BEIRUT– Leaked photographs of the son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the small clandestine cell where he has been held for years in Lebanon have sparked concern in the North African nation as Libyan authorities demand improvements.
The photos showed a room with no natural light filled with Hannibal Gadhafi’s belongings, a bed and a small bathroom. “I live in misery,” local television quoted Al-Jadeed as saying in a Saturday night broadcast, adding that he is a political prisoner in a case about which he has no information.
Two Lebanese judicial officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that the photographs released by Al-Jadeed are of Gaddafi and the cell where he has been held for years at police headquarters in Beirut. Gaddafi looked healthy, with a light beard and glasses.
A person who is usually in contact with Gaddafi, a Libyan national, said the photographs were taken in recent days. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Gaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped in neighboring Syria, where he was living as a political refugee. He was kidnapped by Lebanese militants who demanded information about the fate of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a trip to Libya in 1978.
The fate of al-Sadr has been a sore point in Lebanon. His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, although most Lebanese suspect that al-Sadr, who would now be 95, is dead.
A Libyan delegation visited Beirut in January to reopen talks with Lebanese officials about Sadr’s fate and Gaddafi’s release. The talks were aimed at reviving a dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, reached in 2014, to cooperate in the investigation of al-Sadr. The delegation did not return to Beirut as planned.
The Al-Jadeed leaks came after reports that Gaddafi was receiving special treatment at police headquarters and undergoing cosmetic surgeries, including hair transplants and dental enhancements. Al-Jadeed quoted him as saying: “May they take away my hair and my teeth and give me freedom.”
Gaddafi went on a hunger strike in June last year and was taken to a hospital when his health deteriorated.
Libya’s Justice Ministry said in a statement Sunday that Gaddafi is being deprived of his rights guaranteed by law. He called on Lebanese authorities to improve his living conditions to “preserve his dignity,” adding that Lebanese authorities should formally inform the ministry about the improvements. He also said Gaddafi deserves to be released.
After his kidnapping in 2015, Lebanese authorities released him but later detained him, accusing him of hiding information about al-Sadr’s disappearance.
Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, a Shiite militia that fought in Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 and later became a political party that is currently led by the speaker of the country’s parliament, Nabih Berri.
Many of al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Moammar Gadhafi ordered al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric, along with two traveling companions, left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement in January calling for Gaddafi’s release. The rights group noted that Gaddafi was only two years old at the time of al-Sadr’s disappearance and did not hold any senior positions in Libya when he was an adult.