Lockerbie suspect claims illegal removal from Libya for trial

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 09:02 · Archive

A man charged with the Lockerbie bombing claims he was unlawfully abducted from Libya and handed to US agents.

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud, a Libyan man charged with making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, has claimed he was illegally removed from Libya to stand trial in the United States. The bombing killed 270 people: all 259 passengers and crew on board the aircraft, which was 40 minutes into its flight from London to New York, and 11 people on the ground. Mas'ud denies all charges.

According to his legal team's court papers, Mas'ud was seized by armed men and handed 'hooded and bound' to FBI agents, who had a plane waiting to fly him out of Libya in 2022. He characterises the removal as an unlawful rendition, calling it a 'cloak and dagger operation conducted in the dead of night'. At the time of his removal, he was serving a jail sentence in Libya for attacking rebel forces during the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. He had been released from prison on 30 September 2021 on 'compassionate grounds' and returned to his family in Tripoli.

Mas'ud has asked a judge in Washington DC to throw the case out of court on the grounds of the unlawful removal. The US Department of Justice has argued that under American law, the manner of his removal should not prevent the trial from proceeding. The trial, which has been postponed three times, is scheduled to begin in January 2026.

How it is being reported

• Lockerbie bombing suspect claims he was seized from Libya in 'cloak and dagger' operationAbu Agila Masud claims he was abducted by armed men and handed over "hooded and bound" to FBI agents.Daily Record · 13 Oct, 08:21
• Lockerbie bombing suspect seized from Libya in 'cloak and dagger' operationAbu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi claims he was unlawfully taken from Libya to stand trial over the bombing..BBC Scotland · 12 Oct, 22:56

In this story: Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud · Pan Am Flight 103 · Lockerbie · Libya · United States · FBI · Washington DC

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