Libyan acceptance of neutral venue trial reaffirmed

[What follows is an item headed Breaking of deadlock in Libya? posted on Safia Aoude’s The Pan Am 103 Crash Website and based largely on a report published by the Libyan Jana news agency on this date in 1998:]

Jim Swire held talks in Libya on Saturday with the justice minister about the trial for two suspects in the attack, Libya's official news agency reported on the 19th April. [Dr] Swire, and victims' legal adviser Robert Black met Justice Minister Mohammed Belgasim al-Zuwiy [more often anglicised as Zwai] after arriving in Tripoli.

They discussed suggestions by Swire and Black “concerning reaching ... a fair and just trial of the two suspects in a neutral country,” Libya's official news agency, JANA, reported. Swire and Black drove 215 miles from Tunisia to the Libyan capital Saturday, Swire's spokesman, David Ben-Ariyeh [Ben-Aryeah], said in London. Swire told Ben-Ariyeh he was grateful for the “efficient and warm welcome” they received.

Black and Swire held talks in Tripoli this week with [the suspects’ lawyer Ibrahim] Legwell and Libyan foreign affairs and justice officials. They also met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a bid to gain support for a trial plan formulated by Black. The most important meeting was held with the Libyan lawyer for Fhima and Megrahi in Tripoli, Dr Ibrahim Legwell.

Ibrahim Legwell said he told Scottish lawyer Robert Black and Jim Swire, that his two Libyan clients were ready to stand trial under Scottish law in a neutral country.

“We agreed on several basic points and details,” Legwell told Reuters in a telephone interview from the Libyan capital Tripoli. “I confirmed to them, as I have done previously, that my clients would stand for trial before such a court, which will be set not in Scotland nor the United States, but in a neutral country,” he added. “We also agreed that it would be established with an international panel of judges to be agreed upon and presided over by a senior Scottish judge. The court would operate under the criminal law and procedures of Scotland,” he added as well.

“We also are very concerned about how to ensure the safety, the security and the rights for our clients pending, during and after the trial,” he said.

Legwell said Libya's Justice Minister Mohamed Belgacem Zwai, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Abdel Ati al-Obeidi, and Libya's representative at the UN, Abouzid Omar Dourda [Dorda], attended part of his meetings with Black and Swire when these issues were discussed.

Zwai said he expected a settlement of the dispute over where to hold the trial. “We expect we will reach a solution that satisfies all parties before the World Court issues its decision,” he told reporters in Cairo late Monday. Black and Swire also met Libyan Foreign Affairs Minister Omar Mustafa al-Montasser in Libya and then Gaddafi Monday at the end of their visit. The Libyan revolutionary leader had in the past said he would support whatever the suspects' lawyers accepted.

Black and Swire left Tripoli Monday for Cairo, where they were to submit their proposal and results of their talks in Tripoli to Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) chief, Salim Ahmed Salim, Legwell said. Zwai met Abdel-Meguid Tuesday, officials in Cairo said. Black and Swire also undertook to persist in their efforts to persuade the British government to join Libya in accepting the proposal, he added.

Legwell said the plan was that if Black's proposal was accepted by Britain, regional groupings such as the Arab League, the OAU and the European Union would submit to the Security Council a text approving the plan ahead of suspending the sanctions.

Jim Swire arrived in Cairo on the eve of the 21st April, and he told Reuters by phone, that Libya had agreed to surrender the two suspects to the Netherlands for trial. “I think the importance probably of what we've done is they (the Libyans) have renewed that undertaking and they have reinforced it,” he said. “This (proposal) was given the blessing of the leader subsequently,” Swire said of his 40-minute meeting with Gaddafi.

“The problem of course is, will the west set up the court that is required? I don't know what else the Libyan government can do to prove that they mean it when they say they would come.”

