A United States choose has scheduled a listening to in Washington, DC, to debate the case in opposition to a former Libyan intelligence official accused of collaborating within the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, an assault on a industrial aeroplane that killed everybody on board.
The case issues Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who reportedly labored for Libya’s exterior safety organisation on the time of the bombing.
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Federal prosecutors have accused Mas’ud of delivering the bomb that was later loaded onto Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988.
His trial is anticipated to be the primary held within the US for the Lockerbie bombing. A whole lot of individuals, a lot of them People, have been killed within the explosion.
A courtroom listening to is presently scheduled for Tuesday, however the trial has lengthy been delayed.
Jury choice was set to start final week. However US District Choose Dabney Friedrich unexpectedly postponed the trial, citing the invention of recent proof. The delay is designed to offer Mas’ud’s defence staff time to overview the brand new materials.
It’s yet one more gorgeous improvement in a saga that has witnessed numerous twists and turns. Right here’s what it’s good to know:
What is that this case about?
The US has accused Mas’ud of constructing the bomb that downed a Pan American Airways aircraft certain for New York Metropolis.
Simply over half an hour after it took off from London’s Heathrow airport, the flight exploded, killing all 259 individuals on board, together with passengers and crew.
The aircraft was 9.45km (31,000 ft) over Scotland when the bomb went off, and the wreckage tumbled onto the city of Lockerbie, destroying a whole metropolis block and killing 11 individuals on the bottom.
The demise toll included residents of 21 nations, together with 190 People and 43 from the UK. The passengers included 35 college students from New York’s Syracuse College who have been coming back from a semester overseas.
Almost 4 many years later, the bombing stays the deadliest “terrorist” assault in UK historical past.
What’s the new proof?
Choose Friedrich didn’t specify the character of the newly found proof.
In keeping with The Related Press information company, Mas’ud’s legal professionals mentioned federal prosecutors disclosed the brand new proof to them days earlier than jury choice was scheduled to start.
They added that “constitutional and moral obligations require the protection to analyze this improvement”.
![Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is in custody at a detention center in Alexandria, Virginia [File: Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ap_6a93204311681-1788026947.jpg?resize=770%2C892&quality=80)
What’s Mas’ud charged with?
The potential identification of the Lockerbie bombmaker has remained a thriller for years, however US prosecutors have accused Mas’ud of participating in making and planting the explosive.
Mas’ud, now in his mid-70s, is charged with two counts of destruction of an plane leading to demise. He faces a most penalty of life in jail if convicted.
He has denied constructing the bomb and pleaded not responsible to the fees.
US officers charged Mas’ud on December 21, 2020 – almost 32 years to the day after the bombing. He was arrested two years later.
What do prosecutors say occurred?
In keeping with US prosecutors, Mas’ud labored for the Libyan intelligence service from roughly 1973 to 2011, rising to the rank of colonel.
The US authorities alleges that Mas’ud and others carried out the bombing on the route of then-Libyan chief Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted and killed throughout the nation’s civil conflict in 2011.
Prosecutors say Mas’ud flew from Libya to Malta with a bomb hid in a Samsonite suitcase. Upon assembly his co-conspirators, he allegedly set the bomb’s timer to go off 11 hours later.
From there, Mas’ud is accused of handing the bomb to a co-conspirator, who positioned the suitcase on an airport conveyor belt, earlier than returning to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
What different instances have occurred?
Two different suspected Libyan intelligence brokers, Abd al-Basit al-Magrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahimah, have been tried by a panel of Scottish judges within the Netherlands in 2000.
The courtroom acquitted Fahimah and convicted al-Magrahi in 2001, sentencing him to life imprisonment.
Al-Magrahi was launched on compassionate grounds in 2009 and died in Libya in 2012. Fahimah died on August 25 this yr. US prosecutors imagine they met Mas’ud in Malta to plant the bomb.
Why has it taken so lengthy for this case to be tried?
The Lockerbie bombing has been the topic of a joint Scottish-US investigation since December 1988.
Mas’ud has been in US custody since 2022. He was initially because of stand trial in Could 2025.
That date was put aside following a joint request from the prosecution and defence, who cited the complexity of the case and Mas’ud’s in poor health well being.
The trial was scheduled for this previous April, however was referred to as off once more after Mas’ud’s authorized staff requested for extra time to organize.
When may the trial begin?
Choose Friedrich has agreed that the trial’s begin date needs to be pushed again. It’s now anticipated that the trial might not begin till subsequent yr.
