LONDON: US and Libyan authorities may have violated due process in the arrest and extradition of alleged Lockerbie bombing suspect Abu Agela Massoud Kheir al-Marimi, Human Rights Watch has warned.
The US has long been pursuing al-Marimi over his alleged role in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, which killed 270 people, including 190 American citizens.
In December last year, authorities announced that al-Marimi had been taken into custody and was being prosecuted following a handover from the Libyan Government of National Unity.
Al-Marimi – a former official in Muammar Qaddafi’s government – was abducted on 17 November in an armed raid led by GNU-affiliated forces in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
When his family complained of the abduction, local police refused to file an official complaint, with relatives contacting the local militia and the General Prosecutor’s Office to trace his whereabouts.
GNU Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabebah said his government worked with the US to extradite al-Marimi, but judicial officials in the North African country have criticized the handover as illegal, noting that Libya is a US-held territory. Does not share an extradition treaty with.
Al-Marimi’s family learned the full extent of his arrest and extradition only about a month later, when social media posts showed the Libyan appearing in a US court on 12 December.
He is the third Libyan national in the past decade to be deported to the US on terrorism charges and now faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
HRW said the legal basis for the US claims against al-Marimi centered around a confession he made to a Libyan investigator in 2012.
The US Department of Justice said in a 2020 statement that there is probable cause that al-Marimi conspired with, and aided and abetted by, others in bringing down Pan Am Flight 103.
HRW urged the US to “uphold international fair trial standards” and “provide al-Marimi access to his family members, including by promptly processing visas for them.”
The organization said that the US authorities “should also give him the right to challenge his extradition.”
Under Dabibah, Libyan authorities should allow consular and family visits as well as effective legal counsel for al-Marimi, HRW said.
Al-Marimi had previously been detained in Libya, with HRW documenting the use of “torture, intimidation and other ill-treatment” by the country’s authorities during the same period.
This has led to fears that al-Marimi’s alleged confession may have been coerced, with the organization warning US authorities to avoid the use of forced confessions in prosecutions.
Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said: “It appears that no Libyan court ordered or reviewed al-Marimi’s transfer to the US, and he had no chance to appeal , raising serious due process concerns.
“The political impasse and chaos in Libya do not allow the US authorities to disregard violations of fundamental rights.
“Justice for the many victims of Pan Am Flight 103 is at risk of being tainted unless the US and GNU governments clarify the legal basis for al-Marimi’s transfer to US custody.”