adminAccording to Bhiri, Tunisian authorities received guarantees from Libya’s government that the former Libyan prime minister will receive a fair trial in his home country. Mahmoudi, who had been charged in November 2011 with crossing the border illegally, was later acquitted of the charge.
In the same month, a Tunisian court agreed to extradite him.
Since then, the former Libyan official remained in jail pending the decision to extradite him.
Mahmoudi’s lawyers in early May alleged that ousted French president Nicolas Sarkozy had received funding for his 2007 presidential bid from late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, an allegation which was denied by Sarkozy.
“Muammar Gaddafi, his regime and the officials who worked with him financed Sarkozy’s election campaign in 2007,” lawyer Bechir Essed told reporters in Tunis, where Mahmoudi is detained, mentioning that 50 million euros ($65 million) changed hands.
Mahmoudi also claimed, “My arrest and my detention in Tunisia were instigated by the (former) French president so that the details of the financing of his 2007 campaign are not revealed.”
Lawyers for Mediapart, the website that made the revelations urged French prosecutors to demand access to Mahmoudi from Tunisian authorities for questioning on the vote funding allegations.
Mahmoudi is a “key witness” and risks an unjust trial and “quick summary execution” in Libya, lawyers Jean-Pierre Mignard and Emmanual Tordjman said, making a call against his extradition to Libya. — Xinhua/AFP.
Online Reporter
- Herald
- July 30, 2026
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