Lockerbie Bombing Figure Al Amin Fhimah Dies at 70: A Controversial Past

Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, a Libyan who was acquitted in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has passed away at the age of 70. His death was announced by Libyan Airlines, where Fhimah had worked in Malta prior to the devastating attack. His funeral is scheduled to take place in Tripoli.

Fhimah was accused of playing a role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, an act that claimed the lives of 270 people.

He stood trial alongside another Libyan, Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, at a Scottish court held in the Netherlands.

In 2001, three judges found Fhimah not guilty of mass murder, while Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Megrahi later died from cancer in 2012 after being released on compassionate grounds.

Following his acquittal, Fhimah was famously welcomed back to Libya by the country's then-leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, maintaining his innocence throughout. However, his name resurfaced in connection with the case in 2022 when the FBI revealed that another Libyan, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, had allegedly implicated Fhimah.

Masud reportedly told a Libyan police officer that he participated in the plot to bomb the plane alongside Fhimah and Megrahi, all three purportedly members of the Libyan intelligence service. Al-Marimi, who is currently facing trial in the United States, has denied making the bomb that brought down the jumbo jet.

Fhimah's death marks another chapter in the long and complex history surrounding the Lockerbie tragedy.

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