William Barr noted that “the Lockerbie bombing remains the deadliest single terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom, and the second deadliest terrorist attack in American history” after 9/11. And jihad wasn’t even on anyone’s radar at that time.
“Libyan accused in Lockerbie bombing to appear in US court,” by Eric Tucker, Associated Press, December 12, 2022:
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 in an international act of terrorism is to appear Monday in federal court in Washington to face charges.
The arrest and extradition of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi are a milestone in the decades-old investigation into the attack that killed 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground.
The Justice Department announced Sunday that Mas’ud had been taken into U.S. custody, two years after it revealed that it had charged him in connection with the explosion. Two other Libyan intelligence officials have been charged in the U.S. for their alleged involvement in the attack, but Mas’ud would be the first defendant to appear in an American courtroom for prosecution.
The New York-bound Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on Dec. 21, 1988. Citizens from 21 countries were killed. Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after a semester abroad.
The bombing laid bare the threat of international terrorism more than a decade before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It produced global investigations and punishing sanctions while spurring demands for accountability from victims of those killed. Several victims described as surreal the news that Mas’ud was finally in American custody….
The announcement of charges against Mas’ud on Dec. 21, 2020, came on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing and in the final days of the tenure of then-Attorney General William Barr, who in his first stint as attorney general in the early 1990s had announced criminal charges against two other Libyan intelligence officials.
The Libyan government initially balked at turning over the two men, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, before ultimately surrendering them for prosecution before a panel of Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands as part of a special arrangement.
The Justice Department said Mas’ud faces two criminal counts related to the explosion.
U.S. officials did not say how Mas’ud came to be taken into U.S. custody, but late last month, local Libyan media reported that Mas’ud had been kidnapped by armed men Nov. 16 from his residence in Tripoli, the capital. That reporting cited a family statement that accused Tripoli authorities of being silent on the abduction….
A breakthrough in the investigation came when U.S. officials in 2017 received a copy of an interview that Mas’ud, a longtime explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after being taken into custody following the collapse of the government of the country’s leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
In that interview, U.S. officials said, Mas’ud admitted building the bomb in the Pan Am attack and working with two other conspirators to carry out the attack. He also said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gadhafi thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case….
tim gallagher says
Justice long delayed. Good to see they have this evil creature now. Hope that justice does not continue to be delayed for much longer and that this evil person is soon sent off to hell for his action all those years ago.
Walter Sieruk says
It’s very good news that this jihadist who had a sinister and deadly part in that Lockerbie air bombing was captured. Still ,there is much blame for that horrendous jihad mass murder.
Therefore others also guilty for that horrific affront of Muslim terrorism.
For that murderous jihad bombing on December 21,1988 of that Pam Am flight 103, Lockerbie bombing some high and so so high officials of the tyrants in power in Iran with their malice-filled Islamic hate for Americans and America.are likewise guilty.
Those malice-filled mullahs and ayatollahs as well as other sinister and insidious fiends in control of Iran with their destructive intentions are most wicked had a insidious role in what had
occurred Some information has been given by a former Revolutionary Guard member, Reza Kahlili, for Iran who defected to the United States.This information about Iran’s possible involvement in that Pam Am bombing is from his book, which is entitled A TIME TO BETRAY pages291,292, 294, 296.
Fitna says
Notice that Muslims always stonewall and defend the terrorists in these types of attacks. The US should demand they’re turned over and that any official, even if he’s the ruler of another country is liable for arrest and assisting these terrorists.
Once Muslims know all their necks are on the line, then you’ll see how quickly they’ll act. Additionally the terrorists should obviously never be allowed to serve their sentence in any Islamic country, because they’ll somehow “escape” or be let out early.
I think what western nations should do is gather up these terrorists, put them on an old plane doomed for the scrap-heap, then blow it up over the ocean, it’d be poetic justice. Let their suffer like their victims.
What I don’t understand is, when did we stop fighting the wrongly named GWOT? There are still many thousands of Muslim terrorists groups around the world, plotting attacks and carrying them out. Why haven’t western leaders declared some military action plan to eradicate the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, etc? Don’t forget to go after their funders from the mideast and supporters.
Scotsman48 says
That PanAm Flight was supposed to blow up in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean but the Flight took off later than scheduled and thats why it landed in Scotland.
If this low bottom feeding scumbag is sent to Prison in the USA he will be a hero to all the other muslims in Prison.
Best to fly him over the Atlantic Ocean, open the door and kick him out without any clothes on and a stone around his neck.