Al-Mahmudi, one of the most senior members of the former Libyan regime to have been detained to date, was sentenced to six months in prison for illegal entry, a Tunisian Justice Ministry spokesman said.
Al-Mahmudi, who was arrested Wednesday, "appeared before the state prosecutor in Tozeur (430 km south of Tunis) and sentenced to six months in prison with immediate effect," Kadhem Zine El Abidine said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb said Al-Mahmudi "was arrested by security forces with two men Wednesday near Tamaghza at the border with Algeria."
He said the three men did not have a visa in their passports but he was unable to say exactly when and where they had crossed the border.
On Sept. 7, another member of Qaddafi's inner circle, Khouildi Hamidi, was briefly detained at Tunis airport for illegal entry.
Since Qaddafi's 42-year-old regime collapsed last month, many senior officials in his entourage have defected or fled, often transiting through neighboring Tunisia.
Tunisia, also ruled by an interim administration since the shock January ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali that started the Arab spring uprisings, officially recognized the National Transitional Congress (NTC) last month.
Al Arabiya television quoted the Algerian foreign minister on Thursday as saying Algiers recognizes NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
The report followed an Algerian Foreign Ministry statement which said it was ready to work closely with the NTC. The move is aimed at ending the strained relations between the two neighbors since Qaddafi's ouster.
Meanwhile, Qaddafi's spokesman told Reuters Thursday that NATO airstrikes and shelling of Sirte by interim government forces on Wednesday and Thursday had killed 151 people.
He also said the city's main hospital had run out of medical supplies and power.
His claims could not immediately be verified as Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown, is largely cut off from communication and is besieged on three fronts by NTC forces.
Comments from NATO were not immediately available.
