Former Libyan PM fails to attend court

Reports from Tunisia indicate that the former prime minister in the Al Qathafi regime, Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi failed to turn up at a court hearing in Tunisia on Friday to fight an extradition order, with his lawyer explaining that the reason for his failure to attend was because he was the target of death threats. Al Mahmoudi's attorney, Mabrouk Kourchid told the press that is client had received written death threats from Libyans, and as such asked for authorisation from the court not to leave the prison in Mornagia close to the Tunisian capital, Tunis where he is being kept. The 70-year-old Mahmoudi, who was Libya's the secretary of the General People's Congress (equivalent to prime minister) in the Al Qathafi regime, is battling a ruling from the Tunisian appeals court earlier this month that approved his extradition to Libya. on the grounds that he has formally applied for refugee status. Kourchid said that Mahmoudi's absence from the court hearing on Friday had little or no significance as the hearing was merely a formality. Al-Mahmoudi, prime minister since 2006 until the final days of the regime of former Libyan leader Muammar Al Qathafi was arrested by the Tunisian border police on September 22 in Tamaghza, southern Tunisia, close to the border with Algeria. He was sentenced to six months in prison for entering the country illegally. Al-Mahmoudi's sentence was overturned a few days later, but the Tunisian authorities, who recognised the NTC as Libya’s new authority in August and committed itself to cooperation on security issues, then held him in custody pending the outcome of an extradition request by Libya’s mew rulers. He is trying to avoid his extradition back to Libya by applying for political refugee status, and another of his lawyers, Tawfik Wanas, says that if the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) grants Mahmoudi refugee status it will no longer be possible to extradite him from Tunisia.