UK and US only two nations rejecting Lockerbie compromise

[What follows is a report on a meeting held on 16 April 1998 in Cairo between officials of the Arab League, including the Secretary-General Dr Esmat Abdel-Meguid, and Dr Jim Swire and me:]

The Scottish lawyer Robert Black said on the 16th of April in Cairo after the talks with Abdel Maguid, that his latest proposal to end a dispute between Libya, Britain and the United States over the trial of two Libyan suspects in a 1988 airliner bombing would be his last. Black gave no details on the modifications in the more recent proposal. But he said there was “fine-tuning” to make it more acceptable to the British and Americans.

“What we are hoping for is that continued pressure on these two governments will cause them to see the error of their ways,” Black said.

Robert Black told a news conference he was “51 percent sure” the Libyans would accept the modified proposal. He would not give details, but Black and Swire are suggesting the suspects be tried under Scottish law in a neutral venue by an international panel of judges, without a jury. But Robert Black, a legal expert advising the victims' families, said there was little hope the United States would accept the proposal, although international pressure might succeed in winning Britain's support. “One simply has to give up on the American government,” Black said. “They are unmovable.”

“It's now plain that the United States and the United Kingdom as far as I know are the only two nations in the civilised world which are not saying 'this is a sensible compromise solution, accept it',” Black said after meeting the head of the Cairo-based Arab League. “What I am hoping is that the United Kingdom can see the error of its ways if it is given an opportunity marginally to save face. They have to find a solution. If this proposal does not work, then I suspect that this may very well be the end of the line.

“I can't very well go on drafting scheme after scheme, that are accepted by one side but rejected outright by the other. All three are going to have to accept something with which they are not 100% happy in order for there to be a compromise,” he said. "If they are prepared to do that then there is a remote possibility of progress. But I wouldn't put it above saying there is a slight chance. But any chance is better than no chance."

Swire slammed the British government for not moving fast enough to end the crisis. “For six years, I have been waiting for the men charged with the brutal murder of my daughter to be put on trial but on March 20, the permanent representative of my country in the United Nations was busy telling the Security Council that the sanctions they imposed on Libya were not working.

“Why have you kept us waiting for six years when they are not working? They are demolishing the thing they invited us to depend on and if that doesn't make you angry, then it should.”

Jim Swire, who acted as representative for British victims of the bombing, said Abdel-Meguid would pass the new proposal to the Libyans.

[RB: Just over four months later the UK and USA accepted the solution of a Scottish court in a neutral venue.]

Steps on the path towards a neutral venue trial

[The following are two snippets published on this date in 1997 on the Libya: News and Views website:]

The head of the Arab League said on Sunday that Libya would never extradite two of its citizens to Britain or the United States for trial on charges of bombing a US airliner in 1988. Esmat Abdel-Meguid told a news conference on the sidelines of a symposium on the future of the Arab world [in Abu Dhabi] that Libya maintained its offer to let the two men stand trial in a neutral country but with Scottish judges. “Libya would not turn over its citizens because, under international law, it is not possible for one country to surrender its citizens to another country unless the two are bound by a mutual extradition agreement,” Abdel-Meguid said. [Reuter]

Libya has said it is impossible for two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie bombing to get a fair trial in Scotland although the Scottish justice system is fair. The Libyan Foreign Ministry said British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's invitation to the United Nations to send observers to Scotland to evaluate the Scottish legal system in action was a ploy to undermine other initiatives to solve the problem. “Libya does not doubt the fairness of the Scottish judiciary or its equity,” the Libyan Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued at the weekend and obtained from the official Libyan news agency JANA on Monday. “But...the campaign through the press and statements by officials in Britain and the United States has led to a prior condemnation of the two suspects, ruling out any possibility of a fair and just trial for them in Scotland,” it added. [Reuter]

“Calling Gaddafi’s bluff”

[What follows is the text of an article published on this date in 1998 in The New York Times:]

With prominent international allies pressing Libya to accept an offer to allow two Libyans to go on trial in the Netherlands for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet, the Libyan Government said today that it would announce on Wednesday whether it would agree to the American and British proposal.

