Judicial sources confirmed that the summons which was posted outside the court on Tuesday gave judges the right to issue an arrest warrant if the summons goes unanswered for two months.

Sadr, who founded the opposition Amal movement now led by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, disappeared while in Libya with two companions Mohammed Yacoub and Abbas Badreddin in 1978.

There has been no trace of the three men since.

The court issued the summons in a private suit brought by the three men's families.

Libya maintains that the trio left for Italy on August 31, 1978 after their stay in Tripoli and that it has no idea what happened to them afterwards.

Italy has repeatedly told Lebanon that it will provide every assistance with its investigation.

Relatives of the three men have lodged a series of complaints with the Lebanese authorities demanding action in the case.

Amal's current leader Berri has also called on the government, the United Nations and the Arab League to help determine the fate of the trio.

On the 25th anniversary of the men's disappearance in 2003, another Shiite faction, Hezbollah, called on Kadhafi to admit personal responsibility.

"Kadhafi, personally, knows the fate of Imam Mussa Sadr," Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told a rally in Beirut's Shiite southern suburbs.

Libya's foreign ministry called Nasrallah's remarks "illogical" and accused the cleric of "hysteria."

Shortly afterwards Libya closed down its Beirut embassy although it insisted it was doing so for security reasons and not because of the row over Sadr's disappearance.

Agencies

Güncelleme Tarihi: 27 Şubat 2008, 18:35