Hannibal Gaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 after he was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information on the whereabouts of the cleric. Lebanese police later announced it had picked up Mr Gaddafi from the city of Baalbek in north-eastern Lebanon, where he was being held. The disappearance of Mr al-Sadr in 1978 has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. The cleric’s family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume Mr al-Sadr is dead. Most of Mr al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Muammar Gaddafi ordered Mr al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias.
