Lockerbie Bombing Trial Delayed 3rd Time After New Evidence Emerges in 270-Death Case
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24
Lockerbie Bombing Trial Delayed 3rd Time After New Evidence Emerges in 270-Death Case
3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24
Summary
Jury selection due Wednesday in Washington has been scrapped, with Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi's trial now expected to start in January after a third postponement.
New evidence surfaced on Aug. 21 and was previously unknown to both defense lawyers and U.S. prosecutors, prompting the defense to seek time to investigate what it called a constitutional and ethical obligation.
Judge Dabney Friedrich agreed to vacate the start date, signaling the material could be significant despite months of preparation and extensive pre-trial litigation.
The delay pushes any verdict in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing toward next spring, extending a case over an attack that killed 270 people and remains Britain's deadliest terror atrocity.
Al-Marimi, in U.S. custody since 2022, denies building the bomb; prosecutors say his 2012 Libyan confession ties him to the plot, while the defense says it was coerced.