Abu Agila Masud’s Lockerbie trial postponed after emergence of new evidence

A US federal judge has postponed the trial of Abu Agila Masud, who is accused in connection with the 1988 bombing of (Pan Am Flight 103) over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, following the emergence of new evidence in other countries.

Jury selection had been scheduled to begin this week, but the judge postponed the trial without setting a new date. A hearing has been scheduled for September 1 to discuss developments in the case.

Among the evidence in the case is a statement attributed to Masud that prosecutors say he made while detained in Libya in 2012, in which he allegedly admitted to making the bomb and working with other Libyan intelligence officials to carry out the attack. The defense disputes the statement.

Prosecutors allege that the suitcase containing the bomb was checked in at Malta before being transferred as unaccompanied baggage through Frankfurt and London and eventually loaded onto the New York-bound aircraft. Maltese authorities have strongly denied that such a transfer could have taken place at Luqa Airport.

Masud has been held in the United States since he was handed over from Libya in 2022 and could face life imprisonment if convicted.

The only person convicted in the case to date was former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who died in Libya in 2012 while maintaining his innocence.