The criminal trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, was postponed by a federal judge Monday. Defense attorneys stated they received new evidence from prosecutors over the weekend, prompting the delay.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for what would have been the first U.S. trial stemming from the bombing that killed 270 people, including 190 Americans. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich granted Al-Marimi’s lawyers a delay and scheduled a status hearing for September 1, though the specific nature of the new evidence was not disclosed.

Al-Marimi, who faces two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death, is accused of making the bomb that downed the flight. The plane crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, destroying an entire city block and killing 11 people on the ground. Among the victims were 35 Syracuse University students returning from a semester abroad.

The bombing occurred less than 40 minutes after the flight departed from London Heathrow Airport en route to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Prosecutors allege Al-Marimi carried out the bombing at the direction of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. In 2000, two other Libyan agents were tried for the bombing by Scottish judges in the Netherlands, resulting in one conviction and one acquittal.

Victims' families, who had begun preparing to travel to Washington for the trial, expressed a desire for the truth. Kara Weipz, board president of the nonprofit Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, whose brother died on the flight, stated that if the new evidence leads to uncovering more facts, the delay is worthwhile. "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."

Al-Marimi, reportedly in his mid-70s, faces a potential sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors claim he worked for Libya’s intelligence service from approximately 1973 until 2011. Investigators allege he transported a suitcase containing the bomb to an airport in Malta, where it was transferred to a flight to Frankfurt, then to London, and finally loaded onto Flight 103.