Lockerbie bombing accused loses bid to have US case thrown out ahead of January trial
A US judge has ruled that the way Abu Agila Mas'ud al-Marimi was taken from Libya does not prevent his trial in Washington. He denies any role in the 1988 attack, which killed 270 people.
A memorial ceremony for the victims of Pan Am Flight 103. File photo. · Photograph: Arlington National Cemetery (public domain)
A Libyan man accused of involvement in the Lockerbie bombing has lost a legal bid to have the case against him thrown out, clearing the way for his trial in the United States to begin in January.
Abu Agila Mas'ud al-Marimi denies playing any part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Dumfriesshire town on 21 December 1988, killing all 259 people on board and 11 residents on the ground.
He has been in US custody since December 2022.
The defence argument
Lawyers for Mr Marimi argued the case should be dismissed because of the way he was brought to the US. In documents lodged with the court in Washington, they said he was taken from his home in Tripoli in 2022 by armed members of a militia during a night-time operation, held without access to lawyers, and later handed to FBI agents at an airport in Misrata.
They argued this breached his constitutional rights and extradition arrangements between the US and Libya.
The judge's ruling
Court transcripts obtained by BBC Scotland show that trial judge Dabney Friedrich rejected the motion. She relied on a long-standing principle of American law that a court's right to hold a trial is not affected by the way a defendant was brought before it, provided the trial itself is fair.
The judge said there were two exceptions to that rule. The first applies where US officials themselves deliberately and unreasonably violate a defendant's constitutional rights. She said the allegations, at best, suggested US officials had pressed Libyan officials to arrange the transfer, not that they directed or controlled it.
The second exception applies where an extradition treaty is the only lawful route for transfer. The judge said the international conventions relied on by the US government did not make extradition the only option, and that Libya was free to transfer Mr Marimi by any method it chose.
In a separate ruling, the judge also refused a defence application to exclude a statement the prosecution says Mr Marimi made while in custody in Libya in 2012. Mr Marimi says that statement was false and was made under duress. These are matters that will be tested at trial.
Trial date
After three postponements, the trial is now due to begin in Washington on 19 January.
The only previous trial
The only previous criminal trial over the bombing took place at a specially convened Scottish court in the Netherlands between May 2000 and January 2001. Three Scottish judges convicted Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was jailed for life.
Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Government in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and died in Tripoli in 2012.
The Lockerbie bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack ever carried out in the UK. Families of the victims on both sides of the Atlantic have campaigned for decades for answers about who was responsible.
Mr Marimi is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.