Imam Musa Sadr's Remains Discovered in Libya; Battle Over DNA use; Sheikh Yaacoub Alive or Dead?

(BEIRUT Al-Manar) - It was in 1982 while in Beirut, initially for just a week, as part of a US Congressional delegation and on leave from the House Judiciary Committee that turned for me into a long summer that I first heard about Lebanon’s Shia activists, Imam Musa Sadr and Sheik Mohammad Yaacoub and their Lebanese journalist colleague, Abbas Badr Eddine. One thing was sure even then; all three disappeared on August 31, 1978, the night before Gaddafi’s 9th annual celebration of his “Great Fatah Revolution” at Green Square, in Tripoli, Libya, four years earlier.

Over the next decade I would visit Libya fairly frequently for conferences and meetings as the “North American Delegate” to one of Muammar Gaddafi’s favorite activist organizations that I was asked to join. Our group had a long title: The International Secretariat for Solidarity with the Arab and Muslim People and Their Central Cause, Palestine.

I continued to hear rumors in and outside of Libya about what became of the trio but only starting in the summer of 2011 did I begin a focused research project with the cooperation of a few Libyans I had met during the old days at the “Secretariat.”

To my pleasant surprise, my three best friends had become high ranking officials during the past two decades and agreed to help me solve this historic mystery since, like Saif al Islam Gaddafi, they had come to believe “ It is time to finish with the Sadr-Yaacoub file and the events surrounding the cover-up”. A few are, post August 23, 2011, the day Tripoli was overrun by anti-Gaddafi forces, laying low in Egypt and Maghreb countries and two are in Libyan jails awaiting “trial”.

The solution to the nearly 34 year mystery surrounding the disappearance of Lebanon’s venerated Imam Musa Sadr, will be publicly confirmed following DNA tests now being prepared. Negotiations are continuing with the Libyan National Transition Council (NTC) regarding selecting an international firm to conduct DNA tests. Contamination is a concern given that Libya does not currently have a local firm with the equipment and experience to conduct the DNA tests and guarantee their integrity. Also being negotiated is who will oversee the essential chain of custody of all DNA samples removed from the Imam’s recently discovered remains. Extreme care is required at each step because it is certain that upon the release of the evidence of what was Imam Sadr’s fate, on August 31, 1978, following his departure from a heated meeting with Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the evidence will be challenged.

Predicted immediate challenges will come mainly from some in Lebanon who have become wealthy and politically entrenched based on exaggerated claims of having had a special relationship with Sadr and their appropriation of the “Musa Sadr brand” and their claimed right to carry the mantle of the Imam. These Lebanese politicians have a vested capital interest in preserving Musa Sadr’s and Mohammad Yaacoub’s status as ‘missing’ in order to continue their lucrative business at the expense of ordinary Shia and others in Lebanon and abroad who seek the truth.

Among the reasons given by this group for opposing scientific DNA analysis is that it is against Islam, that Sadr’s family believes the Imam is alive so the tests are not necessary or even possible, and claims made in private meetings of having “reliable evidence of sightings of Sadr alive, as recently as only a few months ago.”

All of these arguments delivered with apparent utmost sincerity during meetings in Beirut in April 2012 are patent disingenuous and cynical nonsense. They are understood to be such by many with even a rudimentary knowledge of Islam and the value the great religion places on science and by those still waiting for the proof and promised photos of “Sadr alive and well recently in Libya.”

Yet there remains no certainty about the fate of his partner and alter ego, Sheik Mohammad Yaacoub and his file remains open and the search to discover his fate is intensifying.

Lebanese Imam Musa Sadr (C) mysteriously disappeared in Libya more than
33 years ago. Credit: AFP

Sheik Yaacoub was born in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon in 1945 and with his family that included 12 sisters and brothers moved to Hay Karameh South Beirut. He graduated in 1965 from the Lebanese University in mathematics and natural sciences, where he excelled as a brilliant student. Dr. Yaacoub received his Ph.D. from the Sorbonne where his thesis was entitled “Islam, between Marxism and Capitalism”. He became Director of a high school in Nabetiyeh in South Lebanon in 1967. He went to Najaf, Iraq and studied with and under several renowned Islamic scholars including Sayed Mohammad Bakr al Sadr, Sayed Mohsen al Hakim and Sayed Abou Qassem Al Khouii.

Upon his arrival in Iraq Mohammad Yaacoub and Musa Sadr first met in the home of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqr al Sadr. They instantly became friends. In 1970, while leading a delegation of Najaf scholars to a religious conference in Cairo Mohammad Yaacoub met Gamal Abdul Nasser and their political views influenced the others and they became friends.

Following the attack of April 13, 1975 at Ein el Rommaneh on a bus carrying Palestinian refugees, which massacre killed 30 and sparked the 16 year Lebanese Civil War, Sheik Yaacoub along with a Christian leader Dany Chamoun risked their lives, in an attempt to stop the Civil War by dismantling barricades along the red line of Mirror (Mraya) Street near Chiyeh working to promote harmony between the Christian and Muslim communities.

