A federal judge on Monday delayed the criminal trial of a former Libyan intelligence official accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, after defense lawyers said prosecutors turned over new evidence during the weekend.
Jury selection had been scheduled to start Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi. The case would mark the first U.S. trial connected to the attack, which killed 270 people, the majority of them Americans.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich’s order did not describe the newly disclosed evidence.
Attorneys for Al-Marimi said prosecutors provided the material on Saturday. In asking for a delay, the defense wrote that its “constitutional and ethical obligations require the defense to investigate this development.”
This Dec. 12, 2022, image provided by the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office in Virginia shows Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is being held at the Alexandria Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia. (Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Friedrich granted the defense request and set a status hearing for Sept. 1.
Al-Marimi is accused of building the bomb that brought down the Pan Am aircraft, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board. The jet crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, destroying an entire city block and killing 11 people on the ground.
The victims came from 21 countries and included 190 Americans and 43 people from the United Kingdom. Among those killed were 35 Syracuse University students who were returning home after a semester abroad.
The bomb exploded less than 40 minutes into the flight, which had departed from London Heathrow Airport and was headed to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
The wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed onto the town of Lockerbie in Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. (Bryn Colton/Getty Images)
Kara Weipz, board president of the nonprofit Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, told The Associated Press that her organization has not received any details about what caused the delay in Al-Marimi’s trial.
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Weipz’s brother, Richard Monetti, was one of the Syracuse students who died on the flight.
Weipz said the families of the victims had already been packing to head to Washington for the trial.
“At the same time, for almost 38 years we’ve been seeking the truth of what happened,” Weipz said. “If that’s what this is, then that’s a good thing, and this delay is worth it… It’s important to hear all the facts.”
The Pan Am plane killed 11 people on the ground and destroyed an entire city block in Lockerbie. (Bryn Colton/Getty Images)
Prosecutors say Al-Marimi carried out the bombing at the behest of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who was ousted from power in 2011 and violently killed by rebels.
In 2000, two other Libyan agents were tried by a panel of Scottish judges on a U.S. military base in the Netherlands. One was convicted, while the other was acquitted.
For decades, the true identity of the bombmaker has been a mystery.
Al-Marimi, now in his mid-70s, faces two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
A courtroom sketch of Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson, front left, watching as Whitney Minter, a public defender from the eastern division of Virginia, stands to represent Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi during a Dec. 12, 2022, hearing in Washington, D.C. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)
Prosecutors say Al-Marimi worked for Libya’s intelligence service from roughly 1973 until 2011, eventually attaining the rank of colonel.
Investigators allege he brought a suitcase containing a bomb to an airport in Malta and handed it off to co-conspirators for a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. The suitcase was then transferred to London, where it was loaded onto Flight 103.
