Egypt and Libya deny cutting ties over Qadhafi’s cousin

Both Egyptian and Libyan authorities denied media reports on Wednesday that Tripoli had expelled Egypt’s ambassador.

A report issued by Russia Today (RT News) claimed that authorities in Tripoli had severed ties with Cairo and were to expel the Egyptian ambassador from Libya within 48 hours.

This alleged diplomatic fallout followed an Egyptian court acquittal of Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam — cousin of former Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi — days earlier, and news of his release from custody on Wednesday. However, both the Libyan and Egyptian ministries of foreign affairs denied this news as a baseless rumor.

While Libyan authorities are seeking Qadhaf al-Dam’s extradition from Egypt — on charges of crimes perpetrated in Libya during Qadhafi’s rule — they have not moved to cut diplomatic ties over Cairo’s failure to extradite him, or his acquittal by Egyptian courts.

Qadhaf al-Dam stepped down from his official post  — as Libya’s foreign dignitary and envoy to Cairo — shortly after the Libyan uprising began in the country's eastern city of Benghazi on February 17, 2011.

Following reports of a fire fight between his bodyguards and Egyptian police in Cairo’s affluent neighborhood of Zamalek, he was arrested in March 2013 on charges of attempted murder, resisting arrest, and possession of unlicensed weapons. All charges were dropped against him on Monday.