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The trial of a Libyan man over the Lockerbie bombing has been postponed for a third time, after new evidence on the 37-year-old case came to light three days ago. Jury selection was due to get under way in Washington DC on Wednesday but the BBC understands a new start date has been set for January next year.
Lawyers acting for Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi said "newly discovered evidence" previously unknown to the defence and prosecutors from the US government emerged on Friday 21 August. Al-Marimi has denied building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988, killing 270 people.
The trial judge, Dabney Friedrich, has agreed that the start date should be set aside, underlining the potential importance of the new evidence. For the relatives of those who died and Al-Marimi himself, this latest delay means a verdict might not come until next spring. The Lockerbie bombing has been the subject of a joint Scottish-US investigation since December 1988.
