Baghdadi Mahmudi

Baghdadi Mahmudi   (politician, medical doctor)
Born	Baghdadi Ali Mahmudi 1945 Zawiya
Prime Minister of Libya from 2006 until NATO's Attack in 2011.

Baghdadi Mahmudi was Prime Minister of Libya from 2006 until NATO's 2011 Attacks on Libya caused the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi.

In July 2015, Baghdadi Mahmudi was one of eight Libyans – including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi – who were sentenced to death by a Tripoli court for alleged war crimes. Mahmudi was released from prison on 20 July 2019.

Politics

From 2006 until 2011, Mahmudi was the Secretary of the General People's Committee and headed the Liaison Office of the Revolutionary Committees. He also held the chairmanship of both the Libyan Investment Authority (one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world) and the Libyan Oil and Gas Council. On 26 February 2011, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 1970 which imposed a travel ban on Mahmudi.

As deputy secretary-general of Libya's General People's Committee for Production Affairs, he oversaw the development of the two large infrastructure projects in Libya:

• Great man-made river project, and
• Railways project

The three-phase river project alone is estimated to total more than US$ 18.5 billion.

Mahmudi answered questions about the cost and benefit of the projects, as follows: "We would like to focus very much in investment projects using this water, basically agriculture and animal stock projects. For this sector it has been allocated already a high percentage of the development funds. For this reason, we are concluding several agreements with foreign companies that are interested in investing in these projects, like for example in the Benghazi plains."

Mahmudi has also stated that Libya had amassed more than US$100 billion in a sovereign wealth fund, to benefit future generations after the country's oil reserves (the largest in Africa) have been consumed.

Arrest, extradition, trial, and release

On 21 August 2011, amid the Battle of Tripoli, Mahmudi reportedly fled to Djerba, a resort island in Tunisia. Supporters of the anti-Gaddafi movement attempted to storm the hotel where he was staying, according to the reports, but were unsuccessful. On 22 September 2011, Mahumdi was detained and sentenced to 6 months in jail for illegally entering Tunisia without a visa.

On 8 November 2011, it was reported that a Tunisian court ruled that Mahmudi should be extradited to Libya. His lawyer, Mabrouk Korchid, said that "The judge decided to extradite him to Libya, it’s an unfair decision, a political decision. If any harm comes to him in Libya, the Tunisian justice system will be a party to that".

On 4 December 2011, Tunisian interim President Foued Mebazaa confirmed that he would not sign a decree to extradite Mahmudi due to fears that he would be subjected to torture if returned to Libya.

On 21 December 2011, it was reported that Mahmudi's health was "seriously degraded" following a hunger strike in his prison.

On 12 May 2012, it was revealed that Mahmudi's phone was wiretapped during the Libyan Civil War and recordings of his mobile phone calls from February to June 2011 were released by Al Jazeera.

On 24 June 2012, it was reported that Mahmudi was finally extradited to Libya. His lawyer argued that Mahmoudi was beaten by Libyan security officers in Tripoli after his extradition.

His trial began on 10 December 2012 in Libya. He was accused of aiding the state to kill civilians and financial crimes. The trial has been deferred on several occasions and, as of 2014, has not resulted in a verdict.

On 20 July 2019, Mahmudi was released for health reasons.

In January 2022, Mahmoudi, who had distanced himself from politics and was allegedly living in the United Arab Emirates, filed a complaint against Tunisia before the Libyan institutions and before the international criminal court for his 2012 extradition from Tunis to Tripoli.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Libya: Fine, but why Britain	article	20 March 2011	Brian Barder	David Cameron seemingly Gung Ho on toppling the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, while Barack Obama takes a back seat

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