Judge postpones US trial for Libyan man charged in 1988 Lockerbie bombing

A federal judge on Monday postponed a trial in the US for a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, citing the discovery of new evidence that defence lawyers want to examine in the nearly 40-year-old case.

US District Judge Dabney Friedrich’s order did not specify the nature of the newly discovered evidence.

Al-Marimi’s lawyers say prosecutors disclosed the new evidence to them on Saturday and added that their “constitutional and ethical obligations require the defence to investigate this development”.

The judge scheduled a September 1 hearing in Washington to discuss the status of the case.

Al-Marimi is charged in the US with making the bomb that downed the plane, killing 270 people, most of them Americans.

Flight 103 was 9.45km (31,000ft) over Lockerbie, Scotland when a bomb in the plane’s forward cargo area exploded 38 minutes after take-off from London Heathrow Airport. The flight was bound for John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.