Abdulhamid al-Dbaiba, the prime minister of Libya, has confirmed that his government helped facilitate the extradition of Lockerbie bombing suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir al-Marimi to the United States last week.
For his arrest, Interpol has issued a warrant. Al-Dbaiba said in a televised speech that cooperation was necessary to protect Libya’s future stability.
Furthermore, he stated that his country was merely following an “international judicial framework to extradite accused citizens,” making the extradition perfectly legal.
Al-Dbaiba claimed without evidence that Masud built the bomb that exploded on a Pan Am flight in midair, killing 270 people. Still, he insisted that Libya “had to wipe the mark of terrorism from the forehead of the Libyan people.”
The bombing made Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader of Libya, an international pariah. In 2011, a revolution led to Gaddafi’s toppling and eventual death.
As of this writing, neither Al-Dbaiba nor his Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli has issued a statement regarding his detention or transfer to the United States, with whom Libya has no extradition treaty.
In response to a complaint from the suspect’s family, Libya’s top prosecutor, Siddiq al-Sour, stated the next day that an investigation would be launched into Masud’s detention and transfer circumstances. The statements from the Libyan prime minister came the following day.
The Prime Minister of the opposition government in eastern Libya, Fathi Bashagha, declared Masud’s incarceration unconstitutional on Tuesday and asked for his immediate release.
Libyans, already frustrated by years of upheaval and division, are much more upset by the extradition. Posters in Tripoli blaming al-Dbaiba and his partner militia troops for the transfer of Masud were spotted on Thursday in Facebook videos.
Many believe that al-Dbaiba unjustly detained Masud and handed him over to the US to get the country’s backing in his power struggle with other groups.
Ex-Libyan intelligence explosives specialist Muammar al-Masud is suspected of building the bomb that exploded a Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. There were roughly 190 Americans on the flight to the Big Apple.
The US did not legally accuse him until 2020 when new information showed that he had reportedly confessed to a Libyan law enforcement officer.
Reuters reported last month that his relatives stated he was taken from their house by an armed squad associated with al-Dbaiba.
The United States claimed custody of him on Sunday. The following day, Masud was arraigned on charges of international terrorism in a federal court in Washington.
Regardless of Masud’s “involvement in terrorism,” according to Al-Dbaiba, the government will give him legal representation.
In 2017, the US Justice Department obtained a transcript of an interview Masud gave law enforcement in the North African country in 2012. He allegedly admitted to manufacturing the bomb used in the Pan-Am bombing.
Masud told FBI agents that Gaddafi’s intelligence agencies had ordered the strike.