Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi fled Libya to neighbouring Tunisia soon after Gaddafi’s rule collapsed. He is in detention while Tunisia’s government considers a request from the new Libyan authorities for his extradition.
“As a result of his hunger strike, Mahmoudi has serious problems with his heart, taking into account that he is also diabetic,” his lawyer, Mabrouk Korchid, told Reuters. “He has been admitted to the military hospital in Tunis.”
The former prime minister began his hunger strike early in October to protest against his detention.
In an interview this month with Reuters conducted via his lawyer, he said he was not involved in repression during Gaddafi’s rule and wanted to cooperate with Libya’s new interim government.
Al-Mahmoudi, Libyan prime minister from 2006, is the highest-ranking member of Gaddafi’s administration now in detention. During the country’s civil war this year, he gave televised briefings defending Gaddafi and accusing NATO of deliberately killing civilians.