WASHINGTON — A Libyan man accused in the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing lost his attempt to have U.S. federal charges against him dismissed. The court ruling allows prosecution of Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi to proceed.
Mas'ud faces charges related to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. The attack killed all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.
U.S. prosecutors charged Mas'ud in December 2020, alleging he constructed the bomb. He was taken into U.S. custody in December 2022 after being transferred from Libya.
Mas'ud's legal team sought to dismiss the case, arguing against the legality of his transfer to U.S. jurisdiction. The court rejected these arguments, affirming the U.S. government's authority to prosecute.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was previously convicted in the attack. A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands found him guilty in 2001 and sentenced him to life in prison. Al-Megrahi maintained his innocence and was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 due to terminal cancer. He died in 2012.
The bombing remains the deadliest act of terrorism against the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
