Libyan Lockerbie Bombing Suspect to be Arraigned in US Federal Court

The artist sketch depicts Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in federal court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, as Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather listens. (AP)
The artist sketch depicts Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in federal court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, as Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather listens. (AP)
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Libyan Lockerbie Bombing Suspect to be Arraigned in US Federal Court

The artist sketch depicts Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in federal court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, as Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather listens. (AP)
The artist sketch depicts Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in federal court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, as Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather listens. (AP)

A Libyan intelligence operative suspected of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and killed 270 people will be arraigned in a US court on Wednesday, where prosecutors are also expected to ask for him to be detained through trial.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi,71, is the first suspect in the attack to face criminal charges in the United States. He is scheduled to appear in a federal court in Washington.

The bomb exploded aboard a Boeing 747 over Lockerbie as it flew from London to New York in December 1988. All 259 people on board were killed, and another 11 people died on the ground.

The Justice Department has alleged that Masud, who is from Tunisia and Libya, allegedly confessed his crimes to a Libyan law enforcement official back in September 2012.

It took many years for the FBI to piece together enough evidence before he could be apprehended and extradited to the United States.

In 1991, two other Libyan intelligence operatives, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, were charged in the bombing.

At a Scottish trial before a court at Camp Zeist in The Netherlands, Megrahi was found guilty of the bombing in 2001 and was jailed for life. He was later released because he was suffering from cancer and died at his home in Tripoli in 2012.

Fhimah was acquitted of all charges, but Scottish prosecutors have maintained that Megrahi did not act alone.

In a 2020 criminal complaint, Masud was charged with destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle used in interstate commerce by means of an explosive resulting in death. He was formally indicted on those charges in November 2022.

Prosecutors do not intend to seek the death penalty because it was not legally available at the time the crimes were committed.



Passenger Plane Flying from Azerbaijan to Russia Crashes in Kazakhstan with Many Feared Dead

Plane crash in Kazakhstan (Archive - Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan)
Plane crash in Kazakhstan (Archive - Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan)
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Passenger Plane Flying from Azerbaijan to Russia Crashes in Kazakhstan with Many Feared Dead

Plane crash in Kazakhstan (Archive - Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan)
Plane crash in Kazakhstan (Archive - Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Kazakhstan)

An Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying that 27 people had survived.
Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact, Reuters reported.
The Central Asian country's emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including three children, were being treated at a nearby hospital.
Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 aircraft, with flight number J2-8243, had been flying from Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya, but had been forced to make an emergency landing approximately 3 km (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau.
Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
Authorities in Kazakhstan said they had begun looking into different possible versions of what had happened, including a technical problem, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Russia's aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.
Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.