Libya's Hannibal Gaddafi's health worsens two weeks into hunger strike in Lebanon

The health of Hannibal Gadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, is rapidly deteriorating on the second week of his hunger strike to protest his prolonged detention in Beirut without a trial, according to his lawyer.

Paul Romanos, the lawyer representing Gaddafi, disclosed on Friday that his client was only consuming minimal amounts of water and had been experiencing weakness and muscle pains.

"Despite his ailing condition, Hannibal Gaddafi's resolute determination is what keeps him going," Romanos said.

He further mentioned that a doctor was carrying out daily check-ups on the detainee, who was also grappling with back pain caused by inflammation in his spine.

Romanos had previously said that the back pain was a result of being confined to a small room where he lacks freedom of movement and cannot exercise.

Gaddafi has been in Lebanese custody since 2015 when he was abducted from Syria, where he had sought political asylum.

His abduction was orchestrated by Lebanese militants who demanded information on the whereabouts of prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya 45 years ago.

Lebanese authorities subsequently recovered Gaddafi from the city of Baalbek, where he was being held against his will. He has since remained in detention without a trial in a Beirut prison.

The disappearance of Moussa al-Sadr in 1978 continues to be a contentious issue in Lebanon.

Al-Sadr's family maintains the belief that he may still be alive, held captive in a Libyan prison, although many Lebanese presume that al-Sadr is deceased. He would now be 94 years old.

Hannibal Gadhafi was born two years before the disappearance of al-Sadr, who founded the Amal Movement.

The majority of al-Sadr's followers firmly believe that Moammar Gaddafi orchestrated the cleric's murder over a disagreement over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias.

Libya, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that al-Sadr and his two companions departed Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome, suggesting that he became embroiled in a power struggle among Shia factions.

Moammar Gaddafi was killed by Libyan opposition forces in 2011, marking the end of his four-decade-long rule over the North African nation.