Son of Gaddafi briefly kidnapped in Lebanon

BEIRUT — A son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafiwas briefly kidnapped in Lebanon by militants demanding information about the fate of a Shiite cleric who went missing in Libya decades ago, a security official and local TV stations said Friday. Hannibal Gaddafi appeared in a video aired late Friday on local Al-Jadeed TV saying anyone with information about Imam Moussa Al-Sadr should come forward. Gaddafi appeared to have been beaten up and had black eyes but said in the video he is “in good health, happy and relaxed.” Later Friday, a senior security official said police collected Gaddafi from the northeastern city of Baalbek where he was being held by the Shiite militants, whose affiliation was not immediately known. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Gaddafi was being brought to Beirut. Al-Sadr’s 1978 disappearance has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. The imam’s family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume Al-Sadr is dead. Today he would be 87 years old. Al-Sadr 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. “I am with people who have a cause and they are loyal to their cause,” Gaddafi, who is married to a Lebanese woman, said in the video. “We should respect their loyalty to their cause and at least give them the truth." — AP