Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, a Libyan national who stood trial for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, has reportedly died at the age of 70. Fhimah was accused of murdering 270 people in the attack, but was found not guilty by a Scottish court that convened in the Netherlands. A second Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted of playing a role in the bombing.
Libyan Airlines announced Fhimah's death and offered condolences to his family in a Facebook post. Before the bombing, Fhimah had worked for the airline in Malta. The charges against Fhimah and Megrahi were initially announced by Scotland and the United States in 1991.
Following years of United Nations sanctions against Libya, the two men were handed over for trial. In 2001, the court convicted Megrahi while acquitting Fhimah, who had consistently denied any involvement in the attack. Upon his return to Libya, he was welcomed by then-leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
In 2022, the FBI indicated that Fhimah had been implicated in the case again, based on an alleged confession from another Libyan national, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is currently facing trial in the United States. According to reports, Al-Marimi told a Libyan police officer that he participated in the plot to bomb the plane alongside Fhimah and Megrahi, when all three were members of Libyan intelligence services. Al-Marimi has denied making the bomb and claims his confession was false and coerced.
Al-Marimi's trial in Washington, D.C., has been postponed for a third time, with the defense citing the emergence of newly discovered evidence. The BBC understands this delay is not connected to Fhimah's reported death.