[This is the headline over a news agency report from The Associated Press published this afternoon. It reads in part:]
No one answered the door Saturday at the Lockerbie bomber's Tripoli villa, hidden behind tall walls in an upscale neighborhood of the capital.
A neighbor, Yousef Mohammed, said he saw the son of Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi in the street on Friday and assumed that the family had not left the area. No private guards or rebel fighters were visible in the quiet side street of walled villas. (...)
Al-Megrahi is the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Britain's worst terrorist attack. His release after serving eight years of a life sentence infuriated the families of many victims, who suspected Britain's real motive was to improve relations with oil-rich Libya.
Some relatives [of Lockerbie victims], however, believe that al-Megrahi was wrongly convicted and that evidence points to Iranian-backed Palestinian militants as the perpetrators.
Mohammed, the neighbor, said he often saw al-Megrahi in the neighborhood. "This guy is sick. All the time, I saw him in the (wheelchair)," he said. Mohammed, a 30-year-old oil worker, said he and other neighbors did not believe al-Megrahi was involved in the Lockerbie bombing and that the family was well-liked in the neighborhood.
Usama el-Abed, the deputy chief of Tripoli's new city council, said he understood the sensitivity of the matter, but referred all questions about al-Megrahi to the rebels' interim government.
If the conduct of ITV's James Mates, as broadcast on the ITV 6PM News last night, is anything to go by (ie: employing some local to climb over the al-Megrahi family home perimeter wall to unlock the gate thus allowing Mates and his crew to wander around in the back yard till chucked out by Abdelbaset's brother), I wouldn't be at all surprised if the family were a tad reluctant to make public appearances even in their own neighbourhood. Mates could see absolutely nothing remotely criminal in his activities, to the extent that he brazenly boasted on camera about the escapade.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when our politicians continually denigrate the perfectly legal process under which Megrahi is living in Tripoli, and they would like us to believe (the rest of the time) that in this country politics does not meddle in judicial affairs... They have effectively declared open-season on this guy to all-comers, like Mates. What's next? The Benghazi Mad Max squad turning up in pick-up trucks and strafing his house with heavy calibre...?
ReplyDeleteWell, if Yousef Mohammed, says he can't believe Megrahi committed the bombing, that's good enough for me!
ReplyDeleteI unequivocally withdraw my belief Megrahi was guilty. Yousef Mohammed thinks he's innocent. Case closed.
The value of any opinion on Megrahi's guilt -- Yousef Mohammed's, yours or mine -- depends on the evidence upon which it is based.
ReplyDeleteTry that on Ming Campbell, next time you run into him....
ReplyDelete