Le Pays De France - Libyan accused of Lockerbie bombing charged in US court

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir al-Marimi, who allegedly worked for the regime of former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, was charged with three counts related to the Lockerbie bombing.

Federal prosecutors said they did not intend to seek the death penalty but Masud could face life in prison if convicted of "destruction of an aircraft resulting in death" and the two other related charges.

The judge presiding over the hearing in a US District Court in Washington read Masud the charges and his rights before ordering him held without bond until a detention hearing on December 27.

Masud was provided with an Arabic interpreter for the hearing, his first appearance before a US court since being brought to the United States.

Scottish prosecutors announced on Sunday that Masud was in American hands, but provided no details on how he had been transferred to US custody.

Masud had been reportedly imprisoned in Libya for his alleged involvement in attacks on Libyan opposition figures in 2011.

Only one person has been convicted for the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which remains the deadliest terror attack ever on British soil.

The New York-bound aircraft was blown up 38 minutes after it took off from London, sending the main fuselage plunging to the ground in the town of Lockerbie and spreading debris over a vast area.

The bombing killed all 259 people on the jumbo jet, including 190 Americans, and 11 people on the ground.

Two Libyans -- Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah -- were charged with the bombing and put on trial in the Netherlands.

Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001 while Fhimah was acquitted.

Megrahi died in Libya in 2012, always maintaining his innocence.

His family lodged a bid for a posthumous appeal to clear his name in 2017, but Scotland's High Court upheld his conviction in 2021.

- 'Kadhafi thanked him' -

Masud's fate has been tied up in the warring factionalism of Libyan politics.

According to a September 2015 article in The New Yorker, Masud was sentenced that year to 10 years in prison in Libya after being accused of using remote-detonated bombs against Libyan opposition members in 2011.

The Lockerbie investigation was relaunched in 2016 when Washington learned of Masud's arrest, following Kadhafi's ouster and death in 2011, and his reported confession of involvement to the new Libyan regime in 2012.

According to an affidavit from an FBI agent involved in the probe, Masud worked as a "technical expert" for Libya's External Security Organization (ESO), building explosive devices and earning the rank of colonel.

Masud confessed in a September 2012 interview with a Libyan law enforcement officer to assembling the bomb that brought down the Pan Am jet, the affidavit said.

"Masud confirmed that the bombing operation of Pan Am Flight 103 was ordered by Libyan intelligence leadership," it said.

"Masud confirmed that after the operation, Kadhafi thanked him and other members of the team for their successful attack on the United States."

According to the FBI agent's affidavit, Masud also admitted to committing the April 1986 bombing of the LaBelle Discotheque in Berlin which killed two US service members and a Turkish woman.

Families of the Lockerbie victims thanked US and British law enforcement officials following the news of Masud's arrest.

"Our loved ones will never be forgotten, and those who are responsible for their murder on December 21, 1988 must face justice," they said in a statement.

(E.Beaufort--LPdF)