The trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, an alleged bombmaker linked to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is slated to begin in January in Washington D.C., a court heard.
Prosecutors told a preliminary hearing that the bombing, which killed 270 people, was intended to inflict "pain and horror" on Americans.
Al-Marimi, in his mid-70s, appeared in a green prison jumpsuit for the 30-minute hearing. He listened to proceedings through headphones with a translator, remaining expressionless and twiddling his thumbs. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys indicated they would be ready for a trial starting in January, with an estimated duration of two months. Judge Dabney Friedrich suggested jury selection could begin on January 19, emphasizing that further delays to the trial, which has already been postponed three times, would not be permitted.
The most recent postponement was from August 26, due to the emergence of new evidence. While not discussed in open court, the defense stated this new evidence would add approximately a week to their case presentation and necessitate deposing four additional expert witnesses.
Prosecutors assert that Al-Marimi confessed to his role in the bombing, a claim his lawyers contest. He was extradited from Libya to the United States in 2022.
The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 occurred 38 minutes into its flight from London to New York, when the aircraft exploded at 31,000 feet above Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 passengers and crew aboard, along with 11 people on the ground, perished.
Previously, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was the sole individual convicted in connection with the bombing. In 2001, a panel of Scottish judges found him guilty of 270 counts of murder at a special court in The Hague. He was serving his sentence in Scotland when he received compassionate release in 2009 due to terminal cancer and died in Libya in 2012.
Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was tried alongside al-Megrahi, was acquitted of involvement in the bombing. He died last month at the age of 70.