Both the Arab League and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, a leading international defender of the Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, suggested that Libya would accept the plan. Under the proposal, the two Libyans, identified by American officials as intelligence agents, would be extradicted to The Hague and tried by three Scottish judges under Scottish law.

''The American-British proposal is compatible with the previous Arab suggestions, which Libya has accepted,'' Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid of the Arab League said after a meeting in Cairo with the British Ambassador to Egypt, Sir David Blatherwick. ''We have been seeking this solution.''

Mr. Mandela said he was confident that the plan ''should lead to the resolution of this matter.''

But Mr Qaddafi gave no indication of what his decision would be, and senior Clinton Administration officials would not hazard a guess about the thinking of the notoriously unpredictable Libyan leader. Still, the American officials said they were pleased with the statements from the Arab League and Mr Mandela.

The Libyan Government news agency, Jana, reported today that Libya's Foreign and Justice Ministries were closely studying the proposal and that a decision whether to accept it was expected on Wednesday.

A Libyan lawyer for the two suspects was quoted today as saying that his clients would voluntarily surrender to a special court in the Netherlands ''if the conditions for a fair trial are provided to protect their rights pending, during and after the trial.''

An agreement by Libya to allow the suspects to be tried in The Hague would be a milestone in the decade-old search for justice by the families of the 270 people killed in the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988.

The United States and Britain, which had once demanded that the Libyans be tried in the American or British court systems, announced on Monday that they would agree to holding the suspects' trial in the Netherlands instead.

The proposal effectively called Mr Qaddafi's bluff, since his Government had suggested just such a plan. Libya had insisted that the suspects, identified by the Justice Department as Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifa Fhimah, could not receive a fair trial in the United States or Britain.

The United States and Britain have vowed to seek to extend sanctions on Libya to include an oil embargo, if Libya turns down the deal. If Mr Qaddafi accepts, however, the existing sanctions on Libya would be eased. The United States and Britain introduced a resolution in the United Nations today that would provide for the suspension of the sanctions if the two suspects are handed over.

Although the end of the sanctions would be welcomed by Libya, a trial of the two men risks exposure of evidence that could tie senior officials in the Libyan Government -- possibly including Mr Qaddafi himself -- to the decision to bomb the Pan Am jumbo jet.

''If he accepts, we'll be delighted, and we'll hold this trial just as soon as we can,'' said a senior Clinton Administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. ''But I still find it hard to believe that he'll allow this trial ever to take place. You may see Qaddafi accept this offer initially and then try to quibble over the details. I hope I'm wrong.''

American investigators have suggested that the Pan Am jet was destroyed in retaliation for the American bombing of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, in 1986.

President Reagan ordered the bombing of Tripoli in response to evidence linking Libyan intelligence to a terrorist attack on a Berlin disco in April 1986 in which an American soldier was killed.

In announcing an indictment of the two Libyans in 1991 for the Pan Am bombing, Justice Department officials said that they had tracked a part of the bomb's timing device to a Swiss company that had sold it to a senior Libyan intelligence officer.

The indictment said that Mr Fhimah held a cover job as a station manager for Libyan Arab Airlines in Malta.

He is alleged to have placed the bomb in a suitcase there that was routed to Frankfurt, where it was transferred to the Pan Am jet. Mr Megrahi, the indictment said, purchased clothing and an umbrella in a store in Malta that were put into the luggage to hide the bomb.

Unfulfilled hopes

[On this date in 2000 an article headlined Dr Jim Swire: My hopes was published on the BBC News website. It reads as follows:]

Since the Lockerbie disaster, Dr Jim Swire has led a high-profile campaign for justice on behalf of UK relatives. Here, he explains his motivation and reveals what he hopes the trial will achieve.

My daughter, Flora wanted to fly to the US to spend Christmas with her American boyfriend.

The week before Christmas is a busy time for transatlantic flights. Twenty-four hours before the fatal flight, Flora was able to get a seat - on Pan Am Flight 103.

