To stay in power, Dbeibeh extradites last man accused in Lockerbie case to US

Several attempts are being made by the outgoing National Unity Government, which is headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, to stay in power as much as possible by extraditing the last person accused in the Lockerbie case to the US.

This comes despite repeated denials by his government of the extradition plan which brought harsh criticism to Mr Dbeibeh.

The people making this criticism describe the extradition plan as a 'black milestone' in the history of Libyan politics.

Handover

For its part, the US confirmed what has been circulating in Libya for weeks about the receipt of the last Libyan accused in the Lockerbie case, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud, from the Unity Government in Tripoli, after he disappeared mysteriously after an armed group stormed his home in the capital in November 2022.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland welcomed the transfer of the accused to the US for trial.

"This is an important step in achieving justice for the victims and their loved ones," Garland said in a statement.

After arriving in the US, Mas'ud was transferred to a Department of Justice facility in Alexandria, Virginia, to complete the initial stages of processing his file.

Scottish prosecutors announced that Mas'ud was being held by US authorities, but without explaining how he was transferred from Libya to the US where the White House only said that the US had lawfully arrested the accused.

The US judiciary indicted Mas'ud in absentia on December 21, 2020, when the latter was detained in his country. On that day, Washington said it was "optimistic" that he could be handed over from Tripoli.

No execution

Despite his extradition, Mas'ud will not face the death penalty on the charges against him since this punishment was not applied at the federal level in the US in 1998, according to Agence France-Presse.

Immediately after appearing before a federal judge in a Washington court at a brief hearing, Mas'ud was informed of the charges against him, including, in particular, the destruction of an aircraft that caused deaths.

However, despite the seriousness of these charges, he does not face the risk of execution, since this punishment was not applied at the federal level in the US in 1998 in connection with the charges against him.

During the hearing, in which Mas'ud communicated with the court, the accused was informed that he would remain detained until the second hearing on December 27, during which his defence attorneys could apply for his release.

The public prosecution confirmed in advance that it would object to any request to grant the accused conditional release.

With the emergence of the truth, many Libyan parties launched a stinging attack on Mr Dbeibeh's government, after allowing the reopening of this file, which was closed by an official agreement between Washington and Tripoli in 2008, after the regime of Muammar Gaddafi at that time paid tens of billions of dollars to the US in compensation.

The Libyan National Security Council announced its refusal to reopen the Lockerbie case, which had been settled between Libya and the US since 2008.

Ibrahim al-Dersi, a member of the House of Representatives, considered the extradition of Mas'ud to the US a 'black milestone' in the history of Libyan politics.

He pointed out that this case was closed, after the Libyan people paid a high price after mediation and testimony of major countries in the region and at the international level.

Billions of dollars, he said, were paid from Libya to close this page.