Latest news with #AbuAgilaMasud
The National
14 hours ago
- Health
- The National
Lockerbie bombing suspect's trial expected to begin in 2026
US prosecutors are expected to request a federal court to set an April 2026 trial date for Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, the Libyan man accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. According to a joint status report seen by The National, federal prosecutors and court-appointed lawyers for Mr Masud, 73, plan to prepare and submit a pretrial schedule after a June 5 hearing. 'Given the complex, international nature of the evidence in this case, that pretrial schedule will have several atypical features,' the report reads. At least three depositions of foreign nationals will have to take place outside the US before the trial begins, the report notes. A court transcript shows that continuing health problems affecting the suspect have been a consistent obstacle in bringing his case to trial. 'I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues,' Judge Dabney Friedrich said to Mr Masud, who was observing the hearing by video conference with the assistance of a translator. She asked for Mr Masud's lawyers to provide updates about his health condition in the weeks ahead. 'We will certainly endeavour to provide the court whatever updates we can regarding the medical appointments, but it may be helpful to have an update from the marshals as well since they are the direct communicators with the medical providers,' said Whitney Minter, one of the Lockerbie suspect's court-appointed lawyers. Parts of the transcript are redacted, obscuring possible details about Mr Masud's health, along with other trial planning discussions and concerns. The unredacted sections show an effort by prosecutors and the federal court to allow victims to listen to the June 5 hearing, along with other court dates in what has become a complex investigation. 'We have the information for the victim group,' said one of the prosecutors, telling the judge that as many of those affected by the tragedy as possible had been notified around the world of the proceedings. The defendant said little at the recent pretrial conference. 'If my lawyers need me, I am available,' he said. In 2023, Mr Masud pleaded not guilty in connection to the 1988 attack, 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, Mr 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 took 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. All 259 people on board perished in the attack and 11 people were killed by falling debris on December 21, 1988, shortly after the Pan Am flight took off from London bound for New York. Of the victims, 190 were American citizens, along with others from the UK, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago.
The National
a day ago
- Health
- The National
Lockerbie suspect's trial expected to begin in 2026
US prosecutors are expected to request a federal court to set an April 2026 trial date for Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, the Libyan man accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. According to a joint status report seen by The National, federal prosecutors and court-appointed lawyers for Mr Masud, 73, plan to prepare and submit a pretrial schedule after a June 5 hearing. 'Given the complex, international nature of the evidence in this case, that pretrial schedule will have several atypical features,' the report reads. At least three depositions of foreign nationals will have to take place outside the US before the trial begins, the report notes. A court transcript shows that continuing health problems affecting the suspect have been a consistent obstacle in bringing his case to trial. 'I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues,' Judge Dabney Friedrich said to Mr Masud, who was observing the hearing by video conference with the assistance of a translator. She asked for Mr Masud's lawyers to provide updates about his health condition in the weeks ahead. 'We will certainly endeavour to provide the court whatever updates we can regarding the medical appointments, but it may be helpful to have an update from the marshals as well since they are the direct communicators with the medical providers,' said Whitney Minter, one of the Lockerbie suspect's court-appointed lawyers. Parts of the transcript are redacted, obscuring possible details about Mr Masud's health, along with other trial planning discussions and concerns. The unredacted sections show an effort by prosecutors and the federal court to allow victims to listen to the June 5 hearing, along with other court dates in what has become a complex investigation. 'We have the information for the victim group,' said one of the prosecutors, telling the judge that as many of those affected by the tragedy as possible had been notified around the world of the proceedings. The defendant said little at the recent pretrial conference. 'If my lawyers need me, I am available,' he said. In 2023, Mr Masud pleaded not guilty in connection to the 1988 attack, 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, Mr 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 took 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. All 259 people on board perished in the attack and 11 people were killed by falling debris on December 21, 1988, shortly after the Pan Am flight took off from London bound for New York. Of the victims, 190 were American citizens, along with others from the UK, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Lawyers ask for year-long delay to Lockerbie bombing trial
The trial of a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed an American airliner over Lockerbie could be delayed until spring next case against Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, was due to begin in Washington this month, but was delayed due to his poor health and to give the defence more time to a joint submission lodged with the court, lawyers for the prosecution and defence are now "expecting to request" a trial date of late April 2026. The proposed delay would have to be approved by a has denied priming the explosive device which brought down Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988, killing 270 people. The explosion killed 259 passengers and crew and a further 11 people in the Dumfries and Galloway town when wreckage of the Boeing 747 fell on their remains the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United Kingdom. Masud, who is in his early 70s, is described as a joint citizen of Libya and has been receiving treatment for a non-life threatening medical a joint status report to the US district court for the District of Columbia, both parties referred to the "complex, international nature" of evidence in the case, adding that a pre-trial schedule would be "atypical".Lawyers also requested an early deadline for motions to "suppress the defendant's statement," presumed to be an alleged confession Masud made while in jail in Libya in claim, which is said to be of "importance to the [US] government's case," alleges that Masud admitted working for the Libyan intelligence service and confessed to building the device which brought down the aircraft. It is also alleged he named two accomplices, Abdelbasset Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah was convicted of murdering the 270 victims and died in Tripoli in 2012 after being freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Amin Khalifah Fhimah, his co-accused in the trial at the Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, was found not guilty. Scottish and US prosecutors first named Masud as a suspect in the case in 2015 following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in was charged five years later by then-US attorney general William Barr with the destruction of an aircraft resulting in was taken into US custody in 2022 after being removed from his home by an armed latest hearing in the case is due to take place in Washington on Thursday.
The Independent
14-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trial of alleged Lockerbie bombmaker in US delayed
The trial of a man alleged to have helped make the bomb used in the 1988 Lockerbie terror atrocity has been delayed, US court papers have confirmed. Libyan national Abu Agila Masud had been due to go on trial in Washington on May 12, but district court judge Dabney L Friedrich has agreed to a postponement following submissions from the prosecution and defence. According to a court document, lawyers had raised the issue of the case's complexity, and the amount of time they had to adequately prepare for both pretrial proceedings and the trial itself. Lawyers also referred to the issue of 'voluminous discovery, including evidence located in other countries', and the need for the defence to determine how best to defend the case. A new date for the trial has not yet been set. Masud denies three charges relating to the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, which remains Britain's deadliest terrorist atrocity. All 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground were killed when the plane exploded above Lockerbie on December 21 1988, 40 minutes into its flight from London to New York. Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only man convicted in relation to the bombing, after being found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Hague in 2001. He was sent to prison in Scotland but was controversially granted compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, returning home to Libya where he died in 2012. Prosecutors have always maintained that Megrahi acted with others in carrying out the attack. A spokesperson for Scotland's Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: 'We appreciate that the prospect of delay will be frustrating for those affected but we urge them not to feel disheartened. 'Scottish prosecutors have a long-standing commitment to pursuing those responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103. 'We will move forward with unwavering determination and continue to support US authorities in the prosecution of Masud.'
