Hannibal Qaddafi’s Health Deteriorates During Hunger Strike
Hannibal Qaddafi, the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, has been on a hunger strike for nearly three weeks to protest his detention without trial in Beirut. However, his health deteriorated on Wednesday, and he was briefly taken to Beirut’s Hotel-Dieu de France hospital. Hannibal Qaddafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 after he was briefly kidnapped from neighboring Syria, where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information on the whereabouts of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa Al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya 45 years ago.
The Disappearance of Moussa Al-Sadr
The disappearance of Moussa 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 Al-Sadr is dead. He would be 94 years old. Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, Arabic for “hope,” and an acronym for the militia’s Arabic name, the Lebanese Resistance Brigades. The group later fought in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon’s powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads the group. Most of Al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Muammar Qaddafi ordered Al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric and his two traveling companions left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome and suggested he was a victim of a power struggle among Shiites.
Hannibal Qaddafi’s Hunger Strike
Hannibal Qaddafi has been on a hunger strike since June 3 to protest his detention without trial in Beirut. He has been detained in a Beirut jail since 2015. The health of Hannibal Qaddafi deteriorated on Wednesday, and he was briefly taken to Beirut’s Hotel-Dieu de France hospital after suffering a drop in blood pressure and inflammation in the spine. Qaddafi was given serum, antibiotics, and food supplements, and after his health stabilized, he was taken back to the jail where he is held in Beirut. A doctor checked on Qaddafi in his cell on Thursday, and he is in stable condition. He had been suffering back pain due to being held in a small room where he cannot move freely or exercise.
Conclusion
The detention of Hannibal Qaddafi without trial in Beirut has been a long-standing issue. His hunger strike to protest his detention has brought attention to his case. The disappearance of Moussa Al-Sadr in 1978 has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon, and most Lebanese presume Al-Sadr is dead. Hannibal Qaddafi’s health deteriorated during his hunger strike, but he is now in stable condition. It remains to be seen how his case will be resolved.