Tunisia extradites former Gadhafi PM to Libya

TRIPOLI - Tunisia has extradited former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's prime minister to Libya, a Libyan security official said on Sunday, making him the first senior official to be sent back for trial under the country's transitional leadership. 

Defense ministry official Mohammed al-Ahwal told Reuters that a helicopter transferred Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi to Tripoli on Sunday. 


"Mahmoudi is now in Tripoli and we are holding him in a prison," Ahwal said. 

Mahmoudi served as the Libyan dictator's prime minister from 2006 until he fled to neighboring Tunisia around the time that rebel fighters took the capital Tripoli in August. 

Libya begins battle to seize $20 billion in Gadhafi assets - starting with London mansion

His extradition could establish a precedent for other countries who have given refuge to or arrested members of Gadhafi's old entourage. 

Tripoli considers it a matter of national pride and a measure of the country's transformation that trials of people like Mahmoudi and Gadhafi's imprisoned son Saif al-Islam be held in Libya. 

But human rights groups question whether its justice system can meet the standards of international law and say he should be handed over to the ICC instead. 

A Tunisian court ruled as far back as November that Mahmoudi should be extradited. But Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouki later said the handover would not happen until the situation in Libya had stabilized and Mahmoudi could be guaranteed a fair trial after Gadhafi himself was killed by rebels and his rotting corpse left on display. 

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Discuss this post

Okay, time for the fair trial followed by the fair beheading!

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:03 PM EDT

All for a fair trial, but it should be a fair trial. He shouldn't be brutally sodomized before being killed like they did to Gadhafi. But then that is imposing civilized values on people who have shown themselves as uncivilized.

  • 2 votes
#1.1 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:58 PM EDT

I don't really care about what happened to Mommar "All my people LOVE me." Gadhafi (yeah, he found out how MUCH they loved him before he died) or any of the henchmen who supported his rule, but I was wondering, has anybody seen any (verifiably) recent video of his son, or any real evidence that he's still alive and healthy? Haven't heard of nor seen him lately.

  • 3 votes
#1.2 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:41 PM EDT
Reply

Rodents holding trials for rodents.

    Reply#2 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:27 PM EDT

    Libya sunk into the Stone Age.

    • 2 votes
    Reply#3 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:28 PM EDT

    Don't think he'll get that fair trial.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#4 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:49 PM EDT

    Oh no, what to do? This is horrible! Will this never end? Yada, yada, yada like I care what happens to another brutal dictators enforcer. I could say something like "nevertheless, he should receive a fair trial" so everyone knows I am a believer in democracy. Nope, I won't hide my true feelings, Libya fell deeper into the Islamofacistnazi bottomless pit of ignorance so I don't care. I have decided that The USA can not resolve problems by taking military action against these cavemen of the modern age. Diplomacy with these people is like trying to coax a dog through a flaming loop with a carrot, it just won't work. We are way too far apart to bridge that gap of ignorance so I say do your worst and leave us out of it.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#5 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:19 PM EDT

    Gaddafi was a piece of crap but at least he wasn't an Islamist. We picked the wrong side plain and simple. We're making the mistake we made in Afghanistan in the '80s all over again. Don't say I didn't warn you when "Taliban" (under a different name) and "al-Qaeda" take over Libya.

      Reply#6 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:59 PM EDT

      The man is dead no matter what happens, no such thing as fair trial in islam, just how he will die is in question.

        Reply#7 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:13 PM EDT

        And this is why Assad and all his cronies cannot stop killing their people. It's us or them.

          Reply#8 - Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:30 PM EDT
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