Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, a Libyan man who was acquitted of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has died at the age of 70, according to his former employer, Libyan Airlines.
Fhimah, also known as Lamin, was cleared of charges related to the bombing that killed 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. He had served as a station manager for Libyan Airlines at Luqa Airport in Malta at the time of the attack.
His co-accused, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, remains the only individual convicted in connection with the bombing. A panel of Scottish judges found Megrahi guilty of 270 counts of murder in 2001.
Libyan Airlines confirmed Fhimah's death in a social media statement expressing sorrow and offering condolences to his family and colleagues. Funeral prayers were anticipated to be held in Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
Fhimah was indicted in 1991, but Libya initially refused to extradite him and Megrahi for eight years. In 1999, both men were handed over to Scottish authorities and tried at a special court in the Netherlands.
Prosecutors alleged Fhimah's involvement based on a theory that the bomb was transferred from an Air Malta flight to the Pan Am plane in Frankfurt. Evidence presented included Fhimah's diary and testimony from a double agent. However, the agent's claims about Fhimah showing him explosives did not align with the type of explosive used, and his diary entry about Air Malta tags for Megrahi was not proven to indicate Fhimah's knowledge of a plot to destroy the aircraft.
Fhimah was acquitted after evidence suggested he was in Sweden at the time of the bombing. The judges' 2001 ruling stated there was insufficient evidence to infer that Fhimah was aware of any plan to destroy an aircraft when assisting Megrahi.
The Malta theory of how the bomb reached the plane has been contested by some, including Lockerbie campaigner Jim Swire, who believes the bomb may have been planted at Heathrow Airport by different actors.
In 2002, Libya paid $2.7 billion in compensation to victims' families and renounced terrorism, accepting responsibility for the actions of intelligence officials linked to the attack but not direct responsibility for the bombing itself.
Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 due to terminal cancer and died in Libya in 2012. He is the only person convicted of involvement in the bombing.
Separately, Abu Agila Masud, who is charged in the U.S. with making and delivering the bomb to Malta, faces trial. Jury selection was scheduled to begin recently, but the trial has been postponed, with a further hearing set for next month in Washington.