A newly discovered document suggests Imam Moussa al-Sadr may have been held in secret political prisons run by Libya's former regime, reviving questions about his disappearance in 1978.
Forty-eight years after Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions vanished in Libya, a document has surfaced that implicates secret detention facilities of the former Gadhafi regime in their disappearance. The document suggests that al-Sadr, along with Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine, may have been transferred between multiple clandestine prisons during their detention.
According to the document, Abdallah al-Sanussi, a senior figure in Gadhafi's regime and former head of Libya's military intelligence, may have overseen the detention. Al-Sanussi is currently imprisoned in Libya on other charges since 2012.
Hassan al-Shami, rapporteur of the official Lebanese committee investigating al-Sadr's case, said the new document shows a high degree of plausibility. The committee travelled to Iraq roughly two weeks before the disclosure to examine the material in detail.
Al-Shami stated that the committee has long suspected al-Sadr was moved between several detention sites, including secret prisons operated by the previous Libyan regime. He noted that the Gadhafi system, like other authoritarian regimes, maintained clandestine political detention facilities that operated outside normal prison oversight.
Al-Shami described al-Sanussi as the primary suspect responsible for orchestrating the abduction of al-Sadr and his companions, given his high-ranking security position and central role within the former system's apparatus.
The information in the document does not emerge in isolation, al-Shami said, but aligns with data previously held by the committee. He stated that the document reinforces the hypothesis that al-Sadr was moved between multiple secret detention facilities during his years of captivity.
Al-Shami characterised the account closest to reality as one in which al-Sadr remained alive for a period after his abduction and was transferred between several prisons. He suggested that conflicting narratives had been used over the years to mislead the investigation and divert attention from the true course of events.
An Iraqi researcher and historian named Hamid Abdullah presented separate details on his YouTube channel based on information obtained by Iraqi intelligence services from a Libyan security source connected to the Gadhafi regime. According to Abdullah's account, Gadhafi shot al-Sadr twice in the chest during a meeting on August 31, 1978, at Bab al-Aziziya after a dispute over al-Sadr's criticism of Gadhafi's Green Book. Abdullah claims Gadhafi then ordered guards to kill al-Sadr's two companions and bury all three bodies in the Bir al-Ghanam area.
Al-Shami said that the new document and outstanding questions underscore the need for serious Libyan cooperation to disclose records of secret detention facilities and establish responsibility, as contradictory accounts have surrounded the case for 48 years.
