Beirut, Lebanon – A glimmer of hope has emerged for Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been detained in Lebanon since 2015. Lebanese authorities say they are ready to consider reducing, or even canceling , the colossal $11 million bail demanded for his release, according to statements made by his lawyer and a judicial official on November 3, 2025.

Hannibal Gaddafi, now 49, is accused by Beirut of concealing information concerning the disappearance of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa Sadr and his two companions in Libya in 1978. At the time of the events, Mr. Gaddafi was only about two years old.

🇱🇧 Talks and a gesture of "great flexibility"

This development comes after a Libyan delegation met with Lebanese judicial representatives, including the investigating judge in charge of the Sadr case, as well as President Joseph Aoun.

According to an anonymous judicial official, the Libyan delegation handed over the following to the Lebanese authorities:

1. A copy of the investigations carried out by Libya into the Sadr case.
2. Transcripts of interrogations of several political and security officials from the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

The official highlighted the Lebanese side's "great flexibility," indicating that the $11 million bail could be "reduced to a minimum... so that it no longer hinders Hannibal's release." The investigating judge also appears willing to lift the travel ban imposed on him.

💰 The bail: $11 million in question

Hannibal Gaddafi's French lawyer, Laurent Bayon, confirmed to AFP that the bail "should be considerably reduced, or even cancelled ." He specified how this sum would be allocated:

1. $10 million for the victims.
2. One million dollars as a guarantee of appearance.

The lawyer believes the judge could choose to retain only the million-dollar appearance guarantee , while maintaining his request for the total cancellation of a bond deemed "unjustified".

👤 Context of detention

Hannibal Gaddafi had fled to Syria to join his wife, a Lebanese model, after legal troubles in France and Switzerland. He had been lured into Lebanon by armed men linked to the family of one of Imam Sadr's missing companions. Lebanese authorities subsequently recovered him from his captors and placed him in official detention .

As a reminder, Muammar Gaddafi and three of his sons were killed during the uprising in Libya in 2011. Hannibal Gaddafi's name was also mentioned in the case of the alleged Libyan financing of the campaign of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.