Niger has handed over to Libya 10 former top officials of the ousted Muammar Ghadafi regime, according to a source close to the Libyan Embassy in Niamey.

The officials who include former Air Force Chief of Staff, Ali Kenneh, and a close confidant of Ghadafi, Choueib al-Ferjani, were extradited secretly to Libya for security reasons, the source said.

After Ghadafi’s death on October 20, 2011, dozens of senior officials of the former regime fled the country and took refuge in Niger.

In February and March, Niger extradited the head of the internal security of the former regime, Abdallah Mansour, and Ghadafi’s son, Saadi.

All these officials have been charged with crimes ranging from incitement to rape during the 2011 revolution.