The Tunisian judiciary began interrogating a number of senior ministers and former officials, as part of its investigation into the extradition of Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, the former Prime Minister during the Gaddafi era.
On Wednesday, Samir Dilo, a member of the defence team for Noureddine Al-Buhairi, a leader in the Islamic ‘Ennahda Movement’, revealed that his client had been invited as a witness in the case.
In statements to the Tunisian radio ‘Shams FM,’ Dilo said that the former Tunisian President, Fouad Al-Mubazaa was also requested, in addition to other unnamed former officials.
A Tunisian judicial source told Erm News that, “the judiciary sent invitations to the former Prime Minister, Hammadi Al-Jabali and other personalities to appear before the court for a hearing session.”
The source added that among the personalities who are also expected to be interrogated in the case, are “a former Prime Minister and Interior Minister,” refusing to reveal their names.
Earlier, Tunisian MP, Mabrouk Kurshid demanded the trial of all those involved in the extradition of Al-Mahmoudi, including former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, former Minister of Justice Noureddine Al-Buhairi, and Al-Jabali.
Kurshid, a former lawyer for Al-Mahmoudi also called on the Tunisian judiciary to convict the people involved in this case. He claimed that the “delay of the Tunisian judiciary, its failure to perform its duty in this matter, and the failure to convict those who committed this crime, will make the state a cover for the criminals, and then the international judiciary will sue it.”
“On the same day that Al-Mahmoudi was handed over to Libya, two people travelled on the Tunisian Airlines plane to Libya, and returned with a suitcase believed to be loaded with money that had been brought illegally into Tunisia,” his lawyer claimed.
Al-Mahmoudi, who served as prime minister under Gaddafi since 2006, was arrested in the Tozeur region in southern Tunisia in September 2011. Based on a ruling issued by the Tunisian judiciary, the Al-Jabali government handed him over to the Libyan authorities in June 2012, despite his legal refugee status. He remained in prison until 2019.
He was sentenced to death in 2015, but a Libyan court later acquitted him of the charges against him.