The father of a Lockerbie victim has expressed fears the alleged bomb-maker will never stand trial after the trial was delayed by up to four months due to “medical issues”.
Libyan Abu Agila Masud, 71, has been accused of making the bomb that killed 270 victims in Lockerbie, south-west Scotland, on December 21, 1988, and was due to stand trial in Washington in May next year.
But Paul Hudson, who lost his daughter Melina in the attack as he flew home to New York after a term at a school in Exeter, Devon, said he had been informed this week of a delay of “between 90 and 120 days.” .
Hudson, who now lives in Florida, received the news as he prepared to mark the 36th anniversary of the crash, which claimed the lives of 190 American citizens, making it the worst terrorist attack against the United States until 9/11.
Melina was returning home for the holidays after an exchange agreement with her high school back home, the Albany Academy for Girls. She was the first American girl to attend Exeter School.
The 16-year-old was initially scheduled to return home on December 22, but travel plans were changed at the last minute.
Since then, Hudson has spent decades fighting for justice for the victims of Pan Am 103.
Masud was due to stand trial in federal court in Washington next May on two counts of destruction of an airplane resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle resulting in death. He has denied all three charges.
Paul Hudson, who lost his daughter Melina (pictured) in the bombing while flying home to New York after a term at a school in Exeter, Devon, said he was informed this week of a delay “between 90 and 120 days.”
But notification of the delay was sent by the US Department of Justice on Thursday of last week, leaving relatives concerned about whether it will ever happen.
Hudson said: “I just learned that he has an unspecified medical condition that requires treatment.” The message from the prosecution was that it will delay everything between 90 and 120 days, which will delay the trial.
‘It’s strange. There was a secret hearing earlier this month and it was not revealed to the public. I have only now received official notice that there could be a three to four month delay as a result.
‘The more time passes, the more difficult it is to get justice. We’ll have to see what happens now. I think he’s in his 70s, so it could be a few things.
‘I guess we’ll know more next month as these things have a way of coming to light. But that’s all we’ve been told for now and it’s obviously very disappointing. The longer the delay, the less likely we are to see any form of justice.’
In 2001, Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi was found to have played a key role in the attack and was found guilty of the murder of 270 people.
He was jailed for life but was suffering from terminal cancer and the Scottish Government released him on compassionate grounds in 2009. He died in Libya three years later, still protesting his innocence.
Hudson has been an active campaigner for justice since December 1988 and later traveled to Lockerbie to see the devastation and speak to other family members.
Melina Hudson (pictured) was originally scheduled to fly home on December 22, but travel plans were changed at the last minute.
Since then, Hudson (pictured) has spent decades fighting for justice for the victims of Pan Am 103.
The Hudson Family. Pictured left to right: David, Eleanor, Paul, Paul Joseph, Melina and Stephen.
The following year, he co-founded and became the initial leader of two victims’ family organizations, the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and then the Families of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie.
He currently serves on the board of Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Legacy Foundation.
Hudson said he had spent the anniversary marking it with his close family.
He added: ‘Of course we always remember it and do something every year. This year the family is dispersed but tomorrow we will meet remotely to commemorate it.
‘I’m in Utah with my wife’s family and my kids are scattered all over the United States, but with the wonder of modern electronics anything is possible.
‘It changes in the sense that time passes but the memories are always there. I would say it has become a tradition and we now allow our grandchildren to join in.
Hudson said they also faced an ongoing battle to provide remote access to the court case.
And he added: ‘We are still waiting for a final decision from the judge. The defense is against it and the judge is not in favor, but there was a law approved by Congress.’
Melina (pictured) was one of the 270 victims and died at age 16.
Melina Hudson poses for a photo with her brother Stephen and Paul Joseph
Paul Hudson said that the more time passes, “the harder it is to get justice.” In the photo: the Hudson family.
Residents watch the scene of devastation in Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.
Abu Agila Masud (pictured in 2022) has been accused of making the bomb that killed 270 victims in Lockerbie.
All 259 passengers and crew aboard the flight from London to New York were killed when the device detonated. Another 11 Lockerbie residents died when debris fell on their homes.
The United States announced charges against Libyan Massoud in 2020, on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, and then-Attorney General William P. Barr said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence leaders.
He also claimed that Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s leader from 1969 to 2011, had personally thanked Massoud for his work.
At the time the charges were revealed, Masud was in Libyan custody in an unrelated case. He was taken into US custody in December 2022.
He will be the first person accused of participating in the attack to be tried in a US court.
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi and co-accused Al Amin Khalifa Fahima were tried in a Scottish court based in the Netherlands during 2000 and 2001. Megrahi was convicted of mass murder and sent to Scotland to serve out his life. Fahima was acquitted and returned to Libya.
The Scottish Government released the terminally ill Megrahi on compassionate grounds in 2009, three years before he died of cancer.
The Lockerbie bombing: the terrorist attack that killed 270 people
The Lockerbie bombing took place on December 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 disappeared from the sky.
The New York-bound Boeing 747, named Maid of the Seas, was passing five miles over the Scottish town when the explosion destroyed it.
When the first reports of a crash came in, many assumed it was a low-flying military training flight that had sustained damage.
Flight 103 crashed three minutes after 7 p.m., approximately half an hour after takeoff from Heathrow, while flying west over the city.
The flight was a little late and should have already crossed the Atlantic heading to New York.
The cabin section fell to the ground at Tundergarth, about five miles from the town, landing in a field in an undulating landscape just yards from a country church and a cemetery.
The Lockerbie bombing took place on December 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 disappeared from the sky.
A section of the fuselage collapsed on the streets of Rosebank, on the northern edge of the city.
Meanwhile, the fuel-laden wing section fell in the Sherwood area on the western edge of Lockerbie, next to the A74 road, now a motorway. As it fell, it exploded in a fireball that was made worse by the rupture of the gas pipe.
It was in this area, Sherwood Crescent, where 11 Lockerbie residents died. No trace was ever found of some of the victims, who were vaporized in the fireball.
Lockerbie Town Hall and its ice rink were pressed into service as temporary morgues and, within 24 hours of the disaster, a total of 1,000 police officers had been recruited, along with 500 military aides.
In the initial stages, 40 ambulances and 115 staff attended Lockerbie. Shortly afterward they withdrew due to the minimal number of victims: all those involved in the tragedy died or suffered minor injuries.
The bodies and remains had fallen in two main flight corridors, one of which included Kielder Forest in Northumbria, the most densely forested part of the United Kingdom.
At the altitude at which the plane was flying, the winds exceeded 100 knots. Some of the lighter debris was found miles away.
On the night of the accident, the police made the immediate political decision to treat the disaster as a criminal investigation.
Public confirmation of what had been suspected from the beginning came on December 28, when investigators announced that traces of high explosives had been found and that the plane had been brought down by a bomb.
A subsequent investigation into the fatal crash determined that the bomb was located in a Toshiba boombox player in a Samsonite suitcase that was “probably” on the flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
Of the 259 passengers and crew (150 men and 109 women) killed, 188 were Americans and 33 were British. The others came from 19 other countries, including France, Germany, India, Sweden, Australia and Japan.
The 11 people who died on the ground (four men and seven women) were all British.
Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 for the atrocity. He was imprisoned for 27 years, but died of prostate cancer at age 60 in 2012, after being released on compassionate grounds in 2009.
A review of his sentence was announced earlier this year. Some suspect he may have been a scapegoat and that other Middle Eastern countries were involved in the terrorist attack.