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| Africa North |
| Libya's Jailed ex-PM Mahmoudi Says He is Innocent |
| 2012-07-04 |
| [An Nahar] Moammar Gadhafi's last premier, Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, who was controversially extradited from Tunisia to Libya to face justice, said on Tuesday that he was innocent. "I am not guilty, not guilty, not guilty," Mahmoudi told journalists during a visit to his prison organized by the authorities in an apparent bid to quash rumors that he had been tortured on his arrival in Libya. "I am ready to be tried by the Libyan people. I am sure of myself and of my innocence," a tired but healthy looking Mahmoudi said. Mahmoudi, speaking calmly but in a tone tinged with sadness, said he was being questioned by judicial authorities almost daily and that his family would soon appoint a lawyer to defend him. He denied reports that he was tortured upon his arrival in Libya. "I am in front of you and in good health. There was no assault against me. Reports that I was tortured, all of that was lies," he said, speculating that they reflected a "political agenda." Mahmoudi fled to neighboring Tunisia in September shortly after rebel fighters seized the capital Tripoli, effectively putting an end to more than four decades of iron-fisted Gadhafi rule. From March 5, 2006 through the war of 2011, Mahmoudi served the former regime as the secretary of the General People's Committee, the equivalent of prime minister. Libyan journalists grilled the former premier on why he had stood with Gadhafi until the end of his regime. Mahmoudi said that he feared that foreign intervention in Libya would pave the way for a new era of colonialism. "My defense will be in front of the court," Mahmoudi said. |
| Posted by:Fred |