TRIPOLI, July 6, 2012 (AFP) -
TRIPOLI, July 6, 2012 (AFP) –
Moamer Kadhafi’s last prime minister, Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, who was controversially extradited from Tunisia to Libya to face justice, says he was abused in Tunis, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.
“Mahmudi said that he had not suffered any abuse during his detention in Libya, but that he had been physically abused in detention in Tunisia,” the US-based rights group said in a report.
“Mahmudi told Human Rights Watch that while he was held in the Mornaguia prison in Tunis, guards threatened him and beat him with sticks, boots, and a plastic whip,” it added.
Mahmudi fled to neighbouring Tunisia in September last year shortly after rebel fighters seized the Libyan capital Tripoli, effectively putting an end to more than four decades of iron-fisted Kadhafi rule.
The Tunisian authorities arrested him that month for illegal entry.
On June 24, he was extradited to Libya despite warnings from rights groups that he could face the death penalty there.
“Tunisia extradited Mahmudi after receiving assurances that Libya would not mistreat him,” Eric Goldstein, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said. “It is now up to Libya to keep its word to respect Mahmudis rights.”
The rights group, which this week sent representatives to visit Mahmudi in prison, urged Tripoli to grant him due process, with judges determining the basis for detention and stating the charges being brought against him.
