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Lebanon seeking to arrest Libyan leader Gaddafi over missing cleric
Lebanon is seeking to arrest Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for an alleged role in the disappearance of a prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric 30 years ago, court documents say.
- Agencies
- Published: 17:09 August 27, 2008
Beirut: Lebanon is seeking to arrest Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for an alleged role in the disappearance of a prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric 30 years ago, court documents say.
Lebanon says Libya abducted Imam Musa Al Sadr and two aides during a visit in 1978, but Libya says the cleric left the country safely.
"We decided ... to accuse Muammar Gaddafi... of inciting the kidnapping and withholding the freedom of... Imam Musa Al Sadr," said the court documents, approved by Investigative Judge Samih Al Haj late on Tuesday.
The charges, brought under Lebanon's terrorism law, carry the death penalty.
An initial case against Libya was closed in 1986 for lack of evidence, but Lebanon's public prosecutor said in August 2004 he would reopen the investigation after considering new evidence.
Al Sadr headed the Shiite Amal Movement, from which the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah later emerged.
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