Tunis: Tunisia has arrested and jailed
Baghdadi al-Mahmudi, who was Muammar Gaddafi's prime minister until the collapse of the Libyan regime last month, officials said Thursday.
Mahmudi, one of the most senior members of the former
Libyan regime to have been detained to date, was sentenced to
six months in prison for illegal entry, a Tunisian justice
ministry spokesman said.
Baghdadi, who was arrested yesterday, "appeared before
the state prosecutor in Tozeur (430 kilometres south of Tunis)
and sentenced to six months in prison with immediate effect,"
Kadhem Zine el Abidine said.
Interior ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb said Mahmudi
"was arrested by security forces with two men Wednesday near
Tamaghza at the border with Algeria."
He said the three men did not have a visa in their
passports but he was unable to say exactly when and where they
had crossed the border.
On September 7, another member of ousted Libyan leader
Moamer Gaddafi's inner circle, Khouildi Hamidi, was briefly
detained at Tunis airport for illegal entry.
Since Gaddafi's 42-year-old regime started collapsing
under the rebellion's pressure, many senior officials in his
entourage have defected or fled, often transiting through
neighbouring Tunisia.
Tunisia, also ruled by an interim administration since
the shock January ouster of dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali
that started the Arab Spring uprisings, officially recognised
the NTC last month.
The NTC has said it wants to try former regime
officials in Libya.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, September 22, 2011, 23:56