Libyan cleared of Lockerbie bombing charges dies at 70

Sun Sep 06 2026 17:48:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, acquitted of Pan Am Flight 103 culpability, passes away. A brief review of the trial and subsequent developments.

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, a Libyan who was cleared after standing trial for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has died at the age of 70. The trial, held in the Netherlands under an extradition agreement with the UK, ended in 2001 with a not‑guilty verdict for Fhimah while his co‑accused, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted. New evidence presented years later kept the case alive for some, but legal complexity and Fhimah’s acquittal rendered any further prosecution unlikely. His funeral is set for Wednesday in Tripoli, marking the end of a decades‑long controversy.

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, a Libyan air‑liner officer, has died aged 70.
Fhimah was cleared of the charge that he had helped wreck Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, an incident that killed 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The charges were initially announced by Scotland and the United States in 1991 when Libya was subject to UN sanctions that forced the extradition of the accused to a Scottish court held in the Netherlands. In 2001, a panel of three judges found Fhimah not guilty, while the other Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted and jailed for life.

After decades of investigations, a 2022 disclosure of a confession by another Libyan intelligence officer raised the possibility of new evidence that could reopen the case under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011. However, because Fhimah had an acquittal, a fresh prosecution would be legally difficult and politically sensitive, and no tribunal was ever convened.

A Facebook post from the Libyan Airlines announced the fatality and offered condolences to Fhimah’s family. His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Tripoli, where he was welcomed by former dictator Mr. Muammar Gaddafi on his return from the trial.

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