Libya to investigate Al Sadr disappearence

Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council NTC is ready to form a joint commission with Lebanese authorities to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Shiite Imam Moussa Al-Sadr who went missing upon arrival in Tripoli in 1978, Fathi Baja, Head of political affairs at the NTC stated Wednesday. "NTC members, including its head Mustafa Abdel Jalil, have no information on the circumstances of the disappearance and what happened to Imam Moussa Al-Sadr and those who accompanied him," Baja said, adding that some clues of their case could possibly be found in files obtained by the new rulers which belonged to intelligence services, foreign affairs and police authorities of the previous regime. Baja also denied recent media reports that Al-Sadr had died of natural causes in a prison cell in 1998, saying “there is no information about that; everything that was said is a rumor; there is no evidence.” Previously, Ahmed Ramadan, Gaddafi’s Aid said on television that Al-Sadr was "liquidated" after meeting Gaddafi in Tripoli. Meanwhile, a Lebanese delegation headed by Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour arrived in Tripoli Wednesday to discuss the case, in the first visit to Libya by any Lebanese diplomat for more than 30 years. Al-Sadr had been officially invited to Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi in 1978. He arrived in Tripoli on August 25, 1978, with two companions Sheikh Mohammed Yacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine, but they were seen for the last time on August 31, 1978, and Tripoli had always maintained that they left Libya for Italy. His disappearance had been a source of tension between Lebanon and the Gaddafi regime.