Former Libyan PM's health 'seriously degraded'

TUNIS - The health of former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoudi is "seriously degraded" following a hunger strike in his prison, one of his lawyers said Tuesday.

The lawyer, Bechir Essid, told a press conference in Tunis that Mahmoudi had not benefited from any medical treatment in spite of the repeated calls by his lawyers, saying that the Tunisian authorities should be responsible for the degradation of his health.

A doctor visited Mahmoudi in his prison near Tunis last month and described his condition as "serious," Radio Mosaique FM quoted Essid as saying.

Terming Mahmoudi's imprisonment as "illegal," the lawyer said Tunisia's new president should restart the Tunisian-Libyan relations on "a new footing," rather than handing the ex-premier over to the new Libyan authorities as part of a "deal" to maintain their relations.

Mahmoudi, arrested on September 22 in southern Tunisia when attempting to cross the border into Algeria, remained detained in Tunisia after the Libyan authorities issued a warrant against him in late September.

On November 25, a Tunis appeals court rejected Mahmoudi's second appeal against his extradition to Libya. Meanwhile, an appeals court in Tozeur will soon re-examine the case of his illegal entry into Tunisia.