US set to announce new charges against suspected Lockerbie bomb maker on 32nd anniversary of attack that killed 270
- Attorney General Barr is set to announce charges against Abu Agila Masud
- The former Libyan intelligence officer is accused of being involved in the attack
- Pan Am flight 103 exploded in 1988 with debris crashing into town of Lockerbie
Attorney General William Barr is set to announce criminal charges against an alleged bombmaker involved in the Lockerbie plane attack in 1988.
Abu Agila Masud, a former Libyan intelligence officer, is expected to be charged in one of Barr’s final acts in the Justice Department.
The announcement expected on Monday will take place on the 32nd anniversary of the terror attack which killed 270 people.
Attorney General William Barr is set to announce criminal charges against an alleged bombmaker involved in the Lockerbie plane attack in 1988
Pan Am flight 103 was en route from London to New York when it exploded, with large sections of the plane crashing into the small residential Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 11 people on the ground.
The majority of the victims were from the US and Colonel Gaddafi accepted Libya’s responsibility for the attack, although he maintained he did not give orders to carry it out.
Barr told President Trump of his resignation last week but asked to delay his departure by a week to announce the new Lockerbie charges, sources told CNN.
Pan Am flight 103 was en route from London to New York when it exploded, with large sections of the plane crashing into the small residential Scottish town of Lockerbie
When Barr served under George H.W. Bush in the Justice Department, he announced charges against Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah.
The two men linked to Libyan intelligence were accused of placing the explosives in a portable radio and cassette player inside a suitcase on the plane.
After protracted negotiations, the pair were tried by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.
Megrahi was jailed for life in 2001 but was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after he was diagnosed with cancer, before he died in 2012.
Fhimah was found not guilty but investigators have long believed that Megrahi did not act alone.
Masud, a former Libyan intelligence officer, is expected to be charged in one of Barr’s final acts in the Justice Department
The new case against Masud, who is believed to be in Libya, is expected to be filed by prosecutors in Washington DC.
US officials say conversations are underway with Libya to take custody of Masud and Scottish authorities, with negotiations going more smoothly in this round of charges.
Barr has long been determined to seek justice for the Lockerbie attack and the US response.
At a memorial in 2019, he said ‘nothing was more important to me’ than investigating the bombing during his first term as attorney general.
He said at the Arlington Ceremony last year: ‘I must say that, to this day, I am not satisfied with our country’s overall response to the attack.
‘I never thought that putting two Libyan intelligence officers on trial should be the sum and substance of our response.’