Scotland denies oil influenced Lockerbie release

[WillowTree]

LONDON - The decision to release the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing was based on justice rather than commercial decisions, a senior Scottish politician said Monday.

The comments came after a British newspaper reported government officials allowed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to be included in a prisoner transfer agreement because it was in the U.K.'s "overwhelming interests" as a major oil deal was being negotiated.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister, told the BBC she didn't know what agreements the British government had made, and said the decision of Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds was based on legal principles.




Scotland denies oil influenced Lockerbie release - Europe- msnbc.com

 

[waltky]

Granny knew it all along...

Report: Ex-minister says Gadhafi ordered Lockerbie
Feb 23, 11 -- Libya's ex-justice minister on Wednesday was quoted as telling a Swedish newspaper that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.

"I have proof that Gadhafi gave the order about Lockerbie," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil was quoted as saying in an interview with Expressen, a Stockholm-based tabloid. Abdel-Jalil, who stepped down as justice minister to protest the clampdown on anti-government demonstrations, didn't describe the proof.

Expressen's online edition said its correspondent interviewed Abdel-Jalil outside the local parliament in the Libyan city of Al Bayda. A longer version of the interview was to be published in Expressen's paper edition on Thursday.

Gadhafi has accepted Libya's responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground, and paid compensation to the victims' families. But he hasn't admitted personally giving the order for the attack.

Abdel-Jalil told Expressen that Gadhafi gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing. "To hide it, he (Gadhafi) did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland," Abdel-Jalil was quoted as saying.

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[waltky]

New suspects in Pan Am flight 103 Lockerbie, Scotland bombing...

U.S., Scottish investigators have two new suspects in Lockerbie bombing
Thu Oct 15, 2015 - Scottish and U.S. investigators have identified two new Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie airline bombing almost 27 years ago which killed 270 people, authorities in the two countries said on Thursday.

Scottish and U.S. authorities informed Libya they want to send investigators to Libya, which is wracked by civil war, to interview the new suspects, the office of Scotland's chief prosecutor said. Marc Raimondi, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman, said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and chief Scottish prosecutor Frank Mulholland met in Washington last month to discuss the investigation. Pam Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988 en route from London to New York. In 2001, Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was jailed for life and remains the only person to have been convicted over the bombing. A second Libyan accused of involvement, Lamin Fhima, was tried with Megrahi before a panel of Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Netherlands but was found not guilty.

Scottish rescue workers and crash investigators search the area aroundthe cockpit of Pan Am flight 103 in a farmer's field east of Lockerbie Scotland​

A Scottish Crown Office spokesman said two Libyans who were not named are now suspected of being involved with Megrahi in carrying out the attack. Scotland's chief prosecutor, known as the Lord Advocate, "has today ... issued an International Letter of Request to the Libyan Attorney General in Tripoli which identifies the two Libyans as suspects in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103," the spokesman said. "The Lord Advocate and the U.S. Attorney General are seeking the assistance of the Libyan judicial authorities for Scottish police officers and the FBI to interview the two named suspects in Tripoli." In 2003, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi accepted his country's responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families, but he did not admit personally ordering the attack.

Megrahi, who protested his innocence, died in Libya in 2012. He was released three years earlier by Scotland's government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. His family and some relatives of the Scottish victims believe he was wrongly convicted. In December, Scotland's top prosecutor said no new evidence had emerged to cast doubt on Megrahi's conviction but attempts to track down accomplices had been hampered by the violence in Libya since Gaddafi's fall. Jim Kreindler, a lawyer for families of PanAm 103 victims said: "I think its important for history to record exactly who else was involved with Megrahi."

U.S., Scottish investigators have two new suspects in Lockerbie bombing