US authorities have set a date for the trial against the man suspected of building the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.
The court in Washington DC fixed a date of May 12, 2025, for the prosecution of Abu Agila Masud.
He is alleged to have helped make the bomb which killed 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet bound for New York from London on December 21, 1988.
Another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes, in what remains Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack.
Back in February, Libyan-born Masud pleaded not guilty to three charges including two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death, and a further count of destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.
He faces life in prison, if found guilty.
Scotland’s lord advocate has welcomed the progress from American authorities.
Dorothy Bain spoke ahead of a memorial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in the US.
“I welcome this development and am encouraged with the progress in the court process,” she said.
“Scottish and US authorities have worked together since 1988 to bring those responsible for this atrocity to justice.
“That work continues as a dedicated team of Scottish prosecutors and officers from Police Scotland support the US Department of Justice and the FBI in this prosecution.”
In December last year, US officials announced that Masud, who allegedly worked as an intelligence agent for the country’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi, had been taken into custody, two years after it was revealed he had been charged in connection with the explosion.
In 2020, he was charged by US Attorney General William Barr with being the third person involved in the terrorist attack.