Tunisia has arrested and jailed Baghdadi Al-Mahmudi, who was Muammar Qaddafi’s prime minister until the collapse of the Libyan regime last month. Al-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. Al-Mahmudi, who was arrested on September 21, “appeared before the state prosecutor in Tozeur (430 km south of Tunis) and sentenced to six months in prison with immediate effect,” Kadhem Zine El Abidine said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb said Al-Mahmudi “was arrested by security forces with two men near Tamaghza at the border with Algeria.” On Sept. 7, another member of Qaddafi’s inner circle, KhouildiHamidi, was briefly detained at Tunis airport for illegal entry. Since Qaddafi’s 42-year-old regime collapsed last month, many senior officials in his entourage have defected or fled, often transiting through neighbouring Tunisia.