A BID is being made to allow victims’ families and potentially Lockerbie residents access to the future trial of a Pan Am bombing suspect in America.
American prosecutors want a phone line set up so the families can follow the case of Abu Agila Masud wherever they are in the world.
The request is being made as trials in US federal courts are not televised.
Abu Agila Masud is facing several charges in relation to the 1988 disaster in which 270 people were killed, including 11 in Lockerbie.
He has pleaded not guilty and a trial date has not yet been set.
However, as part of their preparations for the eventual trial, prosecutors from the Department of Justice have reportedly made the request to American politicians.
They are arguing that many of those affected by the bombing are too old or infirm to travel to Washington, where it’s expected the proceedings will take place.
And some believe their definition could include people who were living in Lockerbie at the time, as well as members of the emergency services and military.
Mr Masud was taken into US custody last year, two years after he was charged by US Attorney General William Barr with being involved in the terrorist attack.
In 2001 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing following a trial in the Netherlands. He was jailed for life but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Government in 2009 after being diagnosed with cancer. He died in Libya in 2012.
