Last year this day, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri described Imam Musa Sadr as a spiritual and humanitarian leader who dedicated himself to defend Lebanon.

“We remember a spiritual and humanitarian leader who dedicated himself to defend Lebanon and coexistence among its sons. His disappearance is a cause that concerns all Lebanese,” Hariri tweeted in August 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the disappearance in Libya of the prominent cleric and his two companions.

Imam Musa Sadr and his two companions Mohammed Yaqoub and Abbas Badreddin were kidnapped in August 1978 during an official visit to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Sadr was scheduled to meet with officials from the government of the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The three were never seen or heard from again and their fate is still unknown even after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in 2011.

Sadr came from a long line of clerics tracing their ancestry back to Jabal Amel, Lebanon.

He is still regarded as an important political and spiritual leader by the Shia Lebanese community. His status only grew after his disappearance in August 1978, and today his legacy is revered by both Amal and Hezbollah followers.

In the eyes of many, he became a martyr. A tribute to his continuing popularity is that it is popular in parts of Lebanon to mimic his Persian accent.

The Amal Party remains an important Shia organization in Lebanon.