UNITED NATIONS – When I was a student in Iran back in the 1980s, our textbooks were bursting with information about the Palestinian movements, Yasser Arafat, the Intifada and the revolutionary heroes. But our knowledge about Imam Moussa Sadr was very limited. We were told this leader of the Lebanese Shi'ite had disappeared in Libya, while on an official state visit. For us, students in post-revolution Iran, Moussa Sadr was just another foreign leader. But it would have been a different story if someone had told us a well-kept secret: Imam Moussa Sadr was Iranian! Born and raised in Iran, Sadr moved to Lebanon in late 1950s to organise the poor, minority Shi'ite community. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Amal Party. Moussa Sadr, the spiritual Shi'ite leader, disappeared when he and two others, Lebanese, were visiting Libya in the summer of 1978, just six months before the revolution in Tehran. In the years after revolution, I remember we were told that Moussa Sadr had been kidnapped by Colonel Gaddafi. That's all we knew, apart from the fact that the Libyan leader always claimed that Sadr left Libya for Italy; but there was never much evidence to support his claim. Imam Musa Sadr's fate was put in the shade by the civil war in Lebanon, which lasted till 1990. And of course Iran didn't want to look into the matter, because it enjoyed good diplomatic ties with Libya. But the fate of the revered Imam came under the spotlight again when Mohammad Khatami became president at 1997. Khatami, whose wife is related to Sadr, started inquiring about his whereabouts. It was only then that we discovered that he was indeed Iranian. Sadr, a tall, good-looking clergyman, studied politics at Tehran University and then Shi'ite theology at the seminary in Qom. This missing man was so popular in Lebanon that, when he disappeared, 200,000 Lebanese Shi'ites travelled to Syria to plead for information about their beloved leader. Sadr's disappearance caused a big problem between Lebanon and Libya. In the late 1970s, the Lebanese Shiites were in a difficult position with the Palestinian factions who had taken over southern Lebanon and were launching attacks into Israel. In August 1978, Sadr travelled to Libya to plead for help from Gaddafi, who was close to Palestinian movements and especially Arafat. Sadr wanted Gaddafi to use his influence to curb the Palestinian presence in Lebanon. There are rumours that Arafat asked Gaddafi to dispose of Imam Sadr, but there is no proof of this. He disappeared around the time Iran was in turmoil because of the forthcoming revolution. The late King didn't bother to look into the fate of this man with suspicious ties to the revolutionary nations. When the revolution erupted in Iran in January 1979, the pro-Palestinian movements were very popular and fashionable. Arafat was very close to Gaddafi, who gave him immense financial and logistical support. Moussa Sadr was forgotten because the anti-Israeli and anti-American movement was more important. But the Lebanese have never forgotten the man who vanished a third of a century ago in Libya. There have been reports that he may be still alive and in prison in Libya, so the Lebanese have sent a delegation there to investigate. Meanwhile, an association has been established in Iran, calling for Imam Moussa Sadr to be freed. It's only 33 years late! If he's still alive, he'd been in his early eighties now. He'd surely be very moved that the Lebanese Shiites, especially the Amal commanders, have been trying so hard on his behalf. Over the years, they have kidnapped Libyan diplomats and, on six occasions, hijacked Middle East airline flights, in an attempt to pressurise Gaddafi into telling the truth. Iran is now putting diplomatic pressure on Gaddafi and wants this case to go to the International Court of Justice. If Moussa Sadr is still alive, I imagine he'll return to Lebanon, not Iran. The writer is an Iranian journalist based in New York. She regularly contributes articles to The Gazette and its weekly edition, the Mail
