Tunisia extradites former Gaddafi PM

25 Jun 2012, 3:05 pm   -   Source: AAP

Tunisia has extradited Muammar Gaddafi's former prime minister to Libya, igniting a fierce row between the nation's president and current prime minister.

Tunisia has extradited Muammar Gaddafi's former prime minister to Libya, igniting a fierce row between Tunis's president and prime minister.

Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, who fled Libya to neighbouring Tunisia last September shortly after rebel fighters took the capital Tripoli, was extradited on Sunday, a spokesman for Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali told AFP.

But the move sparked an angry reaction from the office of President Moncef Marzouki, who was in southern Tunisia on Sunday for commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the national army.

"The presidency of the Republic expresses its rejection of the decision of the head of government to extradite M Mahmoudi and considers this decision is illegal, all the more so because it has been done unilaterally and without consulting the president of the republic," a statement said.

"The extradition decision, signed by the head of the Tunisian government, constitutes a clear violation of our country's international commitments and those towards the UN," the statement added.

"The president's office holds the head of government responsible for anything that happens after the extradition," and for anything that subsequently befalls Mahmoudi.

Marzouki had opposed sending back Mahmoudi, 67, because he wanted guarantees he would receive a fair trial.

Lawyers and rights groups have long argued Mahmoudi would be executed if returned to Libya, where a February 2011 uprising ended more than four decades of Gaddafi iron-fisted rule.

He served as Gaddafi premier from 2006 until the final days of his regime, and was arrested on September 21 in Tunisia as he tried to flee to Algeria.

Mahmoudi's lawyer Mabrouk Kourchid said his client was flown to Libya on a private plane, and condemned the extradition as a "state crime".

He accused Tunisia of respecting "neither the law, nor humanitarian values, nor human rights" in the process.

His client has applied to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for political refugee status, but has not yet received an answer, he says.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib insisted on Sunday the rights of the extradited minister will be protected.

The case has further soured relations between Tunisia's president and his prime minister, in an already tense government alliance.

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