The trial of the Libyan man suspected of building the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 has been postponed, just days before it was due to begin.
Nearly 40 years after the attack, and four years after the suspect was brought to the United States, new evidence has surfaced “in another country,” according to Judge Dabney Friedrich. No new date has been set for the trial, leaving one of the longest-running terrorism cases in modern history once again in limbo.
The accused is suspected of making the device that brought down the aircraft. He was allegedly taken to the United States after being seized from his home by a Libyan warlord, and had previously served a ten-year prison sentence for crimes committed under Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
The 1988 attack killed 259 people on board the plane and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie when the aircraft was blown apart in December of that year. The bombing remains one of the deadliest acts of terrorism to strike a civilian airliner, and its investigation has stretched across decades and multiple countries.
One person has previously been convicted of involvement in the attack. The latest delay means that families of the victims, many of whom have waited more than three decades for a fuller accounting, face a further indefinite wait before the case against the newest suspect can be heard in court.
