[What follows is the text of an Associated Press news agency report published today:]
A trial in the US for a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland is on track to start in January after a delay caused by the discovery of new evidence in the decades-old case.
A federal judge presiding over the case against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is eyeing Jan 19 for the start of jury selection in Washington, DC.
Al-Marimi’s trial had been scheduled to start on Aug 26, but US District Judge Dabney Friedrich postponed it to give defense attorneys more time to examine the newly discovered evidence. The judge said she wants to check on the availability of prospective jurors before locking in a new trial date.
Court filings haven’t specified the nature of the new evidence; the judge and attorneys took pains not to disclose any details during a pretrial hearing on Tuesday [today].
Flight 103 was 31,000 feet (9.45 kilometers) over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb in the New York-bound plane’s forward cargo area exploded 38 minutes after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport on Dec 21, 1988. The blast killed all 259 passengers and crew members and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie.
Al-Marimi is charged with making the bomb that downed the airplane. Prosecutors allege he and others carried out the bombing at the direction of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was ousted and killed during a 2011 civil war.
[A report published today on the BBC News website reads in part:]
The bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie 37 years ago was intended to inflict "pain and horror," a judge has been told.
The US government made the claim as it argued that relatives of the victims should be allowed to give evidence during the trial of a Libyan suspect.
Prosecutors believe their testimony will help the jury understand the impact of the attack, which killed 270 people on December 21, 1988.
They made the request during the latest hearing on the long-delayed case at the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington DC.
The man facing trial, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, was handed over to FBI agents in Libya in 2022 and has been in US custody for nearly four years.
He has denied building and priming the bomb which brought down the plane.
Assistant US attorney Brittany Keil told the court: "The purpose of the plan was to inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world."
Judge Dabney Friedrich has not ruled on whether relatives of victims should be called as witnesses, but expressed concern that it could cause a high risk of prejudice against Al-Marimi. (...)
After two postponements, Al-Marimi was due to stand trial at the end of last month but the case was called off at the last minute after new evidence came to light.
Judge Friedrich agreed to give the defence more time to consider the fresh information, which has not been made public. (...)
Now in his mid-70s, Al-Marimi was in court for the hearing and listened impassively to proceedings through an interpreter.
Defence lawyer Laura Koenig said they will need to question new witnesses and present additional expert testimony in response to the new evidence.
The BBC understands that it is alleged to strengthen the prosecution case against Al-Marimi.
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