The family of a Lebanese cleric who went missing in Libya 26 years ago is trying to sue Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi and 17 other Libyan officials in the Lebanese courts, judicial officials said Wednesday.
The move is expected to worsen the poor relations between the two countries. Libya closed its embassy in Beirut last year, claiming it was insulted by Lebanese pressure to reveal the fate of Imam Moussa Al Sadr, the spiritual leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim community, who disappeared with two assistants, Sheikh Mohammed Yacoub and Abbas Badreddine, on a trip to Libya in 1978. Sadr's son, Sadreddine, and Yacoub's wife, Imtithal Suleiman, and Badreddine's wife, Zahra Yazbek, filed their complaint with Lebanon's Prosecutor-General Adnan Addoum, the officials said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Jordan Times July 30-31, 2004