RNA – “Do not try me in the case, not now and not later. Our stance will remain the same, the Imam’s case is our top priority,” said Berri while addressing thousands of supporters of the Amal Movement, the political party which he leads.
The top Lebanese legislator said Lebanon still holds Muammar al-Qadhafi, Libya’s deposed dictator who was killed in 2011, responsible for the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, saying the respected Shi’a cleric, who founded the Amal Movement in 1974, was subject to “the worst type of abduction history has known at the hands of al-Qadhafi.”
He called on the Lebanese government to give the issue more attention, saying investigation into the case was ongoing and that a Lebanese team had visited Libya in February to receive further information on the mysterious issue.
Berri hailed al-Sadr’s efforts for creating unity in the Arab world, saying he saw unity as a solution to the “lurking strife” emerging among the Arab nations at the time.
Imam Musa al-Sadr was a highly revered Shi’a cleric from Iran who came to Lebanon in 1959 to work for the rights of Shi’as in Tyre, a southern port where Berri held his speech Wednesday. The gathering was meant to commemorate 38 years since al-Sadr, his companion, Sheikh Mohammad Yaqoub, and journalist Abbas Badreddin went missing during a trip to Libya.
Since al-Qadhafi was deposed in 2011, Lebanon and Iran have repeatedly called on the Libyan government to probe al-Sadr’s kidnapping and the related issues. Hannibal al-Qadhafi, the son of the Libyan dictator, is currently in custody in Lebanon, facing charges of hiding information regarding al-Sadr’s case.
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