The alleged Lockerbie bomber will finally face trial – nearly four decades after the attack that killed 270 people.
During a preliminary hearing in the case against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, the Libyan man accused of building the bomb, prosecutors said that Americans had been the intended targets of the attack.
Assistant US Attorney Brittany Keil told the court: “The purpose of the plan was to inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world.”
The 30-minute hearing saw Al-Marimi, now in his mid-70s sporting a short white beard, seated alongside his legal representatives at a conference table.
He wore a short-sleeved green prison jumpsuit over a white top and was unshackled.
Throughout the proceedings, the defendant showed no visible emotion, gazing forward and occasionally shutting his eyes briefly.
He followed the hearing via headphones providing a translation, slowly twiddling his thumbs as he listened.
Mr Al-Marimi has pleaded not guily to two charges of destroying an aircraft resulting in death, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi, a Libyan national, is accused of constructing the Lockerbie bomb | REUTERS
Both sides informed the court they would be prepared to commence the trial in January, with proceedings anticipated to run for approximately two months.
Judge Dabney Friedrich proposed that jury selection might get under way on January 19, though this was not definitively confirmed.
The judge made clear she would not tolerate any additional postponements, noting the trial had already been delayed on three separate occasions.
Jury selection had originally been scheduled to start on August 26 but was shelved following the emergence of new evidence.
Neither the prosecution nor the defence addressed this new evidence during the open court session on Tuesday.
TERRORISM – READ THE LATEST:
The Boeing 747 had departed Heathrow bound for New York when the bomb detonated in the forward cargo hold | GETTY
The defence team indicated, however, that the fresh material would extend their presentation at trial by roughly a week and require depositions from four further expert witnesses.
The prosecution maintains that Mr Al-Marimi admitted his involvement in the bombing, an assertion his legal team has disputed.
He was brought to the United States from Libya through extradition in 2022.
The disaster claimed the lives of all 259 people aboard the aircraft – passengers and crew alike – as well as 11 residents of Lockerbie on the ground.
The Boeing 747 detonated at an altitude of 31,000 feet, just 38 minutes after departing London Heathrow bound for New York.
Almost four decades on, the atrocity remains Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack and worst mass murder | PA
Only one individual has ever been found guilty in connection with the atrocity – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former officer in Libyan intelligence.
A panel of three Scottish judges sitting at a specially convened court in The Hague convicted him in 2001 on 270 counts of murder.
Al-Megrahi served his sentence in Scotland but was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 following a terminal cancer diagnosis, subsequently dying in Libya in 2012.
His co-accused at the 2001 trial, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted of any role in the bombing.
Mr Fhimah passed away last month at the age of 70.