US brings new charges in Lockerbie bombing case
A former Libyan intelligence officer was charged in relation to the airplane bombing after current Libyan officials provided information to the US Department of Justice.
The United States announced new charges today against a former Libyan intelligence officer pertaining to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi was charged with the destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and in the destruction of a vehicle by means of an explosive resulting in death, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Monday.
The Lockerbie bombing refers to the explosion that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. The flight was heading to New York from London when it exploded above the Scottish town of Lockerbie. All 259 passengers, mostly Americans, died, as did 11 people in the town.
Marimi, whom the department referred to as Masud, worked for Libya’s External Security Organization. He was allegedly instructed to set the bomb timer in the rigged suitcase aboard the plane. He also gave the suitcase to another Libyan intelligence operative, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, who then placed the suitcase on the plane’s conveyor belt, the department alleged.
