Families of Lockerbie bombing victims have expressed concern that elderly relatives may not live to see the trial of the man charged over the explosion, after the case was postponed in the United States. Jury selection had been due to begin on Wednesday in Washington DC for Abu Agila Masud, who is charged with making the bomb that destroyed the plane.
All 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground, were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie on December 21 1988, 40 minutes into its flight from London to New York.
Delay over new evidence
On Monday, a federal judge postponed the trial. The discovery of new evidence that defence lawyers want to examine was cited, but the nature of the evidence was not specified in the order from US District Judge Dabney Friedrich. Masud, who was extradited from Libya to the US, has denied the charges.
The vice president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 organisation, Stephanie Bernstein, who lost her husband Michael in the bombing, said there had been “astonishment” at the delay, which is expected to push the trial back by several months. She said she hoped “as many of our family members as possible will live to see this trial”.
Family concerns
Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Bernstein said: “One of the concerns that I have is that many of our family members are elderly. A number of them were getting ready to travel to Washington for the trial. I hope and I pray that they will still be able to do that when a new trial date is set.”
She added: “That is a hope that we’ve had – that as many of our family members as possible will live to see this trial.” Ms Bernstein, a retired rabbi who lives in the Washington DC area, described the news of the delay so soon before the trial as “stunning”.
Long pursuit of justice
She continued: “Having said that, our family group has worked for close to 38 years to find who did this, to bring to light as much as we can of the evidence. So, if this delay as a result of the new evidence results in a broader understanding of what happened, then it’s for the good.”
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.
A hearing is scheduled to take place in Washington next month to discuss the status of the case. Scottish prosecutors have always maintained that Megrahi acted with others in carrying out the attack.
Commenting on the postponement, Laura Buchan, head of the Lockerbie investigation team at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “I recognise that this adjournment will be disappointing for the families and for those who have followed this case over many years. As the matter remains before the court, it would not be appropriate to comment on the reasons for the adjournment. Although these proceedings are being led by the United States authorities, Scottish prosecutors and police officers remain fully committed to supporting the pursuit of justice.”