Why was that, and why was the 103 only two-thirds full that night?

Our group has sought truth and justice throughout the last 11 years since our loved ones perished so horribly.

We want to know why the intelligence warnings were ignored, why UK aviation security was so inept that its head, who had seen a warning about a bomb in a tape recorder specifically designed to work in the hold of an aircraft in-flight, actually informed his staff, just before Lockerbie, that if they were unsure about a tape recorder: "Any device about which a searcher is unable to satisfy himself/herself must, if it is to be carried in the aircraft, be consigned to the aircraft hold."

No explanation or apology has been forthcoming, for this or for the apparent torpor of the intelligence services.

All attempts to persuade the Conservative Government to hold an objective inquiry were dismissed, even though the doomed aircraft "Maid of the Seas" had been loaded from empty, (and therefore the bomb itself had been loaded) at Heathrow Airport, under the "Host State Protection" of the UK.

Indictments issued

In November 1991, the UK and US Governments suddenly issued indictments against two named Libyans, claiming that there was no evidence for the involvement of any other country, and demanding their immediate surrender for trial in the UK or US.

In 1971, the Libyans, the UK and the US had all been parties to the Montreal Convention, which stated that under these circumstances the accused could be tried under the law of their own country, that is Libya.

I am two-thirds Scottish and my daughter died in Scotland. I wanted the accused tried under Scottish law, with its excellent reputation for impartiality.

Against the background of such demands at international level, and the existence of such a treaty, it seemed very unlikely that an independent state, such as Libya, would ever comply.

It was difficult as a small-town GP in England to see what could be done, but with the help of an Egyptian journalist, Nabil Nagemeldin, who was able to arrange the logistics, I decided I must try to persuade Libya to allow her citizens to be tried under Scots law.

Sealed letters

I had to see Colonel Gaddafi. Leaving sealed letters with a solicitor, in case I could not return, I found myself finally making the nerve-racking trip down the concrete path to the colonel's tent in Tripoli.

I shall never forget that dark cold December night. Fear sharpens the senses.

Unfortunately, his aides did not allow me to bring in my briefcase which contained one or two small presents for him, so my opening gambit was, that while I was very grateful to him for agreeing to see me, I thought he must be almost as scared of me as I was of him.

After that the briefcase was brought and the ice was broken.

The Arabs have a rich tradition of courtesy to travellers, which was honoured that night. The colonel was determined that I should hear that he believed that his citizens were innocent and that he did not know how the disaster had been caused.

His adopted daughter had been killed in the 1986 bombing of Tripoli by the US, and he agreed that in the preserved ruined bedroom, where she had been mortally wounded, a photograph of her and of Flora should be put up side by side, with the message beneath in Arabic and English: "The consequence of the use of violence is the death of innocent people."

So far as I know it is still there.

West sanctions

As I left he allowed me to pin a badge to his robe. It read "Pan Am 103 - the truth must be known".

Western demands remained, and were backed by Security Council sanctions. The Libyans could not try the two because the West would not supply them with the evidence.

In January 1994 Professor Robert Black QC, a native of Lockerbie, had proposed a trial under Scottish criminal law, but in a neutral country. In addition he proposed that such a court have a panel of judges instead of a jury.

Under Scottish law, jurors should not come to a case having already formed opinions as to the guilt or innocence of those upon whom they are to give a verdict.

Where would 15 such Scots be found after the media coverage of the preceding years?

Professor Black had also obtained the agreement of the Libyans to such a solution. With the refusal of the US or UK Governments to consider such a "neutral country" trial, in April 1998 Prof Black and I decided to lobby internationally for support of his proposal.

Cairo trip

With the help of loyal friends we flew to Cairo and obtained the support of HE Esmat Abdel-Meguid, secretary-general of the League of Arab States.

The Organisation of African Unity had gone as far as to threaten to break Security Council sanctions imposed on Libya, unless the west found a solution to the Lockerbie deadlock.

