Musa al-Sadr family rejects 'misleading' BBC report on cleric’s disappearance

The family of Imam Musa al-Sadr has rejected parts of a BBC investigation into the Lebanese Shia cleric's 1978 disappearance in Libya, dismissing the broadcaster's use of artificial intelligence analysis to suggest his possible death.

In a statement released through the Imam Musa al-Sadr Research and Studies Centre, the family condemned the BBC for showing them and Lebanon's official follow-up committee an AI-generated facial recognition analysis without their consent.

The analysis compared an image of a decomposed corpse, photographed at Tripoli's al-Zawiya hospital in 2011, with archived images of al-Sadr and his relatives.

"We immediately confirmed that the photo was not of the Imam, due to obvious differences in facial features and hair colour," the family said, describing the decision to use the image as "misleading".

The statement stressed that the fate of the cleric "remains unresolved" and insisted that the AI comparison was unreliable.

The BBC's investigation, released on Monday, featured the controversial analysis conducted with deep facial recognition software developed by Professor Hassan Ugail at the University of Bradford.

The disappearance of al-Sadr, a prominent Lebanese Shia cleric and political leader, remains one of the Middle East’s most enduring mysteries.

He vanished in Libya on 31 August 1978 after travelling there to meet Muammar Gaddafi. Libyan authorities later alleged he had left for Rome, a claim disproved by subsequent inquiries.

His disappearance shook Lebanon and the wider region. Al-Sadr had founded the Amal Movement, campaigned for the rights of Lebanon's marginalised Shia, and was known for promoting interfaith dialogue.

Many analysts believe he could have influenced the course of the Iranian Revolution towards a more moderate path had he lived.

The BBC’s new film, part of its Eye Investigations series, presented what it called "dramatic new evidence". It centres on testimony from Lebanese reporter Kassem Hamadé, who in 2011 said he had discovered a secret morgue in Tripoli containing 17 bodies believed to date back more than 30 years.

Among them, Hamadé said, was a tall corpse resembling al-Sadr, who stood at 1.98 metres. He photographed the body and took a hair sample, which he had handed to the office of Lebanese parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal Movement.

The sample was reportedly never tested, with Amal officials later claiming it had been lost due to a "technical error".

The BBC submitted Hamadé's photograph for AI analysis. According to Professor Ugail, the software indicated a "high probability" that the body was either al-Sadr or a close relative.

The film also recounts the BBC team’s own detention in Libya during 2023 fieldwork. Journalists were arrested by Libyan intelligence officers while investigating the morgue's location and were held for six days in solitary confinement before being released.

The investigation explores several theories about al-Sadr's fate, including claims that Gaddafi may have killed him under pressure from hardline Iranian revolutionaries or Palestinian groups concerned by his attempts to moderate their influence in Lebanon.

The BBC also cites statements by former Libyan officials. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who served as justice minister after the 2011 uprising, told Hamadé that "the second or third day, they forged his papers, that he's going to Italy. And they killed him inside Libyan prisons".

He added: "Gaddafi has the first and the last word in all decisions."

Despite such accounts, al-Sadr's family and supporters reject suggestions of his death. His son, Sayyed Sadreddine Sadr, said the 2011 morgue photograph was "evident[ly]" not his father.

"It also contradicts the information we have after this date… that he is still alive, held in a Libyan jail," he said.

The Amal Movement continues to mark each 31 August as the anniversary of his disappearance, holding rallies demanding his release. For many Lebanese Shia, the belief that al-Sadr remains alive serves as a unifying creed.

Meanwhile, Lebanon currently holds Qaddafi's son, Hannibal Gaddafi, in prison since December 2015 over allegations that he is withholding information about al-Sadr's disappearance.

He was only two years old at the time of the 1978 events, and human rights groups have described his prolonged detention as arbitrary and unjustified.