Remains found in Libya are not Imam Sadr’s: statement

TEHRAN,June 25(MNA) - The committee tasked with pursuing the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, an Iranian-born Shia cleric who vanished without a trace in Libya in 1978, has denied recent reports that remains believed to be Imam Sadr’s have been discovered in Libya. The committee made the announcement in a statement published on Sunday in response to recent remarks by Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya, in which he said that Libyan authorities had sent Lebanon a DNA sample of a “dead body which is thought to be that of Imam Sadr,” who departed for Libya in August 1978 with two companions to meet officials of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s government but was never heard from again. The committee wrote, “According to the test results, the clothes and belongings that have been mentioned in Abdul Jalil’s recent remarks do not belong to Imam Sadr and his companions.” Abdul Jalil, in an interview with Al Arabiya television news channel broadcast on Friday, stated, “Investigations revealed that Imam Musa Sadr did not travel from Libya (to Italy), and we were able to identify the people who left the country and pretended to be Sadr and his two other colleagues.” Abdul Jalil also commented on the discovery of a mass grave in Libya, saying the country’s officials had discovered the clothes of Imam Sadr. He added, “We believe the body of Imam Moussa Sadr is among the other bodies in the mass grave.” A judicial security committee was formed in Lebanon to follow up on DNA tests of the sample from Libya, a judicial source told the Daily Star. In August 2008, Lebanon issued an arrest warrant for Qaddafi and 11 other Libyan officials, charging them with kidnapping Sadr. Qaddafi was also indicted for “inciting the abduction” of the senior cleric. Libya denied responsibility at the time, claiming that Sadr and his companions left Libya for Italy in 1978. However, many believe that Sadr is still alive. Hezbollah has also said that the former Libyan government is first and foremost responsible for Sadr’s disappearance.