World Bulletin / News Desk

The Libyan authorities received the fugitive son of late leader Muammer Gaddafi from neighboring Niger in the early hours of Thursday, according to a statement by the Libyan government, in response to a months-long demand by Tripoli.

"Saadi Gaddafi had arrived in Libya and is currently in custody of the judicial police," the statement said, adding that a more detailed statement about the matter will be released shortly.

The Libyan government thanked Niger for extraditing Saadi Gaddafi, who was wanted in Libya on corruption charges, and vowed to treat him "in line with international standards of dealing with prisoners."

Saadi Gaddai had fled to Niger in September 2011, one month before the killing of his father and the subsequent fall of his regime.

Libya's southern neighbor Niger, which had granted Saadi Gaddafi asylum for "humanitarian reasons," had repeatedly rejected Tripoli's demand to extradite him in spite of an arrest warrant issued by the InterPol in response to Libya's request.

Saadi Gaddafi faces an array of corruption charges in Libya, including forceful misappropriation of property.

Libya PM disregarded Gaddafi cousin handover offer

Former Libyan Minister of Economy Mustafa Abufunas has asserted that an aide to ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi had offered Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan to extradite a cousin of late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is wanted on corruption charges in Libya, but the premier ignored the offer.

"A Morsi aide directly offered Zeidan to hand over Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, two weeks before the start of the latter's trial in Egypt, but Zeidan disregarded the issue," Abufunas told Anadolu Agency.

Gaddaf al-Dam was arrested in Cairo in March last year during a raid on his home carried out jointly by Egyptian security forces and Interpol.

His arrest had come at the request of Libya's post-Gaddafi authorities, which had accused him of financial corruption.

Egyptian prosecutors later accused Gaddaf al-Dam of shooting at two police officers, one of whom was injured, before security forces managed to arrest him. Security forces also allegedly seized unlicensed weapons found in his home. Yet, he was acquitted in December of the charges.

Abufunas, who resigned in January when his Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party - the second largest force in parliament - withdraw its five ministers from Zeidan’s government, accused the premier of not taking the file of the pursuit of fugitive Gaddafi regime officials seriously.

"Zeidan has not raised the issue during meetings with leaders of the countries where some of the ex-officials live now, and the government has not made any demands for their extradition," he said.

A close associate of Gaddafi and former coordinator for Egypt-Libya relations, Gaddaf al-Dam is currently on a list of several Gaddafi-era officials wanted by the Libyan authorities.