US Judge: Further delays to Lockerbie trial 'won't be tolerated'
Abu Agila Masud has appeared in court in Washington again with his trial due to begin in mid-January
A US judge said she would not tolerate further delays to the Lockerbie trial, which has been postponed several times.
A hearing in Washington DC heard that the trial of Abu Agila Masud over the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history is expected to last around two months, starting in mid-January, although a final date has yet to be confirmed.
The court heard the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 aimed to “inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world”.
Judge Dabney Friedrich made clear that she would not tolerate any further postponement of proceedings.
The accused has denied building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988, killing 270 people.
The most recent delay in August, just as jury selection was set to begin, followed the disclosure of new evidence that defence lawyers wanted to examine. The nature of the material has not been revealed.
The last-minute hold-up caused concern among victims’ representatives given the elderly age of many bereaved relatives.
Judge Friedrich indicated she was looking at January 19 for the start of jury selection.
Masud, now in his mid-70s, was in court for Tuesday’s hearing and listened impassively to proceedings through an interpreter.
He was dressed in a short-sleeved green prison jumpsuit with a white top underneath.
He is charged with two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors claim he once confessed to his role, although this has been challenged by his lawyers.
Masud, who was extradited from Libya to the US in 2022, has denied the charges.
Laura Koenig, one of Masud’s lawyers, said the defence will need to question new witnesses and present additional expert testimony in response to the new evidence.
Referring to the bomb attack at the hearing, assistant US attorney Brittany Keil said: “The purpose of the plan was to inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world.”
All 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000ft above Lockerbie in Scotland and 38 minutes into its flight from London to New York.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person convicted in connection with the bombing, after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Hague in 2001.
He was sent to serve his prison sentence in Scotland but was controversially granted compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, returning home to Libya where he died in 2012.
His fellow Libyan co-accused Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was cleared at the time of involvement in the atrocity, was recently reported to have died.
Scottish prosecutors have always maintained that Megrahi acted with others in carrying out the attack.
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