Body seen in Libyan mortuary could solve 50-year mystery of vanished religious leader

Warning: Incorporates pictures some might discover upsetting

A pc scientist at a college within the north of England is finding out a picture of a corpse – making an attempt to resolve a thriller that has gripped the Center East for practically 50 years.

“That is what he appears to be like like now?” asks Bradford College’s Prof Hassan Ugail doubtfully.

The digitised photograph is of a decomposed face and it’s about to be run via a particular algorithm for our BBC investigation.

The unique photograph was taken by a journalist who noticed the physique in a secret mortuary within the Libyan capital in 2011. He was informed then that it may very well be charismatic cleric Musa al-Sadr, who vanished in Libya in 1978.

Sadr’s disappearance has spawned limitless conspiracy theories. Some folks consider he was killed, whereas others declare he’s nonetheless alive and being held someplace in Libya.

For his ardent followers, his disappearance holds the identical stage of intrigue because the 1963 killing of US President John F Kennedy. Such is the sensitivity of our lengthy investigation that my BBC World Service staff and I even discovered ourselves detained in Libya for a number of days.

Feelings run excessive as a result of Sadr is so revered by his followers – each for his political fame, having advocated on behalf of his native Lebanon’s then-marginalised Shia Muslims, and as a wider spiritual chief.

His followers gave him the title of imam, an uncommon honour for a dwelling Shia cleric and one bestowed on him in recognition of his work on behalf of the Shia neighborhood.

His mysterious disappearance has added to his emotional energy as a result of it echoes the destiny – in response to the biggest department of Shia Islam, often known as Twelvers – of the “hidden” twelfth imam, who disappeared within the ninth Century. Twelver Muslims consider the twelfth imam didn’t die and can return on the finish of time to carry justice to Earth.

And Sadr’s disappearance additionally arguably modified the destiny of the world’s most politically, religiously and ethnically unstable area – the Center East. Some consider the Iranian-Lebanese cleric was on the verge of utilizing his affect to take Iran – and, because of this, the area – in a extra reasonable path when he disappeared on the eve of the Iranian revolution.

So there was loads using on Bradford College’s identification efforts. The journalist who took the photograph informed us the physique was unusually tall – and Sadr was mentioned to be 1.98m (6ft 5in). However the face had barely any identifiable options.

Might we lastly remedy the thriller?

I’m from the village of Yammouneh, excessive within the mountains of Lebanon, the place tales have lengthy been informed of the horrible winter of 1968 when, after the neighborhood was devastated by an avalanche, Musa al-Sadr waded via deep snow to come back to the village’s support.

The marvel with which the villagers share this story at the moment displays simply how mythologised he has grow to be. One informed me, referring to his recollections as a four-year-old: “It was like a dream… He walked throughout the snow, adopted by all of the villagers… I adopted him simply to the touch the Imam’s gown.”

Again in 1968, Sadr wasn’t well-known in an remoted village like Yammouneh, however he was slowly garnering a nationwide fame. By the top of that decade he had grow to be a serious determine in Lebanon, recognized for advocating for interfaith dialogue and nationwide unity.

His standing was mirrored within the honorary title “imam” bestowed on him by his followers. In 1974, Sadr launched the Motion of the Disadvantaged, a social and political organisation which known as for proportional illustration for the Shia and social and financial emancipation for the poor, no matter their faith. So decided was he to keep away from sectarianism that he even gave sermons in Christian church buildings.

On 25 August 1978, Sadr flew to Libya, invited to satisfy the nation’s then chief Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Three years earlier, Lebanon had erupted into civil warfare. Palestinian fighters grew to become concerned within the sectarian battle, with many based mostly in Lebanon’s south, the place most of Sadr’s followers lived. The Palestinians had begun exchanging fireplace with Israel throughout the border, and Sadr needed Gaddafi, who supported the Palestinians, to intervene to maintain Lebanon’s civilians protected.

On 31 August, after six days spent ready for a gathering with Gaddafi, Sadr was seen being pushed away from a Tripoli lodge in a Libyan authorities automobile.

