By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 8 September:
Justice Minister Ali Ashour Ehmida has poured cold water on Finance Minister Hassan Zaglam’s colourful account of . . .[restrict]Abdullah Al-Senussi’s extradition to Libya.
The finance minister previously told reporters that Senussi had resisted attempts to put him on the plane in Mauritania, resulting in a scuffle and his being bundled on board by five Mauritanian guards.
“It did not happen”, Ehmida told the Libya Herald today. “There was no fight or anything of that kind”.
The justice minister added that he had agreed the details of the extradition with his Mauritanian counterpart the previous day, part of which was that Senussi was to be delivered directly to the Libyans on-board the aircraft.
“As it turned out, it didn’t happen that way. The Mauritanians delivered Senussi to us on the tarmac in handcuffs”.
According the finance minister’s account, Senussi had no idea about his imminent extradition on Wednesday, having simply been told be his Mauritanian captors that he was to meet “an important person”.
He was said to have prepared himself in formal dress for the occasion, a fact corroborated by pictures of him emerging from a helicopter in Tripoli in smart traditional attire.
Senussi, who was said to be in good health, was subsequently transferred to the Hadba Al-Khadra prison, where he is currently being interrogated. [/restrict]
