The Facts
After Hannibal Gaddafi, a son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, went on hunger strike Saturday to protest his years-long imprisonment without trial in Lebanon, his lawyer reported Thursday that his health has deteriorated.
Gaddafi's lawyer told Al Jazeera that the 47-year-old reported “spasms in his muscles, hands and legs, dizziness and headaches, and prior medical problems in his spine and hips deteriorated because of the strike.”
The Spin
Narrative A
Sadr was one of the greatest figures in modern Lebanese history, known for his strong desire to lift Lebanon's deprived Shiite community out of poverty and find a solution to the country's devastating civil war. Even those outside of the Shiite sect in Lebanon have a deep respect for Sadr, making his kidnapping at the hands of the Gaddafi family even more heinous. They must be held to account.
Narrative B
Regardless of Hannibal Gaddafi or his father's potential involvement in Sadr's disappearance, Hannibal Gaddafi, at the very least, deserves a fair trial. Holding him in squalid conditions in a Lebanese prison indefinitely violates his human rights, and it's imperative that the Lebanese state takes action.
Narrative C
Though the Iranian regime loves to pontificate about Musa al-Sadr's disappearance, the reality is that evidence suggests Iran may have been behind his execution. Muammar Gaddafi had a strong relationship with Ayatollah Khomeini, who, only a year after Sadr's disappearance, returned to Iran during the revolution, so it's likely that the Islamic Republic had him disappear to pursue its goals in Lebanon.