He was by no means seen once more.

Gaddafi’s safety forces later claimed he had left for Rome, although this was proved false by the investigations that adopted.

Impartial journalism was inconceivable in Gaddafi’s Libya. However in 2011, when Libyans rose in opposition to him in the course of the Arab Spring, the door of probity opened a crack.

Kassem Hamadé, a Lebanese-Swedish reporter who coated the rebellion, was informed a couple of secret mortuary in Tripoli that, a supply had mentioned, would possibly include the stays of Sadr.

There have been 17 our bodies refrigerated within the room he was proven – one was of a kid, the remainder have been all grownup males. Kassem was informed the our bodies had been lifeless for about three a long time – which might match with Sadr’s timeline. Just one corpse resembled Sadr.

Kassem informed me: “This one drawer, [the mortuary staff member] opens it, he reveals the corpse, and two issues struck me instantly.”

Firstly, Kassem mentioned, the look of the physique’s face, pores and skin color and hair nonetheless resembled Sadr’s, regardless of the passage of time.

And secondly, he mentioned, the particular person had been executed.

Or not less than that was Kassem’s assumption, based mostly on the cranium. It regarded as if it had both suffered a heavy blow to the brow or been pierced by a bullet above the left eye.

However how might we all know for certain this was Sadr?

So we took the photograph that Kassem had taken within the mortuary to a staff at Bradford College which, for the previous 20 years, has been growing a novel algorithm known as Deep Face Recognition. It identifies advanced similarities between images, and has been proven to be extraordinarily dependable in exams, even on imperfect pictures.

Prof Ugail, who leads the staff, agreed to match the picture from the mortuary with 4 images of Sadr at totally different phases of his life. The software program would then give the mortuary picture an general rating out of 100 – the upper the quantity, the extra seemingly it was to be both the identical particular person, or a member of the family.

If the picture scored beneath 50, the particular person was in all probability unrelated to Sadr. Between 60 and 70 meant it was him or an in depth relative. Seventy or greater could be a direct match.

The photograph scored within the 60s – a “excessive likelihood” it was Sadr, Prof Ugail informed us.

To check this conclusion, the professor used his similar algorithm to match the photograph with six members of Sadr’s household, after which with 100 random pictures of Center Japanese males who all resembled him in a roundabout way.

The household images scored significantly better than the random faces. However the very best outcome remained the comparability between the mortuary picture and the photographs of Sadr alive.

It confirmed there was a powerful likelihood that Kassem had seen Sadr’s physique. And the very fact he discovered it with a broken cranium advised that, perhaps, Sadr had been killed.

In March 2023, some 4 years after I first got here throughout Kassem’s photograph, we have been in a position to journey to Libya to speak to potential witnesses and to search for the physique ourselves. We had all the time recognized the story was delicate besides, we have been stunned by the Libyan response.

We have been on the second day of our deployment in Tripoli, on the lookout for the key mortuary. Kassem, who was accompanying the BBC staff, could not keep in mind the identify of the world he had visited in 2011, besides that it had been close to a hospital.

We have been informed there was a hospital inside strolling distance and headed off to seek out it.

Instantly, Kassem mentioned: “That is it. I am certain of it. That is the constructing that contained the morgue.”

The constructing’s exterior was the very last thing we have been in a position to movie. We sought permission to movie inside, however our permits have been cancelled. The following day, a gaggle of unidentified males – who we might later be taught have been Libya intelligence service officers – seized us with out clarification.

We have been taken to a jail run by Libyan intelligence, the place we have been held in solitary confinement, and accused of spying. We have been blindfolded, repeatedly interrogated, and informed that no-one might assist us. Our captors mentioned we might be there for many years.

We spent a traumatic six days in detention. Lastly, after strain from the BBC and the UK authorities, we have been launched and deported.

It was disturbing to really feel we had grow to be a part of the story. Libya remains to be divided into two rival administrations with competing militia, and employees on the jail had indicated Libyan intelligence was being run by former Gaddafi loyalists who wouldn’t need the BBC investigating Sadr’s disappearance.

