Tripoli, 31 October:
Tunisia has agreed to pardon 35 convicted Libyan prisoners and to extradite 63 others to jails in Libya.
The move . . .[restrict]comes as part of extensive negotiations involving the campaigning group Rights of Libyan Prisoners Abroad and falls under the 1983 Riyadh Arab Agreement for Judicial Cooperation, to which both Libya and Tunisia are signatories.
Under Article 40 of the agreement, state parties are obliged to extradite prisoners where a request is made by another contracting party, so long as the crime is punishable in both countries, excepting certain exemptions such as if the crime is political in nature or if an amnesty has already been issued by the country requesting extradition.
It is understood that the 35 pardoned prisoners had been convicted only of minor crimes.
The move follows similar agreements by the Libyan authorities with regards to Tunisians convicted in Libya, notably for fishing-related offences, in the past. [/restrict]
