Libyan cleared after Lockerbie bombing trial dies aged 70

Libyan Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, who was acquitted in the Lockerbie bombing trial, has died at the age of 70, according to a Facebook post by Libyan Airlines that expressed condolences to his family. Fhimah had been accused of murdering 270 people in the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. He was found not guilty, while a second Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted of playing a wide role in the bombing of the American airliner. Before the bombing, Fhimah worked for the airline in Malta. The charges against him and Megrahi were first announced by Scotland and the United States in 1991. After years of United Nations sanctions on Libya, the two men were transferred to stand trial before a Scottish tribunal sitting in the Netherlands. In 2001, three judges convicted Megrahi but found Fhimah not guilty. Fhimah consistently denied any involvement and was later welcomed back to Libya by the country’s then‑leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In 2022, the FBI disclosed that Fhimah had been linked to the case again through an alleged confession made by another Libyan who is awaiting trial in the United States. Abu