In the wake of the arrest by US authorities of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is accused of being behind the bomb that blew up New York-bound Flight 103 in 1988, killing hundreds of people, a human rights group today urged the US and Libya to explain the legal basis for the extradition of the former Libyan intelligence officer accused of making the bomb.
The legal basis for Mas’ud’s arrest and extradition after his release from a Libyan prison and return to the US has been questioned.
For their part, the US authorities stated that his extradition was legal and within the framework of security cooperation between the US and Libya.
Mas’ud’s case was raised by Human Rights Watch, which revealed that “the fact that no Libyan court ordered Mas’ud’s extradition to the United States and that he had no appeal raises serious legal procedural issues.”
The questions surrounding the extradition are based on the fact that there is no standing extradition agreement between Libya and the US.
Libyan officials told the AP that militias loyal to the national unity government were behind his detention and surrender to the US, calling him a “terrorist”.
As a result, the rights group called on the US to hold a fair trial and on Libya to investigate “the violent abduction of Mas’ud from his home”.