CAIRO: Former Libyan Secretary General of the People's Committee, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, is facing extradition from Tunisia to Libya and the human rights organization Amnesty International believes his life will be in danger. Al-Mahmoudi, a former Muammar Gaddafi loyalist, fled to Tunisia in the days following Tripoli's fall to National Transition Council (NTC). Initially, he was arrested and sentenced to 6 months in prison for “illegal entry” into the country. He was later acquitted on an appeal. The Libyan government has made two attempts to have al-Mahmoudi extradited to face several charges including, “threatening security officials with weapons” and “incitement to commit rape,” according to a press release from Amnesty International. On November 8, the Tunisian Court of Appeals ruled that the Tunisian government could in fact turn al-Mahmoudi over to Libya. Despite this ruling, the ultimate decision lies in the hands of Tunisian president Fouad Mebazaa. The London-based rights group is appealing to Mebazaa to retain al-Mahmoudi on the basis that he will likely be subjected to abuse, torture, and possibly death if he is returned to Libya. Amnesty has documented several cases of former Gaddafi loyalists being abused and tortured following their arrests by NTC forces. The human rights group is calling on the Tunisian government to independently investigate the charges against al-Mahmoudi. If the charges are deemed to be legitimate against the former Libyan Prime Minister then he should be subjected to a fair trial, according to Amnesty. Tunisia is party to several international treaties that condemn cases of extradition where a person will likely be subjected to bodily harm or death. BM
