Cairo: An Egyptian court on Wednesday ruled against extraditing Muammar Gaddafi’s cousin Ahmad Gaddaf Al Dam to Libya, where he is wanted on corruption charges, a judicial official said.
The administrative court said Al Dam, who was taken into custody last month, was under investigation for alleged crimes inside Egypt and should be tried there.
Al Dam, who had a senior role under Gaddafi before the dictator’s overthrow and killing in 2011, was arrested in Cairo last month along with Libya’s former ambassador Ali Maria and another Gaddafi-era official.
Gaddaf Al Dam remains in custody, but the two others have been handed over to Egypt’s western neighbour.
The Libyan prosecutor’s spokesman, Taha Baara, said that Tripoli had issued an international arrest warrant for Al Dam for “forging documents” and that the other two were wanted for “financial crimes”.
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zaidan told a news conference in Tripoli last month that Gaddaf AlDam was among “several elements of the old regime” arrested in Cairo and wanted for “hostile acts” against the uprising that toppled Gaddafi.
