Some of the media in the United States are reporting that the trial of Abdel Ati al-Obeidi and Mohammed Belkasem al-Zwai which recently opened and was adjourned in Tripoli involved an accusation of their "squandering $2.7 billion in public money meant to compensate families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing." Examples, which seem to be based on a report from The Associated Press news agency, can be found here and here and here. This is, of course, wrong. The accusation is not that the officials diverted or embezzled money intended for Lockerbie relatives, but that they were involved in negotiating the payment that was made to the relatives.
The Globe and Mail, a Toronto-based newspaper, bases its coverage on the Reuters news agency report and gets it right.
[This blog post has been reproduced in full on the Libyan Mathaba website.]
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