ATTORNEY General Bill Barr has announced new charges against the suspected Libyan bombmaker responsible for the the 1988 explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people.
Announced on Monday, the charges against Abu Agela Masud came on the 32nd anniversary of the disaster.
Attorney General William Barr leads press conference two days before his term ends[/caption]
It was also Barr’s final press conference as attorney general after he resigned last week.
This 1988 bombing happened during Barr’s first stint at the Justice Department.
Nearly 30 years ago he announced charges against two Libyan intelligence officials, vowing that the investigation would continue.
Speaking on Monday, Barr said: “At long last, this man responsible for killing Americans and many others will be subject to justice for his crimes.”
Alleged bombmaker, Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi was charged with the 1988 Pan Am explosion[/caption]
Barr charges alleged bombmakers in a case that was first explored during his first stint in the Justice Department[/caption]
The alleged bombmaker is not yet in US custody but in prison in Libya awaiting extradition.
The Pan Am explosion killed 259 people in the air and eleven on the ground[/caption]
Some 190 Americans were on board and 35 of them were Syracuse University students flying home from studying abroad [/caption]
Alleged bombmaker, Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi has not been arrested yet in the Pan Am explosion crime[/caption]
A breakthrough in the investigation came in 2016 when US officials learned that Masud had been captured after the collapse of the regime of Moammar Gadhafi.
US officials claim that Masud admitted to Libyan authorities that he built the bomb in the Pan Am attack and worked with the two other defendants including Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to carry out the plot.
In 1992, the UN Security Council imposed arms sales and air travel sanctions against Libya to push Gadhafi into surrendering the suspects.
Attorney General William Barr had not attended press conferences for a few months[/caption]
One man — former Libyan intelligence official Abdel Baset al-Megrahi — was ultimately tried in the Netherlands and convicted.
A second Libyan suspect was acquitted of all charges.
It was not until 2003 that Libya accepted responsibility for the Pan Am explosion[/caption]
Tensions have existed between the West and Libya more than a decade before the Sept. 11 attacks[/caption]
On December 14, 2020 Barr announced his resignation as Attorney General [/caption]
Al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but Scottish authorities released him on humanitarian grounds in 2009 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He later died in Tripoli.
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The Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on Dec. 21, 1988, en route to New York City and then Detroit.
Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after a semester abroad.
