A Libyan man accused of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 was kidnapped from his home and held by a Libyan militia before being turned over to the United States. Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir al-Marimi was charged last week in the bombing, the same day that the US Justice Department requested a warrant for his arrest, months after he was released from a Libyan prison. His family says he was taken from his home in Tripoli in November by gunmen led by a local warlord on the orders of the US.
The US and Libya do not have an extradition treaty, but the US government reportedly has been pressuring the Tripoli-based government, one of the country’s two rival governments each backed by militias and foreign powers, to turn Masud over to the US. The Tripoli government likely was trying to get on the US’ good side by handing the alleged bomb-maker over. Libya’s chief prosecutor has opened an investigation following a complaint from Masud’s family.
Masud, 71, could face life in prison if convicted. He is being held without bond until a detention hearing on December 27.
Pan Am flight 103 left London heading to New York on December 21, 1988, when the bomb, which was later determined to have been planted by members of the Libyan intelligence agency, detonated, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board the plane and 11 people on the ground.