Some folks have lengthy believed Sadr was murdered.

Dr Hussein Kenaan, previously a Lebanese educational working within the US, says he visited the State Division in Washington the week Sadr disappeared in 1978 and was informed it had obtained a report that he had been killed.

This account is backed up by the previous Libyan Minister of Justice, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who informed Kassem in 2011: “The second or third day, they solid his papers, that he will Italy. They usually killed him inside Libyan prisons.”

He added: “Gaddafi has the primary and the final phrase in all selections.”

So if Gaddafi did order Sadr’s killing, then why?

One principle, says Iran professional Andrew Cooper, is that Gaddafi was influenced by Iranian hardliners, alarmed that Sadr was about to impede their goals for the Iranian Revolution.

Sadr supported many Iranian revolutionaries who needed an finish to then-ruler Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s regime. However his reasonable imaginative and prescient of Iran strongly differed from the concepts of Islamic hardline revolutionaries and was disliked and even resented by them.

Per week earlier than his disappearance, in response to Cooper, Sadr had written to the Shah providing help.

Cooper interviewed Parviz Sabeti, a former director of counter espionage for the Shah’s secret police, as a part of his analysis for a biography of the Shah. Sabeti informed him that Sadr’s letter provided to assist defuse the ability of Islamic hardliners by working in the direction of introducing coverage adjustments that might enchantment to extra reasonable parts of the opposition.

A former Lebanese ambassador to Iran confirms the existence of Sadr’s letter. Khalil al-Khalil informed us he understands it requested a gathering with the Shah scheduled for 7 September 1978.

Cooper believes this info was leaked to Iranian hardline revolutionaries.

However the Iranians aren’t the one individuals who may need needed Sadr lifeless.

Gaddafi had been militarily supporting Palestinian fighters attacking Israel from southern Lebanon – and Sadr is quoted in interviews from the time explaining his makes an attempt to discover a answer with the Palestine Liberation Organisation [PLO].

The PLO might have believed Sadr, fearing they have been endangering the Lebanese inhabitants, may need satisfied Gaddafi to rein them in.

Whereas there are various who consider Sadr to be lifeless, others are adamant he’s nonetheless alive.

These embrace the organisation Sadr based within the Seventies, now a strong political occasion of the Lebanese Shia known as Amal.

The top of Amal – and parliamentary Speaker – Nabih Berri, maintains there isn’t any proof Sadr, who would now be 97, has died. However there had been a chance to show whether or not he had or not.

Again in 2011 when Kassem visited the key mortuary, he had not solely photographed the physique.

He had additionally managed to tug out some hair follicles, with a view to them being utilized in a DNA check. He had given them to senior officers in Berri’s workplace so they might have them analysed.

A match with a member of the Sadr household would show past doubt whether or not the physique was that of Musa sl-Sadr. Nonetheless, Berri’s workplace by no means received again to Kassem.

Decide Hassan al-Shami, one of many officers appointed by Lebanon’s authorities to analyze Sadr’s disappearance, says Amal informed him the follicle pattern had been misplaced due to a “technical error”.

We introduced our facial recognition outcomes to Sadr’s son Sayyed Sadreddine Sadr. He introduced senior Amal official Hajj Samih Haidous and Decide al-Shami to our assembly.

All of them mentioned they didn’t consider our findings.

Sadreddine mentioned it was “evident” from the look of the physique within the photograph that it was not his father. He added that it additionally “contradicts the knowledge we’ve after this date [2011, the year the photo was taken]”, that he’s nonetheless alive, held in a Libyan jail.

The BBC has discovered no proof to help this view.

However throughout our investigation it grew to become clear to us that the idea Sadr remains to be alive holds nice energy as a unifying creed for a lot of Lebanese Shia. Each 31 August, Amal marks the anniversary of his disappearance.

We repeatedly approached Berri’s workplace for an interview, and requested for touch upon our findings. It didn’t reply.

The BBC additionally requested the Libyan authorities to touch upon our investigation and to clarify why the BBC staff was seized by the Libyan intelligence service. We obtained no response.