The Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC) raised its concern over the ongoing arbitrary detention of Hannibal Gaddafi, which they deem intolerable. The HNEC emphasised the importance of sovereignty, citizen rights, and defending the rights of Libyan citizens abroad.
Hannibal Moammar Gaddafi, a political prisoner in Lebanon, has recently announced a hunger strike, a protest against his continued arbitrary detention without trial since his abduction from Syria in 2015. The HNEC strongly condemns and denounces his ongoing detention and the reported mistreatment that tarnishes his dignity and is fundamentally inhumane.
The HNEC condemned Hannibal’s deprivation of a fair trial, the right to communicate with his lawyer and his family for 8 years in a Lebanese prison located at the Information Branch headquarters in Beirut, due to allegations of an offence he did not commit.
The Libyan authorities, specifically the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs are urged to take swift action to secure Gaddafi’s release and move before international and United Nations (UN) mechanisms to ensure the Lebanese authorities comply with his release.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) is called upon to intervene with the Lebanese authorities to ensure the release of Hannibal Gaddafi, arguing that what he has been subjected to amounts to an unlawful abduction and arbitrary detention of his freedom.
The HNEC implored the judiciary in Lebanon to treat Hannibal Gaddafi fairly, guaranteeing his human and legal right to litigation and a fair, honest trial.
It asserted that the Lebanese authorities must respect international human rights law, international humanitarian law, related international treaties and agreements, all of which prohibit arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and abduction by any party.
It held the Amal Movement militia and Lebanese authorities legally accountable for everything that happens to Hannibal Gaddafi as a result of his continued arbitrary detention and any mistreatment he experiences in the place of his detention.
