By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 3 April 2013:
An Egyptian court today, Wednesday, refused Libya’s request to extradite Ahmed Qaddaf Al-Dam. The court said . . .[restrict]that he should face trial first in Egypt for alleged crimes there.
Qaddaf Al-Dam was arrested on 19 March along with former Libyan ambassador to Egypt Ali Mohamed Marya and Mohamed Ibrahim Mansour. He is said to have resisted arrest and at the time Egyptian officials said he might be prosecuted for the offence.
The other two were extradited to Libya on 26 March. Egyptian officials said that all the legal requirements in their cases had been completed but not in that of Qaddaf Al-Dam.
There have been continuing suggestions since then that Qaddafi’s cousin would escape extradition because of his links to the Egyptian military and intelligence. He was coordinator of the Egyptian-Libyan relations under Qaddafi and this appears to have protected him.
Qaddaf Al-Dam’s lawyer in Egypt, Esmat El-Merghany has meanwhile claimed that he was born to Egyptian parents in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya, that he was originally Ahmed Gomaa not Ahmed Qaddaf Al-Dam and has Egyptian nationality and therefore should not be extradited. [/restrict]
