A Lebanese delegation headed to Libya on Wednesday in an attempt to unveil the fate of Imam Sayyed Moussa as-Sadr and his two companions.

A Lebanese delegation headed to Libya on Wednesday in an attempt to unveil the fate of Imam Sayyed Moussa as-Sadr and his two companions.

The head of the delegation, Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, said the delegation “aim (s) through this visit and our talks with the Libyan officials to unveil the truth and liberate the abductees”.

“This is the first official visit of a Lebanese foreign minister to Libya after several decades … We seek to turn the black page of the past in the Lebanese-Libyan relations”, the FM said at Beirut airport before the travel.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Wednesday, Mansour said: “We are not going there for exploration but to get the final result of the case of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his companions.”
“We will meet with the head of the transitional council, the prime minister, the foreign and defense ministers and several other ministers,” he said.
“We should return from Libya with transparent answers,” Mansour stressed.

Imam Sadr was in 1969 the first head of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council (SISC). In 1974 he founded the Movement of the Disinherited to press for better economic and social conditions for his people. He established a number of schools and medical clinics throughout southern Lebanon, many of which are still in operation today.

In August 1978, al-Sadr, Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine departed for Libya to meet with government officials. The three were never heard from again. It is widely believed that the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi ordered Imam Sadr’s abduction.