Families welcome Lockerbie bomb suspect’s detentionon December 12, 2022 at 6:38 am

Families of Lockerbie disaster victims have welcomed the detention of a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103.

Abu Agila Masud is currently in United States custody and faces charges alleging he played a key role in the bombing on 21 December, 1988.

The blast left 270 people dead.

Kara Weipz, whose brother Richard Monetti was killed in the atrocity, said families felt a sense of justice for their loved ones.

Speaking to BBC Scotland, Ms Weipz said: “This is what the families have been fighting for, for almost 34 years – they’ve been fighting for justice, to see those who are guilty of this crime to be held accountable.

“To know now there’s going to be a trial… there is a sense of finally justice for our loved ones.

“It’s a victory in that sense. At the same time it doesn’t change the fact that our loved ones were murdered and they’re not here with us.”

The Lockerbie bombing is the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil.

All 259 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 747 bound to New York from London died while another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes.

In 2001 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of bombing the flight after standing trial at a specially-convened Scottish court in the Netherlands.

He was the only man to be convicted over the attack.

Megrahi was jailed for life but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after being diagnosed with cancer. He died in Libya in 2012.

Last month it was reported that Masud had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya, leading to speculation that he was going to be handed over to the American authorities to stand trial.

A US Justice Department spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that Masud would make an initial appearance in a federal court in Washington.

Asked about the kidnapping claims, Ms Weipz said that if Masud was in US custody, she believed it “happened above reproach”.

She added: “I have full confidence in our prosecution team. If there’s one thing I’ve learned growing up in this case, attorneys don’t bring cases that they don’t feel confident they can win.

“I have to put my faith in those who are paid to do this job.”

Ms Weipz also said there had been a strong desire among the victims’ families to have any suspects tried under US law.

She said: “It’s not a disrespect to Scottish law, it’s just what we know. It’s our system and this was a terrorist attack against a US carrier, there were 190 Americans on the plane.

“This is a terrorist attack against America too – the second largest in our history. I think that it’s very important for us to have this trial in the US under our laws – it means everything to the US families.”

Her father, Bob Monetti, said they faced difficulties keeping track of the Megrahi trial in the Netherlands

“If it’s in the US, and especially Washington DC, there’ll be a lot of press coverage and people will hear what’s going on. There will be no confusion about what happened,” he added.

Five years ago Masud was serving a prison sentence in Libya for bomb-making.

It is alleged that during this time, he confessed to being involved in the conspiracy with Megrahi to blow up the flight.

Megrahi’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said Masud was actually in the custody of a war lord “widely condemned for human rights abuses”.

He said the circumstances in which such a confession was extracted would be “strongly opposed” in any US or Scottish court.

Megrahi, who always proclaimed his innocence, launched two appeals against his 27-year sentence. One was unsuccessful and the other was abandoned.

One British relative, the Rev John Mosey whose daughter Helga died in the bombing, questioned why Masud would face trial in the United States.

He told the BBC: “What is he doing in America? This was a crime committed above Scottish soil.”