Libyan who was cleared after Lockerbie bombing trial dies aged 70
A Facebook post by Libyan Airlines announced the death of Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah and expressed the company's condolences to his family.
A Libyan man, Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, who was acquitted in the Lockerbie bombing trial, has passed away at the age of 70.
Fhimah had been accused of the murder of 270 individuals in the December 1988 attack on Pan Am Flight 103. While he was found not guilty, another Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted for his significant role in the American airliner's bombing.
Libyan Airlines announced Fhimah's death via a Facebook post, extending their condolences to his family. Prior to the Pan Am 103 bombing, Fhimah was employed by the airline in Malta. His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Tripoli, Libya's capital.
Charges against both Fhimah and Megrahi were initially brought by Scotland and the United States in 1991. Following years of UN sanctions against Libya, the two men were handed over for trial at a Scottish court convened in the Netherlands. In 2001, three judges found Megrahi guilty of mass murder, sentencing him to life imprisonment, but acquitted Fhimah.
Megrahi, who was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government, died from cancer in 2012. Fhimah consistently denied any involvement and was welcomed back to Libya by the late dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
In 2022, the FBI disclosed that Fhimah had been implicated in the case once more, based on an alleged confession from another Libyan, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, who is currently facing trial in the United States. Al-Marimi reportedly told a Libyan police officer that he, Fhimah, and Megrahi, all members of the Libyan intelligence service at the time, participated in a plot to bomb the plane.
Al-Marimi has denied creating the bomb that brought down the jumbo jet, asserting that his confession was false and made under duress. The contents of Al-Marimi's alleged confession and other new evidence from Libya have led to speculation that Fhimah might have faced a second trial for the airliner attack.
The indictment against Fhimah, announced by the US Government in 1991, remains active. The BBC understands that Scottish and US prosecutors would have considered taking new action against Fhimah if Al-Marimi were convicted by the Washington court next year. However, pursuing a prosecution in Scotland or the US would have presented legal and political challenges, given his 2001 acquittal by the Scottish court.
Al-Marimi's trial in Washington is now set for January, after a federal court judge granted a third postponement. This delay, requested by the defense, was due to the discovery of "newly discovered" evidence in the case and was not related to Fhimah's reported death.