Hannibal Gaddafi, the youngest son of the deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has been released by Lebanon after nearly 10 years in detention without trial.

The Lebanese authorities seized Mr Gaddafi, now 49, in 2015, accusing him of concealing information about the fate of a Lebanese Shia cleric who disappeared in Libya in 1978, when he was just two.

Human rights groups had denounced the accusations.

His lawyer told the AFP news agency his $900,000 (£682,938) bail had been paid.

Laurent Bayon said: "It's the end of a nightmare for him that lasted 10 years."

In October, a judge set a $11m bail against Gaddafi's release but this was reduced last week after an appeal by his defence team, according to AFP.

Mr Bayon said his client would leave Lebanon for a "confidential" destination.

"If Gaddafi was able to be arbitrarily detained in Lebanon for 10 years, it's because the justice system was not independent," Bayon said, according to AFP.

In 2015, Mr Gaddafi was briefly abducted by an armed group in Lebanon before being freed. He was later detained by Lebanese authorities.

After his father was overthrown by rebels and killed in 2011, he fled to Syria and then had lived under house arrest in Oman with his wife Aline Skaf.

Before the fall of his father's regime Mr Gaddafi was known for his lavish lifestyle.

The disappearance of Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr in Libya in 1978 has been a source of tension between Libya and Lebanon for decades.

Hannibal Gaddafi was only two at the time and held no senior position in Libya as an adult.