The Prime Minister of Libya, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has indirectly acknowledged his administration’s involvement in the transfer of a Lockerbie bombing suspect to the United States last week.
Dbeibah and his Government of National Unity (GNU) had not yet commented on the detention of Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi or his transfer to the United States, which has prompted anger in Libya.
But speaking in a televised address on Thursday December 15, 2022, the prime minister said an arrest warrant was issued from Interpol against Masud and the government had to cooperate.
“An arrest warrant was issued against him from Interpol. It has become imperative for us to cooperate in this file for the sake of Libya’s interest and stability,” Dbeibah said.
Masud is suspected of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988, killing 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground.
He was not formally charged by the United States until 2020, when it uncovered fresh evidence revealing he had apparently confessed his crimes to a Libyan law enforcement official.
Masud, who had been imprisoned in Tripoli after the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against autocratic ruler Muammar Gaddafi, was seized from his home by an armed unit linked to Dbeibah last month, his family have said.
On Sunday the United States said he was in US custody.
Libya, where control over government is disputed, has no extradition treaty with the United States and the Attorney General has opened an investigation into the circumstances of Masud’s detention and transfer.
Some critics of Dbeibah accuse him of illegally detaining Masud and handing him over to the United States to curry its support in his standoff with rival factions over control of government.
Dbeibah said the government would provide Masud a lawyer “regardless of his involvement in terrorism”.
