By Kanishka Singh and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday postponed the trial of the man authorities allege built the bomb that blew New York-bound Pan Am flight 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people in 1988.
Jury selection had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday in the trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a Libyan intelligence operative who prosecutors allege once confessed to his role in the 1988 bombing.
In the decision to postpone the trial, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich cited the discovery of new evidence that defense attorneys want to examine.
The judge said “the newly discovered evidence, as well as evidence located in other countries” and “the need for the defense to determine how best to defend this case” made her reach the decision.
Friedrich did not schedule a new trial date but set a court hearing on September 1 to discuss next steps.
Mas’ud, now in his mid-70s, has pleaded not guilty to two criminal charges related to the destruction of the aircraft resulting in death and faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted.
The Boeing 747 exploded minutes after takeoff from London on December 21, 1988, killing all 259 people on board, including 190 Americans, and 11 people on the ground in Scotland.
The bombing made former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, whose government accepted responsibility for the attack in 2003, an international pariah.
Mas’ud has denied wrongdoing and his lawyers have challenged the credibility of evidence gathered by prosecutors, including Mas’ud’s alleged confession to a Libyan police officer in 2012, a year after rebel forces toppled Gaddafi’s government.
Mas’ud’s trial in Washington, D.C. federal court has been delayed by years of legal wrangling over the alleged confession and other issues that have exposed the complexities of a U.S. prosecution over a decades-old attack in Britain with crucial evidence gathered in Libya.
Mas’ud, who was arrested in Libya and brought to the U.S. in 2022, is accused of building a time-delayed bomb that was packed into a suitcase and placed in checked baggage in Malta. The explosive-laden suitcase eventually made its way to London Heathrow Airport, where it was stored in the hold of Pan Am flight 103.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Sonali Paul)
