Abuzed Omar Dorda, former Libyan prime minister and head of late leader Moammar al-Gaddafi’s external intelligence, was released from jail over the weekend after eight years behind bars.
He will travel to Cairo after making a surprise visit to Tunisia, revealed sources close to the official.
Dorda had departed the Libyan capital Tripoli for Tunis soon after his release.
He was arrested in September 2011 and was barred from leaving the country under UN sanctions.
During his detention, Dorda was injured after falling from the window of the second floor of the prison. Prison officials claimed he tried to commit suicide or escape, however, his family believed he survived an assassination attempt.
The former PM was among officials arrested and put on trial after the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in 2011. Dorda was the first senior regime official to stand trial in Libya.
He was accused of forming an “armed force from his tribe” to suppress anti-regime demonstrators during the February Revolution, exploiting power and torturing prisoners leading to their death in some cases.
The Court of Cassation ruled to end the imprisonment of six former regime officials, including Dorda, who was part of Gaddafi’s circle since he came to power in 1969.
Dorda assumed office in 2009 and was known for his “technical competencies, not his experience as an intelligence officer.”
Interior Minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), Fathi Bashagha, had called in late 2018 for Dorda’s release for medical reasons, based on a previous recommendation by the Health Release Committee in 2017.
