NTC denies Kadhafi's PM extradited to Libya

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Baghdadi Mahmoudi, the Libyan Prime Minister under Mouammar Kadhafi, has not been handed over to current Libyan authorities, a spokesperson for the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mohamed Al-Harizi, has said.

Emphatically denying knowledge of Mahmoudi's extradition to Libya, Al-Harizi told the Libyan News Agency that information reported by some media to the contrary was "unfounded".

Quoting the Tunisian Justice Minister, Noureddine Bouheiri, on Tuesday, some news agencies reported that Tunisia would extradite Mahmoudi to Libya, stressing that the handover could take place in "days or weeks".

Mahmoudi was sentenced to six months in prison for having crossed "illegally" to the Tunisian border, on 22 September, 2011.

The case was then examined by the Court of Appeal which dismissed the charge but a higher court ruled otherwise and decided to send the case back for further examination.

But Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouki later said the handover would not happen until the situation in Libya was stabilised enough to give Mahmoudi a fair trial.
-0- PANA BY/ASA/JEN/VAO 22May2012