Human rights group questions Lockerbie suspect’s extradition

Artist’s sketch of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi in court in court in Washington in December (Dana Verkouteren/AP)

A leading rights group has urged the US and Libya to explain the legal basis of the surprise extradition of a former Libyan intelligence officer accused of making the bomb that exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

US authorities announced in December that they had arrested Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi over allegations that he was behind the bomb which brought down the New York-bound flight just days before Christmas in 1988.