PRESS STATEMENT – ABU MASUD TAKEN INTO US CUSTODY FOR ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT IN THE LOCKERBIE BOMBING
Head of Lockerbie Appeal Legal Team – Aamer Anwar – Lawyer for Ali El-Megrahi and members of his family – a statement issued on their behalf
On the 21st December 2020 Donald Trump’s former Attorney General- William Barr stated the USA wished to extradite a former Libyan Intelligence Officer, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud for the Lockerbie bombing. Today the USA have stated that Mr.Masud is now in US custody.
The United States claim that Masud’s confession to being involved in the conspiracy with Al-Megrahi to blow up Pan Am Flight 103, was ‘extracted’ by a ‘Libyan law enforcement agent’ in 2012, whilst in custody in a Libyan Prison. What the US should have said was that Masud was actually in the custody of a ‘War Lord’, widely condemned for human rights abuses and the circumstances in which such a confession was extracted would be strongly opposed in any US/Scottish court.
The US criminal complaint against Masud, states that he bought the clothes to put into the Samsonite suitcase that is claimed went on to blow up Pan Am Flight 103. The problem for the US Department of Justice is that the case against Megrahi is still based on the eye-witness testimony of Toni Gauchi, stating that Megrahi bought the clothes. How can both Megrahi and Masud now be held responsible?
Only in July of this year the UK Supreme Court rejected our leave to appeal seeking to overturn the conviction of the Scottish High court which maintained that Al-Megrahi was the bomber. Our legal team is in touch with the Libyan authorities but will also now consider what this means for the potential of any further miscarriage of justice appeal for Al-Megrahi.
The statement of facts from the USA :
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1347321/download
See para [9] “I am aware that also in March 2020, FBI agents and officials from Police Scotland interviewed the Libyan law enforcement officer who obtained the statement from MASUD. This law enforcement officer expressed a willingness to testify at a trial if the Libyan Government agrees to make the officer available.”
During the course of the Megrahi Appeal no information was given to our Legal team by the Scottish authorities that Libya had Masud available or we would have precognosed him. We find it astonishing that the US now claims that Masud was given $500 by Megrahi to buy clothes to fill the suitcase but Megrahi then also bought the clothes too….. (see para 44 and footnote 6).
We are now trying to imagine the ridiculous situation that Masud will say “I bought the clothes” (presumably from Marys House, Malta) which would fundamentally undermine Megrahi’s case. What will the Scottish Crown Office say “No you didn’t” especially as it played a key role in their case against Al-Megrahi.
I can only imagine there will be serious questions being asked as to who in the Libyan Government took the decision to hand over another Libyan citizen in breach of its own constitutional law, but more importantly ‘what deal’ was struck to sacrifice their own national integrity,
For the Megrahi family this just another piece in the jigsaw of monumental lies, built on the back of the Libyan people, the victims of Lockerbie and the incarceration of an innocent man Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi. Ali stated their family’s journey is not over, Libya has suffered enough for the crime of Lockerbie and he is still determined to see his father’s name cleared.
