Lockerbie bombing acquittee Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah dies at 70
Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, cleared of murdering 270 people in the 1988 Pan Am bombing, has died aged 70. His funeral is set for Wednesday in Tripoli.
Lockerbie acquittee Fhimah dies before prospect of second trial
Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, the Libyan national acquitted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, has died at the age of 70, BBC News reports. Libyan Airlines announced his death via Facebook and conveyed condolences to his family. His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Tripoli.
Fhimah had been employed by Libyan Airlines at its Malta office prior to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. He and a second Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, were charged jointly by Scotland and the United States in 1991 with murdering the 259 passengers and crew aboard the airliner and 11 people on the ground below Lockerbie, Scotland.
The two men were handed over for trial after years of United Nations sanctions on Libya. Their case was heard at a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. In 2001, three judges convicted Megrahi of mass murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment, but returned a not guilty verdict for Fhimah. Megrahi died of cancer in 2012, having been released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government. Fhimah consistently denied any involvement in the attack and was welcomed back to Libya by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Fresh allegations and the prospect of a new prosecution
In 2022, the FBI disclosed that Fhimah had been implicated in the bombing a second time. A Libyan suspect facing trial in the United States, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, is alleged to have told a Libyan police officer that he, Fhimah, and Megrahi — all three then members of Libyan intelligence — had conspired to plant the bomb on the aircraft. Al-Marimi has denied making the device and asserts that any such confession was obtained under duress.
The alleged confession, alongside other evidence that has emerged from Libya, had prompted speculation that Fhimah could face a second trial. The 1991 US indictment against him remained formally outstanding at the time of his death. Under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011, a person previously acquitted may be tried again for the same offence if new evidence — unavailable at the original trial — substantially strengthens the case against them.
BBC News understands that Scottish and US prosecutors had been examining whether fresh action against Fhimah would be viable, contingent on a conviction of Al-Marimi in Washington. Pursuing such a prosecution in either Scotland or the United States would, however, have carried significant legal and political difficulties given Fhimah's acquittal by the Scottish court more than two decades ago.
Washington trial postponed again
Al-Marimi is now scheduled to stand trial in Washington in January, after a federal judge agreed to a third postponement of the proceedings. The delay was requested by the defence following the emergence of what was described as newly discovered evidence. The postponement was not connected to Fhimah's death.
The Lockerbie bombing of 21 December 1988 remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in British history. Nearly four decades after the aircraft was brought down, the Washington trial represents the most recent attempt to establish a full account of who was responsible.
Source: BBC News