Lockerbie disaster: Man accused of making bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 appears in US court
The man accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 has appeared in a US court.
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al Marimi appeared in person at the Washington DC federal courthouse.
Dressed in a green jumpsuit, he walked slowly into court and spoke up only to confirm his name. He was not invited to enter a plea.
About 20 people whose relatives died in the bombing were in the public gallery.
Among them was a widow with her daughter and a man with his father who lost his mother.
They were some of many families made incomplete by the biggest terror attack in British history.
“I’ve been doing this [pursuing justice] for 34 years,” one relative, Stephanie Bernstein, told Sky News.
“My daughter was seven when my husband was killed… The United States government is going to take care of its citizens in life and in death… grateful to the Biden administration.”
Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing, said he hoped Mas’ud would eventually tell the bereaved families more about what really happened that day.
“Hopefully he can tell us about how it was done, and contribute to discovering the truth about this ghastly, terrible business.”
The proceedings lasted under an hour and paved the way for a further detention hearing on 27 December.
Mas’ud said, through federal lawyers assigned to him, that he had not yet been able to assign his own legal counsel. He has been given a week to do so, and he will remain in custody.
The 243 passengers and 16 crew on board the plane all died
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Mas’ud has long been sought by prosecutors and suspected of being the “third man” behind the downing of the American plane over Lockerbie in December 34 years ago.
The 747 jumbo was at 31,000ft and just over half an hour into its transatlantic flight from London Heathrow to New York’s JFK airport when a bomb exploded.
The 243 passengers and 16 crew on board the plane all died. On the ground, in the town of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, 11 more people died as debris fell on to homes.
A painstaking and lengthy investigation combed 845-square miles of Scottish countryside for debris. It concluded that the bomb had been placed inside a cassette player that was wrapped in clothes and placed inside a suitcase.
After the Libyan government claimed responsibility in 2003, two former members of its intelligence service were arrested, extradited and tried.
Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was acquitted. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was found guilty and jailed for life in 2012.
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Suspect Lockerbie bomb maker arrested
Investigators always suspected third man
Megrahi, who failed twice to have his conviction overturned, was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 and died in Libya in 2012.
But investigators always suspected a third man was part of the plot.
In 2011 after the overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi, Mas’ud was taken into custody in Libya as part of a sweep of arrests of regime loyalists.
The following year, he is said to have told a Libyan law-enforcement official that he was the Lockerbie bomb maker.
This apparent confession in 2012 formed the basis of a US Department of Justice case against him which was released in 2020.
The details of how Mas’ud was transferred from Libyan custody to American hands has not been revealed.
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al-Marimi in US custody
Scotland’s top law officer to meet US officials
The bombing remains the deadliest terror attack in British history. People from 21 counties were killed.
Scotland’s top law officer has welcomed the news that Mas’ud is in US custody.
“The steps taken by the US justice authorities are significant and progress towards a legal breakthrough is welcomed by Scottish prosecutors and police,” Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said.
“The tragic events of December 1988 have bound Scotland and the US together in deep loss and steadfast determination that all those who committed this atrocity should be brought before a court.”
She added: “For more than 20 years, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has maintained a case team working on this investigation, bringing together a range of prosecutorial expertise in counter-terrorism, major crime investigations, forensic analysis, international co-operation and mutual legal assistance.”
Ms Bain said officials in Scotland and the US will continue to investigate the case, “with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with al Megrahi to justice”.
She confirmed she would be meeting American officials next week to discuss the case.
Two people have been killed and nine injured in a shooting in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park on Memorial Day.
Police said a large number of people were gathered near Lemon Hill Drive and Sedgley Drive at around 10.30pm local time on Monday when shots were fired.
A man and a woman were killed, and three teenagers – aged 15, 16 and 17 – were among the injured, all of whom were said to be in a stable condition.
“We have not recovered any weapons at this time,” a police officer told reporters.
“This is significant. It’s Memorial Day… we understand the significance of this event and we will make sure to provide an update on Tuesday.”
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States, usually observed on the last Monday of May.
The day is dedicated to honouring and mourning military personnel who have died in the performance of their duties.
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Police said they have made no arrests so far and they have not yet released information on any suspects.
Fairmount Park was closed late on Monday evening following the shooting.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
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Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
In Minneapolis, the spot where George Floyd was murdered has been turned into a mural.
His face is depicted in street art on a pavement covered in flowers, rosaries, and other trinkets left by people who have come to pay their respects in the last five years.
His final moments, struggling for breath with white police officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck, were captured in a viral video that provoked anger, upset, and outrage.
Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck
In Minneapolis and other parts of America, there were protests that at points boiled over into unrest.
The events to mark the fifth anniversary of his death took on a very different tone – one of celebration and joy.
Behind a wooden statue of a clenched fist on one end of a junction now renamed George Perry Floyd Square, people gathered in the morning.
There was a moment of prayer before a brass band began to play and the group marched, while singing and chanting.
George Perry Floyd Square, a makeshift memorial area
‘It made us want to fight harder’
Among those gathered in front of a makeshift stage built in the square were two of Floyd’s family members – his cousin Paris and aunt Mahalia.
To them, the man whose death sparked a racial reckoning in America and further afield, was simply “Perry,” a larger-than-life figure whose presence is missed at family gatherings.
Speaking to me while the speakers behind them thumped and people danced, they didn’t just reflect with sadness though.
There was also pride at a legacy they felt has led to change.
“It made us want to fight harder,” said Mahalia, “and it’s a feeling you cannot explain. When the whole world just stood up.”
George Floyd’s aunt Mahalia and cousin Paris
Referring to Chauvin’s eventual murder charge, Paris added: “I think that from here on out, at least officers know that you’re not going to slide through the cracks. Our voices are heard more.”
The tapestry of items outside the Cup Foods convenience store, now renamed Unity Foods, is not the only makeshift memorial in the area.
A short walk away is the “Say Their Names” cemetery, an art installation honouring black people killed by the police.
Meeting me there later in the day, activist Nikema Levy says the installation and George Floyd Square are called “sacred spaces” in the community.
As someone who took to the streets at the time of Floyd’s death and a community organiser for years before that, she’s constantly stopped by people who want to speak to her.
Activist Nikema Levy speaking to Sky News
‘White supremacy on steroids’
Once we do manage to speak, Levy reminds me of a wider political picture. One that goes beyond Minneapolis and is a fraught one.
In the week of the anniversary, the US Department of Justice rolled back investigations into some of the largest police forces in the country, including in Minneapolis – a move she calls “diabolical.”
“That type of cruelty is what we have seen since Donald Trump took office on January 20th of this year,” she continued.
“From my perspective, that is white supremacy on steroids. And it should come as no surprise that he would take these types of steps, because these are the things that he talked about on the campaign trail.”
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Trump has argued his policing reforms will help make America’s communities safer.
Even on a day of optimism, with a community coming together, Levy’s words in front of headstones bearing the names of black people who have died at the hands of the police are a reminder of how deep the racial divides in America still are – a sentiment she leaves me with.
“From the days of slavery and Jim Crow in this country, we’ve just had the perception of healing, but true healing has never taken place,” she says.
“So the aftermath of George Floyd is yet another example of what we already know.”
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