The attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
Prosecutors announced Monday they will not seek the death penalty against a Libyan intelligence officer accused of building the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Lucy Yang has the details.
"Although nearly 34 years have passed since the defendant's actions, countless families have never fully recovered," Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said during a court proceeding attended by victims' relatives. The bombing laid bare the threat of international terrorism more than a decade before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and produced global investigations and punishing sanctions. Several victims' relatives who weren't sure a criminal case would ever be brought described as surreal the news that Mas'ud was finally in American custody.
Outside the courthouse Monday, Paul Hudson carried a photograph of his daughter, Melina, a 16-year-old student who had been returning for the Christmas holidays from an exchange program. He recalled how, after the crash, her belongings were scattered around the Lockerbie countryside. The family did get back her passport and her notebook.
At one point, as the charges were being discussed, Mas'ud said in Arabic that he could not speak until he saw his attorney.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. At the time, Mas'ud was in Libyan custody.
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 on 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.
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Libyan accused in 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie appears in US courtMore than three decades after a bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everyone aboard, a former Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb appeared Monday in federal court, charged with an act of international terrorism
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With Pan Am 103 suspect in custody, spotlight returns to 1988 Lockerbie bombingThe attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
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With Pan Am 103 suspect in custody, spotlight returns to 1988 Lockerbie bombingThe attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
Leer más »
With Pan Am 103 suspect in custody, spotlight returns to 1988 Lockerbie bombingThe announcement that a man suspected in the 1988 bombing of a passenger jet has been taken into U.S. custody put the spotlight back on the attack.
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With Pan Am 103 suspect in custody, spotlight returns to 1988 Lockerbie bombingThe attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
Leer más »
With Pan Am 103 suspect in custody, spotlight returns to 1988 Lockerbie bombingThe attack killed all 259 people aboard the plane and 11 on the ground. The majority of those killed were Americans.
Leer más »