Lamin Khalifah Fhimah (, ''al-Amīn Khalīfah Faḥīmah''; born 4 April 1956) is a former station manager for

Libyan Arab Airlines Libyan Airlines, formerly known as ''Libyan Arab Airlines'' over several decades, is the flag carrier of Libya. Based in Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli, it operates scheduled passenger and cargo services within Libya and to Europe, North Africa and t ...

at Luqa Airport,

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. On 31 January 2001, he was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

of 270 counts of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

in the

Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, more than 11 years after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. The 36-week bench trial took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands set up under ...

by a panel of three

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist, Netherlands, in light of evidence that he was in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

at the time of the bombing and therefore could not have been a participant. His co-accused,

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi ( , ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am flight 103. He was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Trip ...

, was found guilty by unanimous decision of the court and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

, but later released on compassionate grounds, having always maintained his innocence.

Personal life

Fhimah was born and lives in

Souq al Jum'aa Sūq al-Jum'a (also Soug el Giuma, Soug El Juma’aa, or Sough el Giumaa ( Arabic : سوق الجمعة ), literally "Friday Market") is a densely populated residential district of Tripoli, Libya, located about 5 miles east of central Tripoli and ...

, near

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli, historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point ...

, with his wife and five children.

Trial

Fhimah was represented by solicitors Eddie McKechnie and Paul Phillips, advocates Richard Keen QC, Jack Davidson QC and Murdo MacLeod. Representing Megrahi were his solicitor, Alistair Duff, and

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

William Taylor QC William Taylor, KC has been a Scottish advocate since 1971 and now KC (then QC before 2022) since 1986. He has also been a barrister in England and Wales since 1990 and a Queen's Counsel there since 1998. He has specialised in criminal defence ...

, David Burns QC and John Beckett. Both defendants also had access to Libyan defence lawyer, Kamel Maghour. Court proceedings started on 3 May 2000. The judges announced their verdict on 31 January 2001. They were unanimous in finding Fhimah not guilty. Fhimah was released from custody and returned to his home at Souk al-Jum'aa in Libya on 1 February 2001.

References

External links

"Case against Fhimah fatally flawed"
by Gerard Seenan, ''The Guardian'', 1 February 2001
Original Court Opinion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fhimah, Lamin Khalifah Pan Am Flight 103 1956 births Living people People acquitted of murder People from Tripoli, Libya People extradited from Libya Libyan Airlines Maltese people of Libyan descent