Lebanon lifts travel ban on Qaddafi’s son and reduces bail to $900,000 paving way for his release

Lebanon lifts travel ban on Qaddafi’s son and reduces bail to $900,000 paving way for his release
Lebanese authorities lifted a travel ban and reduced bail for the son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi paving the way for his release, judicial officials and one of his lawyers said Thursday. (File)
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Lebanon lifts travel ban on Qaddafi’s son and reduces bail to $900,000 paving way for his release

Lebanon lifts travel ban on Qaddafi’s son and reduces bail to $900,000 paving way for his release
  • The decision by the country’s judicial authorities came days after a Libyan delegation visited Lebanon and made progress in talks for the release of Hannibal Qaddafi.
  • On Thursday, his bail was reduced to $900,000 and the travel ban was lifted

BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities lifted a travel ban and reduced bail for the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi paving the way for his release, judicial officials and one of his lawyers said Thursday.
The decision by the country’s judicial authorities came days after a Libyan delegation visited Lebanon and made progress in talks for the release of Hannibal Qaddafi.
In mid-October, a Lebanese judge ordered Qaddafi’s release on $11 million bail, but banned him from traveling outside Lebanon. His lawyers said at the time that he didn’t have enough to pay that amount, and sought permission for him to leave the country.
On Thursday, his bail was reduced to 80 billion Lebanese pounds (about $900,000) and the travel ban was lifted allowing him to leave the country once he pays the bail, three judicial officials and one security official said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Qaddafi has decided to leave Lebanon once he is released. They added that his family will follow him later.
“We have just been informed and will discuss the matter,” one of Qaddafi’s lawyers, Charbel Milad Al-Khoury, told The Associated Press when asked about the decision.
Lebanese authorities have been holding Qaddafi for 10 years without trial for allegedly withholding information about a missing Lebanese cleric.
Detained in Lebanon since 2015, Qaddafi is accused of withholding information about the fate of Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa Al-Sadr who disappeared during a trip to Libya in 1978, although the late leader’s son was less than 3 years old at the time.
Libya formally requested Hannibal Qaddafi’s release in 2023, citing his deteriorating health after he went on a hunger strike to protest his detention without trial.
Qaddafi had been living in exile in Syria with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and children until he was abducted in 2015 and brought to Lebanon by Lebanese militants who were demanding information about Al-Sadr.
Lebanese police later announced they had seized Qaddafi from the northeastern Lebanese city of Baalbek where he was being held, and he has been held ever since in a Beirut jail, where he faced questioning over Al-Sadr’s disappearance.
The case 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 he is dead. He would be 96 years old.
Al-Sadr, who went missing with companions Abbas Badreddine and Mohammed Yacoub, was the founder of a Shiite political and military group that took part in the long Lebanese civil war that began in 1975, largely pitting Muslims against Christians.
Muammar Qaddafi was killed by opposition fighters during Libya’s 2011 uprising-turned-civil war, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.


US pushes UN draft resolution backing Trump Gaza plan, calls for International Stabilization Force

US pushes UN draft resolution backing Trump Gaza plan, calls for International Stabilization Force
Updated 10 sec ago

US pushes UN draft resolution backing Trump Gaza plan, calls for International Stabilization Force

US pushes UN draft resolution backing Trump Gaza plan, calls for International Stabilization Force
  • Draft seen by Arab News urges all parties to implement plan in its entirety, ‘in good faith and without delay’
  • It welcomes ‘constructive role’ of Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye in having facilitated ceasefire

NEW YORK: The US on Wednesday night circulated a draft resolution at the UN Security Council that would authorize the creation of an International Stabilization Force in Gaza to oversee the demilitarization of Hamas.

The draft, obtained by Arab News, endorses US President Donald Trump’s “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, “in good faith and without delay.”

Trump’s plan proposes an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, prisoner exchanges, the demilitarization of Gaza, the deployment of an International Stabilization Force, and temporary governance by Palestinian technocrats under international supervision.

It also outlines large-scale reconstruction and a conditional path toward Palestinian self-determination and potential statehood.

The initiative has won broad international support, including from major Western and Arab nations.

On Oct. 8, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed to begin the first phase of the deal — releasing hostages in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners within 72 hours of an Israeli withdrawal to agreed lines. A ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, though multiple violations have since been reported.

The UNSC draft resolution would welcome the “constructive role” played by the US, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in having facilitated the Gaza ceasefire.

The text would authorize member states working with a new transitional body — the Board of Peace — to “establish a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP.”

The ISF, according to the draft, would operate “in close consultation and cooperation” with Egypt and Israel, and would be empowered “to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”

The force would help secure Gaza’s borders, stabilize the security environment and oversee the demilitarization of Hamas.

Its tasks would include “the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups.”

The ISF would also “protect civilians, including humanitarian operations,” train and support vetted Palestinian police forces, coordinate humanitarian corridors and assist the BoP in monitoring the ceasefire.

It would be funded through voluntary contributions from governments and donors, and operate under BoP strategic guidance until at least Dec. 31, 2027.

Beyond the security arrangements, the US text proposes a sweeping international role in Gaza’s governance and reconstruction.

The BoP would serve as a transitional administration overseeing aid delivery, redevelopment and reform “until such time as the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program.”

Under the plan, operational entities established by the BoP would manage Gaza’s day-to-day civil service, reconstruction projects and humanitarian programs.

The resolution calls on the World Bank and other financial institutions to establish a dedicated trust fund to support redevelopment.

The draft “underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid,” warning that any organization misusing assistance “shall be deemed ineligible to provide continued or future aid.”

The US draft concludes by calling on UN members to contribute “personnel, equipment, and financial resources” to the BoP and ISF, and declares that the council will remain seized of the matter.

Diplomats said Washington is expected to begin consultations with other UNSC members later this week, though it was not immediately clear when or if the resolution would be put to a vote.