Research in Lebanon and Libya including several interviews with some with firsthand knowledge, has revealed that Sheik Yaacoub’s historic role in the Shia Renaissance has been kept largely out of the public spotlight for political reasons. In point of fact, Sheik Yaacoub worked hand in hand with Imam Musa Sadr, who together founded Lebanon’s National Resistance.

Yaacoub was simply the shadow and ‘secret box’ of Imam Sadr in the Shia awakening in the 1970’s.

This fact was clearly underlined by the testimony of leading Shia leaders in Lebanon who, after 33 years, recently paid public tribute to the still missing much esteemed Sheik who at 67 years is still relatively young. Today there is speculation in Lebanon by some who know him well that were Sheik Yaacoub to appear, he might reveal many historic secrets. It raises the question whether the return of Sheik Yaacoub would be welcomed by some Lebanese politicians, mainly from the Shia community, since they fear his revelations would shed light on the motivations of some who have worked to keep his vast work and contributions from public view.

On the occasion of a community tribute honoring Sheik Yaacoub, oddly for the first time on February 8, 2011, Lebanese leaders as well as current diplomats who know firsthand of his works and career:

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, spoke about “the indispensable legacy of Yaacoub.” He emphasized Yaacoub’s humanity and his devotion to the cause Nasrallah believed in, his energy to connect with people he was committed to serving. “Sheik Yaacoub was particularly distinguished for his sacrifice to achieve goals for those in all Lebanese communities who were deprived, regardless of sect.

Hezbollah’s leader spoke about Sheik Yaacoubs study under renowned Maragea and his professors at Najaf, Iraq, learning from them Fiqh science and gaining knowledge while discovering that the road to the truth is very hard and demands much patience and his willingness to devote one’s life to this achievement for his community. Hassan Nasrallah told his listeners that “a simple repetition of the words of Sheik Yaacoub can identify very clearly the cause I belong to and the cause he sacrificed and lived for. In his all Mohammad Yaacoubs words we see him carrying the anxiety and worry of the poor and the powerless of the deprived. He always sought to crystallize their cause and bringing from the shadows of denial to the real world.”

Sheik Abdul al Amir Qabalan, Vice President of the Higher Shia Council spoke about how “We all remember him in all areas of the resistance. He overcame all difficulties and worked for the rights of the community—he opposed injustice and he always urged peace.” Sheik Qabalan concluded his tribute by telling his audience that “We demand from Arabic and Islamic umma to work for justice and truth and we demand in the name of Sheik Yaacoub that the Arabic people implement the just and remove the unjust. Why this long silence regarding his absence. The absence of the three?”

Iran’s Ambassador in Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi, paid high tribute to “Our beloved Sheik Mohammad Yaacoub who as partner with Imam Sadr summoned the Lebanese Resistance to defend Lebanon against the Zionist invaders.” Ambassador Roknabadi delivered a clarion call “In name of Mohammad Yaacoub we renew our demand to uncover the mystery of this humanitarian case, the disappearance of Musa Sadr, Mohammad Yaccoub and journalist Abbas Badr Eddine.”

While the search for Sheik Yaacoub continues in Libya, he remains in the hearts of millions in Lebanon and globally as a pillar of the Resistance and icon of the decade of struggles waged as part of the Movement of the Deprived and the founding of the Amal Movement.

But serious question remain why no willingness to solve this case after nearly a year into the post-Gadhafi period was the case not solved with help from Lebanon despite several trips by officials allegedly for the purpose? Is it because some Lebanese politicians have no interest whether it is solved?

Were some regional powers involved with Gaddafi on this subject before and after the disappearance and prevented Lebanon’s cabinet from even discussing the issue (until 2005)?

What was the role of the recent White House Medal of Freedom recipient, Shimon Peres, Israel’s Prime Minister and head of the Labor Party at the time of the disappearance who feared Imam Sadr and Sheik Yaacoub as the two Arab leaders capable of uniting the Arabs against the Zionist Occupiers while at the same time they were supporting the Iranian revolution that led to the toppling of Israel’s ally, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi?

And what was the role of the Israeli Labor Party and Mossad, who believed that Imam Sadr and Sheik Yaaoub were capable of preventing Egypt from signing the Camp David Accords which was designed to remove 70 million Egyptians from the struggle to liberate Palestine?

These and other questions are generating increased demands to solve the case of Sheik Mohammad Yaacoub and answers may be forthcoming soon.

Dr. Franklin Lamb is Director of the Sabra Shatila Foundation. Contact him at: fplamb@sabrashatila.org. He is working with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign in Lebanon on drafting legislation which, after 62 years, would, if adopted by Lebanon’s Cabinet and Parliament grant the right to work and to own a home to Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugees. One part of the PCRC legislative project is its online Petition which can be viewed and signed at: petitiononline.com/ssfpcrc/petition.html. Lamb is reachable at fplamb@palestinecivilrightscampaign.org. Franklin Lamb’s book on the Sabra-Shatila Massacre, International Legal Responsibility for the Sabra-Shatila Massacre, now out of print, was published in 1983, following Janet’s death and was dedicated to Janet Lee Stevens. He was a witness before the Israeli Kahan Commission Inquiry, held at Hebrew University in Jerusalem in January 1983.