Tunisia extradites Gaddafi's last PM to Libya

Muammar Gaddafi's  last prime minister, Baghdadi Mahmoudi Tunis - Nébil Zaghdoud A war of words over the extradition of Muammar Gaddafi's  last prime minister, Baghdadi Mahmoudi, broke out Sunday evening after a fierce row ignited between Tunisia' president and prime minister, who disagreed over the move.
"We consider this decision [to extradite Mahmoudi] to be illegal and illegitimate," said Adnan Manser, spokesperson for President Moncef Marzouki.
"This represents a threat to the political stability in Tunisia. We hold the prime minister accountable for this situation. The crisis has begun. This decision is not legitimate and puts an end to the consensus that we had."
Baghdadi Mahmoudi fled Libya to neighbouring Tunisia last September shortly after rebel fighters took the capital Tripoli and was extradited Sunday.
The Tunisian president previously reiterated his rejection to sign the extradition order for Mahmoudi, 67, because he wanted guarantees he would receive a fair trial.
"The president's office holds the head of government responsible for anything that happens after the extradition," and for anything that subsequently befalls Mahmoudi.
The decision to extradite lies with the president, argued Manser together with Mabrouk Kourchid, one of Mahmoudi’s defence lawyers who said:
"This is a blow to democracy in Tunisia. This is also a blow to the troika government,” continued Kourchid. "All international organisations have assured us that there will be no fair trial for Mahmoudi in Libya. We are afraid that he will be tortured there. We are afraid that he might be killed. We are afraid of revenge. Why didn’t Chad extradite him? Why didn’t Egypt extradite him? Why is it that only Tunisia would do this?"
On the other hand, the government has defended its position saying that the extradition was agreed following a long debate in parliament according to a representative of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who added that a Tunisian committee charged with determining the fairness of judicial proceedings in Libya has ensured a fair trial for Mahmoudi. He was dismissive about allegations of secret deals between the two governments, saying "we have treaties, but no deals."
Alluding to the country’s on-going struggle to bring justice to Tunisia’s deposed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, he continued, "We are demanding the extradition of Ben Ali to our country. Why shouldn't we give the same rights to Libya?”
Mahmoudi was extradited to Libya earlier on Sunday. His detention and possible extradition has been a contentious issue between political parties in Tunisia and the governments of both Tunisia and Libya for several months. 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's iron-fisted rule.
He served as Gaddafi's 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.
Lawyer Kourchid added that 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 had applied to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for political refugee status, but had not yet received an answer, he added.
"The High Commission had not yet given its response, and he should not therefore have been extradited," Kourchid said.
Interim Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keeb insisted Sunday the rights of the extradited minister would be protected.
"The Libyan government reiterates that the accused will receive good treatment in accordance with the teachings of our righteous religion and according to international standards of human rights," he said.
He also expressed Libya's "profound thanks and appreciation to the brotherly nation of Tunisia" for the extradition.
Keeb said Mahmoudi was being held in a prison under the supervision of the ministry of justice and the judiciary police.
The case has further soured relations between Tunisia's president and his prime minister, in an already tense government alliance.
The Tunisian prime minister's party Ennahda won the country's first free polls in October -- but not by a big enough margin to govern on its own.
President Marzouki is a member of the Congress for the Republic (CPR), a nationalist party allied with Ennahda.