US judge schedules Lockerbie bombing suspect's trial for April 2026
Judge Dabney Friedrich acknowledged the ' complicated nature ' and 'voluminous discovery of evidence' in the case surrounding the 1988 attack that resulted in the explosion of a Pan Am flight and the deaths of 270 people in Scotland.
Mr Masud, 73, limped into court and donned headphones to listen to the status conference in Arabic. He looked straight ahead for the whole proceedings, never glancing at victims' families, who took up several rows of court seats.
He didn't appear to communicate with his court-appointed lawyer during proceedings. In 2023, Mr Masud pleaded not guilty in connection to one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in UK and US history.
Only one other person, former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, has been convicted for the bombing. After his conviction in 2001, Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison, but he was eventually released on compassionate grounds and died in Libya in 2012. In 2003, Libya claimed responsibility for the attack that brought down the plane.
The US government filed charges against Mr Masud in 2020, but it took more than two years to extradite him from Libya. Mr Masud's health problems, lawyer changes and logistical problems have caused the trial planning to move at a snail's pace.
A court transcript seen by The National show the methodical nature of the case. At least three depositions of foreign citizens will have to take place outside the US before the trial begins, according to the court transcript.
Though specifics are not disclosed, ways of potentially dealing with Mr Masud's health problems are also discussed. His court-appointed lawyers have promised to provide updates about his medical condition to better prevent any delays.
In court on Thursday, Judge Friedrich emphasised the need to stay on schedule. 'I want this to be aggressive,' she said, referring to trial planning dates and schedule preparations.
Mr Masud's lawyer told the judge that although there is 'some disagreement' about the extent of his medical problems, both defence and prosecutors are on the same page about how to deal with it going forward.
All 259 people on board the Pan Am flight died in the attack and 11 people were killed on the ground by falling debris on December 21, 1988, shortly after the plane took off from London bound for New York.
Of the victims, 190 were US citizens, along with people from the UK and Argentina, India, South Africa and Spain, among others.
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