Lebanon denies body found in Tripoli is that of missing cleric

The missing Lebanese Shiite leader Imam Moussa al-Sadr The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour, categorically denied  earlier media reports that Imam Moussa al-Sadr’s body hd been found in Libya. Libya. The Lebanese official’s denial came less than 24 hours after the Libyan interim government announced that the body found in Tripoli was that of al- Sadr and that tests would be taking place to verify this.
Mansour, in an interview published this morning in Beirut, confirmed that investigations into the whereabouts of the body of the Shiite cleric are still ongoing, adding “once we are sure about any new findings, we will be the first to announce them”. The foreign minister also revealed to the Lebanese news daily  Al Manar, that a Libyan delegation will be visiting Beirut next week to discuss issues relating to the case of  al-Sadr  which has been outstanding for more than thirty years.
Mansour was referring to a statement made by the Libyan transitional government spokesperson, Nasser al-Manei on the discovery of a body found in a tomb located in Tajoura, east of Tripoli, suspected of being that of the Lebanese Shiite leader Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared in 1978. Al-Manei told reporters, "Some information reached us about the location of Imam Moussa al-Sadr's body. After investigating this information we have brought out the body and contacted both al-Sadr's family and the Lebanese government. The whole matter now should be left until the completion of DNA test results"
An assistant on the committee which exhumed the body told Arabstoday that he was "certain" that the body was that of the Shiite leader. "We found the body bearing the same clothes worn by al-Sadr on his visit to Libya in 1978."  
It is believed that the body was buried in February 2011, shortly after the anti-Gaddafi uprising had broken out. It is reported that former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had kept the body refrigerated in one of Tripoli's hospitals prior to that date.
Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who was the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Amal, visited Libya in 1978, accompanied by Sheikh Mohammed Yacoub and the journalist Abbas Badreddine. All of them disappeared shortly after their arrival. Gaddafi alleged they had left Libya for Italy, but this allegation was widely considered far-fetched.