NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors announced Monday they will not seek the death penalty against a Libyan intelligence officer accused of building the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 killing 270 people, including 190 Americans.
Some family members of those killed in the bombing were in the Washington, D.C., area federal courtroom Monday to watch the first federal hearing for suspect, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi.
While a conviction on any of the charges carries the possibility of the death penalty in 2022, federal prosecutor Erik Kenerson told Meriweather his office would not pursue it because the counts were not death-eligible in 1988 when the bombing occurred. "His actions killed all 259 passengers and crew on board the aircraft and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie," Kenerson said in court.
"It wasn't clear that ever, ever we could get him," Bernstein told ABC News of Mas'ud, who has been in custody in Libya for several years. "It seems like yesterday, but it has dragged on and we have aged over the years," Boulanger told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.Pan Am Flight 103 exploded on Dec. 21, 1988, over Lockerbie, Scotland, about 38 minutes after taking off from London's Heathrow Airport. The flight, which originated in Frankfort, Germany, was heading to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and was to continue on to Detroit.
In 2001, Megrahi was convicted of his role in the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. However, he was released in 2009 because he had cancer and died in Libya in 2012.In 1996, families of those killed in the bombing sued the government of Libya for its role in the attack. Seven years later, Gadhafi agreed to settle the case for $2.7 billion.
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