Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, cleared after Lockerbie bombing trial, dies at 70

Liberian-born former Libyan Airlines staffer Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah has died at the age of 70. A Facebook post from the airline announced the death and sent condolences to his family.

Fhimah was originally charged in 1988 with the murder of 270 passengers aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He was acquitted in a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands in 2001, while his fellow Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, was convicted and imprisoned.

After the trial, Fhimah returned to Libya and was welcomed by the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He had worked as an aircraft engineer in Malta before the bombing, and his funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Tripoli.

In 2022, the FBI released new allegations that a second Libyan, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, confessed to helping in the bombing and implicated Fhimah again. However, Al-Marimi denies the confession and claims it was made under duress. The U.S. indictment against Fhimah announced in 1991 remains outstanding, but no further prosecution has been pursued.

For more on the Lockerbie case, see the BBC investigation and the case timeline. Read the full story on BBC News.