Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, a Libyan who was acquitted in the 2001 Lockerbie trial, has died at the age of 70.
The 9‑November 2026 Facebook post from Libyan Airlines announced the death of Fhimah and offered condolences to his relatives. The former operator of the airline in Malta had been at the centre of the investigation into the Pan Air Flight 103 disaster that killed 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988.
In 1991 the United Kingdom and the United States charged Fhimah and his co‑accused Abdullbasset Al Megrahi with the bombing. While Megrahi was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment, the Scottish court found Fhimah not guilty. He denied any role, and was welcomed home to Libya by former president Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after his acquittal.
Years after the trial, FBI documents surfaced in 2022 suggesting that another Libyan, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al‑Marimi, had confessed under duress to a plot that involved Fhimah and Megrahi. Al‑Marimi has denied making the bomb and insists the confession was false. The indictment against Fhimah remains unresolved by the United States, raising questions about a potential second trial under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011, which allows a new prosecution if new evidence emerges.
Fhimah’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Tripoli, Libya. The death of the former “Lockerbie defendant” closes out an era of lingering legal battles and unresolved accusations. It also highlights the enduring complexities of international terrorism trials and the interaction between national courts, the United Nations, and the courts of the United States.
