljazeera)