Lockerbie bomb suspect to appear in US court

A man accused of being the bomb maker in the Lockerbie terrorist attack is due in a US court later.

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi will appear in a federal court in Washington.

Libyan-born Mas’ud is alleged to have made the bomb which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet bound for New York from London, on December 21, 1988.

Another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes, in what remains Britain's deadliest terrorist attack. Of the victims, 190 were Americans.

A previous hearing in December heard that Mas’ud will not face the death penalty because the bombing occurred before the specific charges which he faces carried a possible penalty of capital punishment.

Prosecutors say that in a confession extracted more than 10 years ago, while he was in custody in Libya on unrelated charges, he admitted to setting the timer for the bomb.

In December, the US Justice Department announced that Mas'ud had been taken into custody, two years after it revealed that it had charged him in connection with the explosion.

In 2020, Mas’ud was charged by the US Attorney General William Barr with being the third person involved in the terrorist attack.

At the time, he was said to be in Libyan custody and Mr Barr said US authorities would work "arm in arm" with their Scottish counterparts.

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