Tunisia yesterday extradited Muammar Qaddafi’s former prime minister to Libya, the government announced, despite protests from his lawyers and rights groups that he faces execution.
Al-Baghdadi Al-Ma-hmoudi, who fled to neighboring Tunisia last September shortly after rebel fighters took the capital Tripoli, “was extradited this morning,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said.
The extradition sparked a row between the Tunisian prime minister and President Moncef Marzouki, who had said he opposed sending Mahmoudi back to Libya “on principle” and had demanded guarantees he would receive a fair trial.
Lawyers and rights groups have long argued that Mahmoudi, who was Qaddafi’s premier from 2006 until the final days of his regime, will be executed if he returns to Libya, where a February 2011 uprising ended more than four decades of the dictator’s rule.
But Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim Al-Kib guaranteed his rights would be protected.
“The Libyan government reiterates that the accused will receive good treatment in accordance with the teachings of our righteous religion and according to international standards of human rights,” he said.
