Libyan accused inside Lockerbie bombing now inside American custody
WASHINGTON (AP) ” A Libyan intellectual capacity official accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, inside 1988 inside an international take deed of terrorism has been taken into U.S. custody with every one other accompanied by will face confederate charges inside Washington, the Justice Department said Sunday.
The arrest of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas™ud Kheir Al-Marimi is a milestone inside the decades-old investigation into the assault that killed 259 people inside the air with every one other accompanied by 11 on the ground. American authorities inside December 2020 announced charges opposed to Mas™ud, who was inside Libyan custody at the time. Though he is the third Libyan intellectual capacity official charged inside the U.S. inside link accompanied by the attack, he would exist the earliest to become visible inside an American courtroom for prosecution.
The New York-bound Pan Am flying exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour following takeoff from London on Dec. 21, 1988. Citizens from 21 different countries were killed. Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying place of residence for Christmas following a semester abroad.
The bombing laid bare the threat of international terrorism additional than a decade earlier to the Sept. 11 attacks. It produced worldwide investigations with every one other accompanied by punishing sanctions while spurring demands for accountability from victims of those killed. The university™s contemporaneous chancellor, Kent Syverud, said inside a statement that the arrest was a significant evolution inside the lengthy procedure to convey those in charge of for this despicable take deed to justice.
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Stephanie Bernstein, a Maryland woman whose husband, Michael, was among the 270 victims ” he was a Justice Department official returning on the flying from management work ” said the report was surreal since there had been times inside the past set of two years when victims™ families had been told that it looks promising only to find that was not the case.
At earliest I idea I was dreaming when I was told what had happened, nevertheless it™s happened, with every one other accompanied by I™m incredibly thankful that this male will exist tried inside the United States, Bernstein said inside an interview.
The announcement of charges opposed to Mas™ud on Dec. 21, 2020, came on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing with every one other accompanied by inside the final days of the tenure of then-Attorney General William Barr, who inside his earliest stint while attorney general inside the early 1990s had announced criminal charges opposed to set of two other Libyans intellectual capacity officials.
The Libyan management at first balked at turning over the set of two men, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi with every one other accompanied by Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, earlier to ultimately surrendering them for prosecution earlier to a panel of Scottish judges sitting inside the Netherlands while small portion of a exceptional arrangement.
The Justice Department said Mas™ud would become visible in a short time inside a confederate court of rules and regulations inside Washington, where he faces set of two criminal counts related to the explosion.
U.S. officials did not speak how Mas™ud came to exist taken into U.S. custody, nevertheless late last month, local Libyan media reported that Mas™ud had been kidnapped by armed men on Nov. 16 from his residence inside Tripoli, the capital. That reporting cited a family statement that accused Tripoli authorities of actuality silent on the abduction.
In November 2021, Najla Mangoush, the overseas minister for the country™s Tripoli-based government, told the BBC inside an meeting that we, while a government, are extremely not shut inside terms of collaboration inside this matter, when asked whether an extradition was possible.
Torn by secular war since 2011, Libya is divided in the centre of competitor governments inside the the orient with every one other accompanied by west, every one backed by international patrons with every one other accompanied by numerous armed militias on the ground. Militia groups have amassed great affluence with every one other accompanied by ability from kidnappings with every one other accompanied by their involvement inside Libya™s lucrative anthropoid trafficking trade
A breakthrough inside the investigation came when U.S. officials inside 2017 received a copy of an meeting that Mas™ud, a longtime explosives expert for Libya™s intellectual capacity service, had specified to Libyan rules and regulations enforcement inside 2012 following actuality taken into custody following the collapse of the management of the country™s leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
In that interview, U.S. officials said, Mas™ud admitted building the bomb inside the Pan Am assault with every one other accompanied by employed accompanied by set of two other conspirators to convey it out. He too said the operation was ordered by Libyan intellectual capacity with every one other accompanied by that Gadhafi thanked him with every one other accompanied by other members of the team following the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed inside the case.
That affidavit said Mas™ud told Libyan rules and regulations enforcement that he flew to Malta to meet al-Megrahi with every one other accompanied by Fhimah. He handed Fhimah a medium-sized Samsonite travelling bag containing a bomb, having by that hour dated been instructed to place the timer so that the device would blow up exactly 11 hours later, according to the document. He at that hour dated flew to Tripoli, the FBI said.
Al-Megrahi was convicted inside the Netherlands while Fhimah was acquitted of all charges. Al-Megrahi was specified a existence sentence, nevertheless Scottish authorities released him on humanitarian grounds inside 2009 following he was diagnosed accompanied by prostate cancer. He subsequent died inside Tripoli, still protesting his innocence.
In announcing charges opposed to Mas™ud inside 2020, Barr said the U.S. with every one other accompanied by Scotland would use every one feasible with every one other accompanied by suitable means to convey him to trial.
At lengthy last, this male in charge of for killing Americans with every one other accompanied by numerous others will exist theme to justice for his crimes, Barr said at the time.
Scotland™s Crown Office with every one other accompanied by Procurator Fiscal Service on Sunday announced the arrest while well, saying inside a statement that the families of those killed inside the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the have a suspicion is inside U.S. custody.
The statement added that Scottish prosecutors with every one other accompanied by police, employed accompanied by U.K. management with every one other accompanied by U.S. colleagues, will carry on accompanied by to pursue this investigation, accompanied by the sole aim of bringing those who acted down accompanied by al-Megrahi to justice.
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Hui reported from London. Associated Press writers Jack Jeffery inside Cairo, Carolyn Thompson inside Buffalo, New York, with every one other accompanied by Julie Walker inside New York contributed to this report.
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