Britain said on Wednesday it would not wait indefinitely for Libya to reply to its proposals for the trial of two men accused of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing. But Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd told parliament that Tripoli had not been given a deadline for its response to London's suggestion of a trial in the Netherlands for the pair, accused of planting the bomb that exploded aboard a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Lloyd was speaking in a debate initiated by Conservative Sir Teddy Taylor, who said reports from the United States suggested Washington wanted Libya to respond to the plan by December 21, the 10th anniversary of the bombing. [Reuters]
Libya is still adamant that sentences for two suspects, if convicted in the 1988 mid-air bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, cannot be served in Britain, as London and Washington insist, diplomats said on Wednesday. A team of Libyan lawyers left New York over the weekend after their second round of talks, which began on November 9, and may return again in the next few weeks. They are consulting with senior UN legal officials, who field queries to the United States and Britain. However, the diplomats said no headway had been made in Libya's demand that the two accused, if convicted, be imprisoned in the Netherlands, rather than in the Scottish prison at Barlinnie, a position the United States and Britain say is not negotiable. [Reuters]
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