Lawyers ask for Lockerbie bombing trial to be postponed

Lawyers for both the prosecution and defence have asked for the trial of a suspect in the Lockerbie bombing in the US to be postponed.

Abu Agila Mas’ud Al-Marimi had been due in court on May 12, 2025, charged with building the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

But the US Government and Mas’ud’s defence lawyers have jointly requested for it to be called off at court in Washington.

Nose and flight deck of Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed above Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988. AAIB

The Libyan national is alleged to have helped make the bomb which killed 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet bound for New York from London on December 21, 1988.

Another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes, in what remains Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack.

In a motion filed by US prosecutors, the attornies asked for the scheduled start date to be postponed due to Mas’ud undergoing treatment for a “pre-existing health condition” as well as the complexity of the case.

They previously said they expected Mas’ud’s health condition to cause a delay of approximately 90 to 120 days. In the motion filed on Wednesday, they said an additional delay was expected.

The lawyers also said they needed more time to come up with a “reasonable pretrial schedule and to set a future trial date”.

If the judge grants the motion, a status hearing would be set for the week of March 10.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland said it understood the negative impact the news of a potential delay would have on the families of victims.

“We appreciate that the prospect of delay will be frustrating for those affected but we urge them not to feel disheartened,” a spokesperson said.

“Scottish prosecutors have a long-standing commitment to pursuing those responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103.

“We will move forward with unwavering determination and continue to support US authorities in the prosecution of Mas’ud.”

Mas’ud has pleaded not guilty to three charges including two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death, and a further count of destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.

He faces life in prison, if found guilty.

In 2022, US officials announced that Mas’ud, who allegedly worked as an intelligence agent for the country’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, had been taken into custody, two years after it was revealed he had been charged in connection with the explosion.

In 2020, he was charged by US Attorney General William Barr with being the third person involved in the terrorist attack.

A section of the aircraft from the Lockerbie bombing was transported to the US ahead of the Libyan suspect’s trial in Washington DC last year.

At the time, Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said: “The transfer of evidence for the trial in the US is a strong expression of the commitment that Scottish prosecutors and officers of Police Scotland have to bringing all those responsible for this terrible act to justice.”

The bombing of Pan Am 103 is the deadliest terrorist attack on UK soil and the largest homicide case Scotland’s prosecutors have ever encountered, both in terms of scale and of complexity.

243 passengers, 16 crew members as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed. In total the victims came from 21 different countries.

Laura Buchan, who is head of a team of prosecutors from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service working on the case, said: “Since Mas’ud was taken into custody by the US in 2022, Scottish prosecutors and police have been engaged in a formal evidence sharing process with the US Department of Justice.

“The transfer of physical items of evidence from Scotland into US custody is beginning. The transfer includes parts of the fuselage of Pan Am 103 which are a production in the criminal investigation. We understand that the fuselage will hold significance for many of the families of those who lost their lives and they have been informed of the transfer plans.”