Ahmed Gadhaf Al-Dam, close aide and cousin of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, was born to Egyptian parents in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya, claimed Al-Dam's lawyer Esmat El-Merghany.

In televised comments on Monday, El-Merghany further claimed her client’s name on his Egyptian birth certificate is 'Gomaa' rather than Gadhaf Al-Dam.

El-Merghany said that she would give all necessary documents to Egypt's prosecutor-general to prove Al-Dam is Egyptian, and therefore is subject to Egyptian law and should not be extradited to Libya.

She went on to say that Al-Dam's ancestors had emigrated to Egypt after the Italian colonisation of Libya in the early 20th century.

Al-Dam was arrested at his residence in Cairo last Tuesday.

Constitutional pundit Ibrahim Darwish argued during the same TV programme that Al-Dam's arrest was illegal on the basis that he should have been questioned before his detention was ordered.

The Libyan administration has been demanding Al-Dam’s extradition for alleged crimes under Gaddafi’s rule.

On Monday, Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah ordered the extradition of two Gaddafi-era Libyan officials: Ali Maria, former Libyan ambassador to Egypt, and Mohamed Ibrahim, brother of former Libyan information minister Moussa Ibrahim. Both were arrested in Cairo last week.

The handover is part of a prisoner swap under which Egypt is expected to trade four members of the Muammar Gaddafi regime for Egyptians detained in Libya. The extradition order did not include Al-Dam.