Charges in ’88 Lockerbie bombing that killed 259
The accused bombmaker responsible for the explosion that killed 259 people aboard Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was charged Monday — the 32nd anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in United Kingdom history.
Abu Agila Muhammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi faces criminal charges for his role in the bombing, Attorney General William Barr announced Monday morning.
“Let there be no mistake: no amount of time or distance will stop the United States, and its partners in Scotland, from pursuing justice in this case,” Barr said.
“Well over a third of Americans alive today were not yet born on the day of the Lockerbie bombing or would not have been old enough to remember it,” Barr said. “But for those of us who do remember, that tragic event and the iconic images of its aftermath, some of which are displayed here today, are forever seared in our memories.”
The massive explosion on Dec. 21, 1988, killed 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the Boeing 747 plane, known as the “Clipper Maid of
the Seas.” The debris that fell to the ground — scattered over 840 square miles, nearly the entire width of Scotland — killed another 11 people in the town of Lockerbie.
A joint investigation between the U.S. and Scotland led to charges in November 1991 in both countries
against two Libyan intelligence officers — Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, Barr said.
In May 2000, a special Scottish court convened in the Netherlands to try the two men. Megrahi was convicted on all charges, but Fhimah was acquitted.