美国国家公共电台 NPR--U.S. takes custody of the alleged bomb maker in the 1988 Lockerbie attack

U.S. takes custody¹ of the alleged² bomb maker³ in the 1988 Lockerbie attack

Transcript⁴

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimihe, the Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was handed over to U.S. authorities.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

On December 21, 1988, a bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Now nearly 34 years later, the Libyan man suspected of making that bomb is in U.S. custody.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE⁵: It's hard to understate how shocking the Lockerbie bombing was at the time. Two hundred seventy people from 21 countries were killed, 190 of them Americans.

MART?NEZ: NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas joins us now. Ryan, tell us more about the suspect and who he is.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Well, the suspect is Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi. He'd been held in a detention⁶ facility in Libya, and officials say he was handed over to an FBI team on Sunday. And they then flew him back to the U.S. to face charges. Now, he faces two charges. He was charged two years ago by the Justice Department. There are two counts that he faces, though - destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle by means of an explosive resulting in death.

MART?NEZ: And what is his role alleged to be?

LUCAS: Well, according to American prosecutors⁷, Mas'ud was an officer in the Libyan intelligence service and was a bomb-making expert. And prosecutors say that he played a critical role in this Lockerbie affair. They say he prepared the bomb that was used. In this instance, investigators⁸ say the bomb was hidden in a cassette player that was placed in a suitcase. Now, prosecutors say that Mas'ud delivered the suitcase with the bomb to two Libyan operatives. Mas'ud allegedly set the timer on their orders for the following day. And then those operatives took the suitcase, and they're the ones who managed to get it on the plane.

MART?NEZ: And tell us about the two other men that face charges.

LUCAS: Well, these two men - one is Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi; the other is Lamen Khalifa Fhimah - they were identified early in the investigation⁹, and they were charged. They eventually faced trial in a special Scottish court that was set up in the Netherlands. Megrahi was convicted. Fhimah was acquitted¹⁰.

But American and Scottish investigators didn't stop there. They kept working this case. And they caught a break with the uprising that toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 because Mas'ud was detained and questioned by the new Libyan authorities after Gadhafi's fall, and he allegedly confessed to them his role in the Lockerbie bombing. The Libyans provided a transcript of Mas'ud's confession¹¹ in that interview to the FBI. And that was critical to Mas'ud eventually being charged two years ago here in the U.S.

MART?NEZ: And now he's in custody and going to face justice here in the U.S. And I can imagine that this is a huge step for the families of the victims.

LUCAS: Absolutely. Absolutely. This is the culmination¹² of a decadeslong investigation and hunt for everyone responsible for this bombing. One of the victims of the attack was Richard Monetti. He was a student at Syracuse University. He and 34 other Syracuse students who were studying abroad were returning home for the holidays on Pan Am Flight 103. Monetti's sister, Kara Weipz, spoke¹³ to Weekend All Things Considered about Mas'ud's arrest. Here's a bit of what she had to say.

KARA WEIPZ: This means so much to the families, so much to my family, so much to me to know that justice is going to be served in our country under our laws.

LUCAS: And she also said that this is another step toward ascertaining¹⁴ the truth about the bombing and ultimately, of course, holding everyone responsible.

MART?NEZ: So, Ryan, what are the next steps here?

LUCAS: Well, Mas'ud will now face the U.S. criminal justice system. There are legal questions, of course, surrounding the confession that he made in Libyan custody. We'll see how that all plays out in the weeks and months to come. But for now, I'm told that Mas'ud could make his initial appearance in federal court here in Washington, D.C., as soon as today.

MART?NEZ: All right. That's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks.

LUCAS: Thank you.

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

11 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

12 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

14 ascertaining   

v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I was ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. 我当时是要弄清楚地下室是朝前还是朝后延伸的。 来自辞典例句
• The design and ascertaining of permanent-magnet-biased magnetic bearing parameter are detailed introduced. 并对永磁偏置磁悬浮轴承参数的设计和确定进行了详细介绍。 来自互联网