The key prosecution witness in the Lockerbie bombing trial will not testify before September 26th, the court was told Wednesday.
Abdul Majid Giaka, 40, was originally set to take the witness stand last week in the murder trial of two Libyans charged with downing Pan American Flight 103 over the south of Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.
But Colin Boyd, Scotland's top prosecutor, said his appearance would have to be put back, after defense lawyers Tuesday asked to see more CIA cables referring to Majid.
Looking for the cables in CIA files would take until September 21, Boyd said, adding that defense lawyers would then want several days to study them -- making September 26 the earliest possible date for Majid to testify.
The accused, Abdel Basset Ali-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, are being tried by a special Scottish court in the Netherlands for planting the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21st 1988.
Majid has been identified in court as a Libyan agent who doubled as a paid informer for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Malta, where the concealed bomb was allegedly put on a flight to Frankfurt, tagged for transfer onto New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103 at London's Heathrow airport -- CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands (AFP)
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