Jumblat Visits Libya: Authorities Won't Be Lax in Unveiling Sadr Fate

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Tuesday stressed that “the Libyan authorities will not be lax in helping to unveil the circumstances of the case” of the 1978 disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and his two companions “after restoring security and stability across Libya.”

Jumblat voiced his remarks in a statement issued by the PSP following a visit by the Druze leader to Libya, where he held talks with Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the rebel National Transitional Council, his deputy Abdul Hafiz Ghogha and a number of NTC members.

Jumblat was accompanied by Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, PSP deputy chief for foreign affairs Dureid Yaghi and PSP official Bahij Abu Hamzeh.

A statement issued by PSP’s media department said Jumblat “extended congratulations to the Libyan revolution on its triumph on decades of darkness and dictatorship.”

Jumblat “hoped Libya will transit to a new phase characterized by stability, democracy, diversity, pluralism and reconstruction.”

Abdul Jalil, for his part, briefed Jumblat on “his stance and point of view concerning the current developments in Libya and the Arab region,” according to PSP’s statement.

The two men “agreed that peoples can only come together and interact under the slogan of freedom, away from captivity, dictatorships and autocratic parties and theories.”

“The Libyan side lauded Lebanon’s stance at the Arab League and the U.N. Security Council and its support for the revolution,” according to PSP’s statement.

Jumblat and the accompanying delegation also visited the Tahrir (Liberation) Square in the eastern rebel bastion of Benghazi, where he met with a number of rebels.

On August 24 Jumblat held talks in Beirut with an NTC delegation.

The delegation handed Jumblat an invitation to visit Libya and a letter of gratitude from NTC chief Abdul Jalil.

The Lebanese government has recently tasked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour with following up the case of Imam Sadr with the leaders of Libya’s new government.

Regarded by Lebanon's Shiites as a key spiritual and political guide, Sadr vanished in 1978 amid mysterious circumstances and was last seen in Libya where he was invited by Moammar Gadhafi.

At the time, Sadr was trying to negotiate an end to the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), in which Palestinian factions were involved.

Gadhafi was believed to be shipping weapons to the Palestinians and other groups and Sadr, according to reports, was hoping to convince the Libyan leader to refrain from stoking the unrest in Lebanon.

But his visit to Tripoli along with two aides, Mohammed Yacoub and Abbas Badreddine, took a sour turn after he got into a heated argument with Gadhafi who ordered that the three men be "taken away," according to an indictment against the Libyan leader issued by Lebanese authorities.

The Gadhafi regime had stated that the three officials left Tripoli to Italy, which after conducting an investigation into the matter denied the claims.

In 2004, the passports of Sadr and Yacoub were found in a hotel in Rome.

In August 2008, Lebanon issued arrest warrants against Gadhafi and some of his aides, accusing them of kidnapping Sadr and his companions.