Lockerbie's final reckoning: Alleged bombmaker faces trial 38 years after 'pain and horror' attack killed 270

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 13:49 EDT, 15 September 2026 | Updated: 13:54 EDT, 15 September 2026 The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 was intended to inflict 'pain and horror,' a court in Washington DC heard.Prosecutors told a preliminary hearing in the case of the Libyan alleged bombmaker, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, that Americans were the target.Assistant US Attorney Brittany Keil said: 'The purpose of the plan was to inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world.'Al-Marimi, who is in his mid-70s with a short white beard, sat at a conference table with his legal team during the 30-minute hearing.He was dressed in a short-sleeved green prison jumpsuit, with a white top underneath, and was not shackled.He remained expressionless throughout, staring straight ahead and sometimes briefly closing his eyes, as he listened to a translation of proceedings through headphones. As he did so, he slowly twiddled his thumbs.He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi was extradited to the US in 2022 Prosecution and defense lawyers told the hearing they will be ready to start the trial in January and it is expected to last two months.Judge Dabney Friedrich suggested jury selection could begin on January 19 but it was not fully confirmed.The judge said she was not prepared to allow further delays to the start of the trial, which has already been postponed three times.Jury selection had been set to begin on August 26 but did not go ahead after new evidence emerged.On Tuesday, prosecution and defense lawyers did not discuss the new evidence in open court.However, the defense said it would add about a week to the case they will present at trial, and they will need to depose four additional expert witnesses. Al-Marimi is accused of building the bomb that blew up Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie The E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC where the preliminary hearing was heldProsecutors claim that Al-Marimi confessed to his role in the bombing, but that has been challenged by his lawyers.He was extradited from Libya to the United States in 2022.All 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000 feet above Lockerbie, Scotland.It was 38 minutes into a flight from London to New York.Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, is the only person to have been convicted over the bombing.In 2001, he was found guilty of 270 counts of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges at a special court in The Hague.He was ordered to serve his sentence in Scotland but was given compassionate release in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in Libya in 2012.At the same trial in 2001, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was cleared of involvement in the bombing. He died last month aged 70.