A United States judge has scheduled a hearing in Washington, DC, regarding the case against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a former Libyan intelligence official accused of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. This bombing resulted in the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, killing all 259 people on board.
Federal prosecutors allege that Mas’ud delivered the bomb that was placed on the flight, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. This trial is expected to be the first in the US related to the Lockerbie bombing.
A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, but the trial has faced delays. Jury selection was set to begin last week, but US District Judge Dabney Friedrich postponed it due to the discovery of new evidence, allowing Mas’ud’s defense team time to review this material.
The US has accused Mas’ud of constructing the bomb that downed the Pan American Airways plane, which exploded shortly after taking off from London’s Heathrow airport. The flight was at an altitude of 9.45 km (31,000 feet) when the bomb detonated, causing wreckage to fall on Lockerbie and resulting in the deaths of 11 people on the ground.
The incident claimed lives from 21 countries, including 190 Americans and 43 British citizens. Among the passengers were 35 students from Syracuse University returning from a semester abroad. Nearly four decades later, the Lockerbie bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history.
Judge Friedrich did not specify the nature of the newly discovered evidence. According to The Associated Press, Mas’ud’s lawyers stated that federal prosecutors disclosed this evidence shortly before jury selection was to begin, necessitating further investigation by the defense.
Mas’ud, in his mid-70s, faces two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted. He has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty.
US officials charged Mas’ud on December 21, 2020, nearly 32 years after the bombing, and he was arrested in 2022. Prosecutors allege that he worked for the Libyan intelligence service from approximately 1973 to 2011, achieving the rank of colonel. They claim that Mas’ud and others executed the bombing under the direction of then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed during Libya's civil war in 2011.
Prosecutors assert that Mas’ud traveled from Libya to Malta with a bomb concealed in a Samsonite suitcase, where he allegedly set the timer to detonate 11 hours later before handing it off to a co-conspirator. Two other Libyan intelligence agents were previously tried in the Netherlands, with one convicted and the other acquitted.
The Lockerbie bombing has been under investigation by Scottish and US authorities since December 1988. Mas’ud has been in US custody since 2022 and was initially scheduled to stand trial in May 2025, but this date was postponed due to the complexity of the case and Mas’ud’s health issues. The trial is now expected to begin next year.