Lockerbie bombing suspect’s ‘confession’ copy admissible in US trial

A US judge has ruled that a copy of an alleged confession by Abu Agila Masud, accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, can be used as evidence in his trial. The decision was made by Judge Dabney Friedrich on Thursday in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia.

Defence challenge rejected

Masud's defence team had sought to exclude the statement, which was taken in Libya by a police officer identified as Jamal, arguing it was not the original document. Prosecutors stated they had attempted to obtain the original statement from Libya but were unable to do so, and it was considered beyond the reach of the judicial process.

Masud has claimed he was forced to make a false confession during his detention in 2012, a claim challenged by his lawyers. The accused, dressed in a green prison jumpsuit, was present in court and listened to the proceedings through an interpreter.

Trial details and penalties

Masud's trial for the bombing, which killed all 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground, is scheduled to commence on January 19. The trial was previously postponed from August, just days before jury selection was to begin, due to the disclosure of new evidence that defence lawyers needed to examine. The nature of this new material has not been revealed, though a recent court hearing indicated it involved one new witness.

Masud, now in his mid-70s, faces two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. He was extradited from Libya to the US in 2022 and has denied the charges.

Background to the Lockerbie bombing

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000ft above Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, 38 minutes into its flight from London to New York. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, is the only person convicted in connection with the bombing. He was found guilty by a panel of Scottish judges at a special court in The Hague in 2001 and served his sentence in Scotland before being granted compassionate release in 2009 due to terminal cancer. He returned to Libya and died in 2012. Scottish prosecutors have consistently maintained that Megrahi acted with others in carrying out the attack. Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, a co-accused who was cleared at the time, was recently reported to have died.