Libyans probing Qadhafi son's case leave Lebanon amid threat

BEIRUT — A Libyan mission to Lebanon that was looking into the case of a son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi who is being held by Lebanese authorities was cut short over security concerns, a Lebanese security official said Wednesday.

Lebanon's General Security apparatus advised the Libyan justice ministry delegation to leave the country after relaying undisclosed threats to its safety, a senior official told The Associated Press.

Hannibal Qadhafi remains in Lebanese custody after unknown captors delivered him to authorities in early December. He is being questioned about the mysterious disappearance of Lebanese Shiite imam Moussa Al Sadr during a visit to Libya in 1978.

Authorities are also holding former Lebanese legislator Hassan Yacoub on the suspicion of helping to kidnap Qadhafi.

Qadhafi was three years old when Sadr disappeared with two companions, including Yacoub's father, during an official visit to Libya. The unsolved case has figured centrally in the Lebanese Shiite community's narrative of marginalisation.

The Libyan delegation, which met with Lebanon's Justice Minister Tuesday, came to request Qadhafi's extradition for crimes committed during his father's rule, another official told the AP.

It had not yet completed its inquiries when it flew out Tuesday evening.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, in line with regulations.

The delegation was headed by a deputy justice minister of the internationally recognised Libyan government, based in Tobruk, according to a local Lebanese newspaper.

Lebanese authorities already turned down a Syrian request to release Qadhafi to Damascus, where he was said to have resided after his father was overthrown in 2011.