Ex-regime figure wanted by Tunisia is not in Turkey: source

4 January 2013, 13:25 (GMT+04:00)

See Also:

A key figure from the ousted regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali wanted by Tunisia is currently not in Turkey and has returned to France, a diplomatic source told AFP on Friday.

Tunisia has asked Turkey to arrest and extradite Saida Agrebi under an international arrest warrant after her presence in the Turkish capital was disclosed by Tunisian media.

Agrebi attended an international meeting in Ankara on Wednesday and Thursday in her capacity as vice president of the World Family Organisation.

Turkish officials did not know that Agrebi was a member of the World Family Organisation awarded by Ankara, the source said. "The (Turkish) Family Ministry invited a nongovernmental organisation and presented the award to that organisation. It was not known that she was vice-president of that organisation." Tunisian media published photographs of Agrebi being presented with an award and with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the gathering.

Agrebi was a key figure in the regime of Ben Ali, who fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011, and a close aide of his wife Leila Trabelsi.