Judge Delays First US Lockerbie Bombing Trial
Judge Delays First US Lockerbie Bombing Trial
The News
A federal judge on Monday postponed the U.S. trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, the former Libyan intelligence official charged with building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 — citing newly discovered evidence the defense wants to examine.
Jury selection was set to begin Wednesday in Washington, D.C. It would have been the first trial in the United States over the bombing, which killed 270 people.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich's order did not say what the new evidence is. It is the third time the case has been delayed.
The Charges
Al-Marimi, now in his mid-70s, is charged with two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors say he worked for Libyan intelligence as an explosives expert from roughly 1973 to 2011, rising to colonel, and that he and others acted at the direction of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who was ousted and killed in the 2011 civil war. According to prosecutors, Al-Marimi brought a suitcase containing the bomb to an airport in Malta and handed it to co-conspirators for a flight to Frankfurt; the suitcase went on to London, where it was loaded onto Flight 103.
Al-Marimi denies building the bomb and says the alleged confession is false and was made under duress. Judge Friedrich has ruled it can be admitted as evidence.
Timeline
A bomb in the forward cargo hold of Pan Am Flight 103 explodes at 31,000 feet, 38 minutes after takeoff from London Heathrow. The plane, bound for New York's JFK, breaks apart over Lockerbie. All 259 passengers and crew are killed, along with 11 people on the ground, where the wreckage destroys an entire city block. Citizens of 21 countries die, including 190 Americans and 43 Britons. Among the passengers are 35 Syracuse University students returning from a semester abroad.
Two Libyan intelligence agents go on trial before a panel of Scottish judges at Camp Zeist, a former U.S. air base in the Netherlands. After eight months the judges rule the attack was state-sponsored terrorism carried out by Libyan intelligence, convict Abdulbasset Al-Megrahi of mass murder and jail him for life, and acquit Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, who returns to Tripoli.
The U.S. government says Al-Marimi admitted to bombing the plane alongside Megrahi and Fhimah while questioned in a Libyan detention facility. Megrahi, freed by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds, dies of cancer the same year.
The alleged confession is handed to Scottish investigators. It is now central to the U.S. prosecution.
Al-Marimi is charged in the United States.
He is indicted and transferred into U.S. custody, where he has remained since.
Public defender Whitney Minter enters a not guilty plea on his behalf in U.S. District Court in Washington.
The original trial date is set aside after a joint request from prosecutors and the defense, who cite the complexity of the case and Al-Marimi's ill health.
A second trial date is called off after the defense asks for more time to prepare.
The new evidence surfaces. Al-Marimi's lawyers say it was previously unknown to both the defense and the government; they told the court it emerged Friday, and told the Associated Press that prosecutors disclosed it to them Saturday.
Defense lawyers say they met Al-Marimi, and he agreed they should seek a postponement.
Friedrich grants it, two days before jury selection.
Reactions
Al-Marimi's lawyers told the court that "constitutional and ethical obligations require the defense to investigate this development." Assistant federal public defender Laura Koenig declined to elaborate when asked by the Associated Press.
Kara Weipz, board president of the nonprofit Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said her group had been given no details about the new evidence and called the delay a shock — noting that some victims' relatives were already packing to travel to 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." Her brother, Richard Monetti, was one of the Syracuse students killed.
Laura Buchan, who heads the Lockerbie investigation team at Scotland's Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: "I recognise that this adjournment will be disappointing for the families and for those who have followed this case over many years." She said it would not be appropriate to comment on the reasons while the matter is before the court, and added that "although these proceedings are being led by the United States authorities, Scottish prosecutors and police officers remain fully committed to supporting the pursuit of justice."
What's Next
Friedrich has scheduled a status hearing in Washington for Sept. 1 to discuss where the case stands.
The BBC reports it understands a new start date has been set for January. On that schedule, a verdict may not come until next spring.
Scottish prosecutors from the Crown Office and detectives from Police Scotland had been due to travel to Washington for the trial, and Scottish witnesses were expected among the first to testify. The Lockerbie case has been a joint Scottish-U.S. investigation since December 1988.
More
The FBI has called the Pan Am 103 bombing one of the world's most lethal acts of air terrorism before 9/11, and one of the largest and most complex international terrorism cases the agency has ever investigated. It remains the deadliest terror attack in British history.
Megrahi is still the only man ever convicted over the bombing. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission twice referred his case to the appeal court, and the conviction was upheld both times.
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