Lockerbie bombing trial postponed, victims' families 'absolutely floored'
The US trial of Abu Agila Masud, charged with making the Lockerbie bomb, has been postponed days before jury selection was due to begin.
Lockerbie trial delay shocks families as new evidence cited
The trial of Abu Agila Masud, charged in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has been postponed in the United States, leaving victims' relatives stunned just days before jury selection was set to begin, BreakingNews.ie reports.
Jury selection had been scheduled to start on Wednesday in Washington DC. Masud faces charges of constructing the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103, an allegation he denies.
US District Judge Dabney Friedrich issued the postponement order on Monday, citing the discovery of new evidence that defence lawyers wish to examine. The order did not specify the nature of that evidence.
All 259 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft died when it exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, 40 minutes after departing London for New York. A further 11 people on the ground were also killed.
Kara Weipz, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, who lost her brother Rick Monetti in the attack, said she was stunned by the news. Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Breakfast programme, she said: "As we're processing the shock, there's a lot of, 'I can't believe this is happening'."
Weipz described the anxiety that had been building ahead of the planned proceedings. "There's so much anxiety leading into this week," she said. "People were getting ready to travel at the end of the week — and then knowing that all of a sudden it's not happening right now, it's just we have to live in this anxiety for however long until we actually get to trial."
She added: "I was floored today when I found out, absolutely floored."
Despite her shock, Weipz said the delay could prove worthwhile if the new evidence helps uncover more of the truth. "That's always been my goal — for as many family members to be able to witness this trial as possible, and to gain more of the truth," she said. "If that's what this evidence brings, that's what the families have been fighting for for almost four decades."
The only person previously convicted in connection with the bombing is former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting at a specially convened court in The Hague in 2001. He served his sentence in Scotland before being granted compassionate release in 2009 following a terminal cancer diagnosis. He returned to Libya, where he died in 2012.
Scottish prosecutors have consistently maintained that Megrahi did not act alone.
Laura Buchan, head of the Lockerbie investigation team at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, acknowledged the impact of the delay on those who have followed the case for decades. "I recognise that this adjournment will be disappointing for the families and for those who have followed this case over many years," she said.
Buchan added that Scottish prosecutors and police officers remain fully committed to supporting the pursuit of justice, despite the proceedings being led by US authorities. "As the matter remains before the court, it would not be appropriate to comment on the reasons for the adjournment," she said.
A hearing is scheduled in Washington next month to address the status of the case.
Source: BreakingNews.ie