Qaddafi's son in hospital in Lebanon amid hunger strike

Hannibal Qaddafi was detained in 2015 over the 1978 disappearance of Imam Musa Al Sadr, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim scholar

Hannibal Gaddafi has been imprisoned in Lebanon since a prosecutor charged him with allegedly concealing information about the fate of Imam Musa Al Sadr. Reuters

The son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is in a Lebanese hospital after commencing a hunger strike two weeks ago in protest of his detention without trial since 2015, the Lebanese interior minister said on Thursday.

Hannibal Gaddafi has been imprisoned in Lebanon since a prosecutor charged him with allegedly concealing information about the fate of Imam Musa Al Sadr, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim scholar and founder of the influential Lebanese Amal Movement. The latter disappeared in 1978 on a visit to Libya.

In announcing his strike earlier this month, Hannibal Qaddafi – aged two at the time of Mr Al Sadr's disappearance – said he was a victim of injustice and stood accused of something he was not involved in.

Lebanese Shiites accused the Qaddafi regime of kidnapping Mr Al Sadr during his 1978 visit. Qaddafi was killed by rebels during the 2011 uprising against his 40-year-old rule.

Hannibal Qaddafi was taken on Wednesday to hospital from the security forces' building where he is being held after his condition deteriorated, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told Reuters.

Reem Al Dabri, a Qaddafi representative, noted his very young age at the time of Mr Al Sadr's disappearance and said he had nothing to do with the matter. She added that he was “a political hostage for undeclared reasons”.

Hannibal Qaddafi fled Libya in 2011 as an uprising raged against his father's rule, eventually making it to Syria, from where Mr Al Dabri said he was abducted and brought to Lebanon in 2015.

Sadr, who Libya said left the country safely, is widely believed to have been killed shortly after he was seized.

Sadr founded the Amal Movement, which alongside Hezbollah dominates Lebanese Shiite politics and has been led since 1980 by Parliamentary Speaker, Nabih Berri.