Pan Am 103 trial postponed, prolonging victims' families' wait for justice

For nearly four decades, families of those killed in the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing have awaited justice. The monumental collection of 76 statues in Suse Lowenstein's backyard in Montauk, New York, captures the raw grief of women who learned their loved ones died when the plane was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland. Each nude, life-size creation represents a mother, wife, or sister in her darkest hour.

"The grief, everything, stays the same, just like this. This is always here," said Lowenstein, whose son Alex was aboard the flight. "And so, the feelings don't go away." She is among many who have waited nearly 40 years to see the culprits of the bombing face justice in a U.S. courtroom. Now, they must wait longer.

The terrorism trial of the alleged bombmaker, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, was scheduled to begin Wednesday in Washington, D.C., but was postponed Monday. A judge cited the discovery of new evidence, though the specifics remain undisclosed. Al-Marimi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, had been imprisoned in Libya for years.

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The grief, everything, stays the same, just like this. This is always here. And so, the feelings don't go away.

This case saw a significant breakthrough in 2017 when U.S. officials obtained a 2012 interview in which Al-Marimi allegedly admitted to building the bomb and working with two conspirators. According to an FBI affidavit, he stated the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi thanked the team afterward. He is the first person to be prosecuted on American soil in connection with the attack that killed 270 people, a majority of them Americans, with 11 victims on the ground in Lockerbie.

Aphrodite Tsairis, whose daughter Alexia perished on Flight 103, had planned to travel to Washington for the trial's start. She expressed that the delay was not surprising, given the long fight for justice. "From the very beginning, we had to fight adversity," Tsairis said. "So it is not surprising to hear there are more impediments to justice being carried out." At this stage, she views the court proceeding as more of an "academic exercise" than an emotional journey.

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From the very beginning, we had to fight adversity. So it is not surprising to hear there are more impediments to justice being carried out.