Libya Says ex-PM Mahmoudi Will Get Fair Trial
Libya's former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi will get a "fair trial" when he is extradited from Tunisia to face Libyan justice, interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Agence France Presse on Thursday.
"First of all we will ensure a secure place for him, then we will guarantee a fair trial, despite the acts he has perpetrated against the Libyan people," said Abdel Jalil, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council.
Rights groups have expressed fears for Mahmoudi's safety if he is sent back to Libya from Tunisian captivity after ousted Libyan tyrant Moammar Gadhafi was felled by a bullet to the head when captured by NTC fighters last month.
Mahmoudi, 70, was prime minister until the final days of the Gadhafi regime. He was arrested on September 21 on Tunisia's southwestern border with Algeria and jailed for illegal entry.
A Tunisian appeals court this week gave the nod for his extradition to Libya.
Mahmoudi's lawyer Mabrouk Kourchid said in Tunis that his client fears for his life as the sole holder of Libyan state secrets since Gadhafi's death on October 20.
During the extradition hearing in a Tunis court, dozens of Libyans rallied outside the building demanding the man they called the "third tyrant of Libya" -- after Gadhafi and his son Seif al-Islam -- be sent back to face justice in Libya.
"The Libyan people have the right to apply the law to those who robbed the people," one banner read.
Kourchid said Mahmoudi "does not oppose a fair verdict for the whole period during which he was prime minister. But Mr. Mahmoudi thinks the time is not right, because the current period of chaos prevailing in Libya is dominated by vengeance."
Amnesty International last week urged Tunisia not to extradite Mahmoudi, saying he risked being subject to "serious human rights violations."
The London-based rights group warned that "if he would be returned to Libya, he would at present face real risks, serious human rights violations, including torture ... extra-judicial execution and unfair trial," the group's North Africa spokesman James Lynch told AFP.
"It's about the risk to the person, it's not about his particular crimes. It's about the risks to him and the people like him being returned," he said.
Shortly after Mahmoudi's arrest, a Tunisian court sentenced him to six months in prison after finding him guilty of illegal entry. That decision was overturned on appeal.
Tunisia in August recognized Libya's NTC as the country's new authority and has committed itself to cooperation on security issues.
No date has yet been set for Mahmoudi's extradition.
Source: Agence France Presse
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