With this encouragement we visited Libya again and obtained renewed and stronger support from both Colonel Gaddafi and the Libyan People's Congresses for the "neutral country" trial solution.

The following month, May 1998, I met Donald K Bandler, special adviser to President Clinton, and member of the National Security Council at the Whitehouse in Birmingham, England.

When asked why the US still refused to consider the concept of a "neutral country trial", his reply was that the Libyans "would never hand them over".

Change of government

Following the 1997 general election in the UK, the new foreign secretary, Robin Cook, while initially taking the line that a neutral country trial was not possible under Scots law, met our group and, with tremendous support from President Nelson Mandela, (who had been lobbying the UK Government during the Conservative years also), had the grace to agree to promote this solution.

How he and Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded America to join them I do not know.

One piece was missing: the venue itself. That missing piece was supplied by the Netherlands.

The Dutch Government, in line with its magnificent past record in support of international justice, offered a choice of possible sites.

In the end Zeist was chosen to become Scottish territory for the duration of the criminal proceedings.

There remained the delicate task of clearing up remaining difficulties raised by the Libyan defence team.

'Fair verdict'

This was entrusted to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, and his team led by Hans Corell, legal counsel to the UN.

Our group has always worked for truth and justice and now we expect to see Scottish criminal justice deliver a fair verdict on the guilt or innocence of two individuals.

After that is done many questions will still remain unanswered.

In December 1998, for the first time since the disaster, a British prime minister (Tony Blair) met us to discuss these issues.

He supported the need to follow up any new avenues opened up by the trial.

He also said that "we had thought that the Lockerbie situation was set in stone and then we heard the voice of the relatives".

I think Flora would have been proud to hear that and that it goes some way to atone for the fearful price that this campaign has exacted from all of us.

That price for me includes the loss of my medical partnership together with much of my pension rights.

But it has also revealed the loyalty of my wife Jane, who has understood that this was something I had to do. Any alternative would have been infinitely worse.

Others in our group have suffered likewise Some have died from stress-related diseases.

Despite all that, we shall still be seeking truth and justice after this trial is over - those we loved were too important for their fate to be pushed under any political carpet.

'Criminal investigation'

The verdict of this court on the guilt or innocence of these two accused will however have removed one of the most potent weapons used to frustrate our search for the truth - the mantra: "You can't have an inquiry because it might impinge on the criminal investigation."

Other major international political issues also hang upon the verdict. Perhaps this unprecedented legal solution may help point the way for future victims of international crime.

Despite deliberations stretching all the way back to Nuremburg, there is still no satisfactory route for the trying of those accused of international terrorist crimes such as Lockerbie.

President Mandela has said that no one country should be complainant, prosecutor and judge.

I would be proud if this trial contributes to fair and just resolution of future terrorist cases.

'This is a sensible compromise solution, accept it'

[On this date in 1998 Dr Jim Swire and I had a meeting in Cairo with Dr Esmat Abdel-Meguid, the Secretary-General of the Arab League. What follows is a report on the meeting:]

The Scottish lawyer Robert Black said on the 16th of April in Cairo after the talks with Abdel Maguid, that his latest proposal to end a dispute between Libya, Britain and the United States over the trial of two Libyan suspects in a 1988 airliner bombing would be his last. Black gave no details on the modifications in the more recent proposal. But he said there was “fine-tuning” to make it more acceptable to the British and Americans.

“What we are hoping for is that continued pressure on these two governments will cause them to see the error of their ways,” Black said.

Robert Black told a news conference he was “51 percent sure” the Libyans would accept the modified proposal. He would not give details, but Black and Swire are suggesting the suspects be tried under Scottish law in a neutral venue by an international panel of judges, without a jury. But Robert Black, a legal expert advising the victims' families, said there was little hope the United States would accept the proposal, although international pressure might succeed in winning Britain's support. “One simply has to give up on the American government,” Black said. “They are unmovable.”

“It's now plain that the United States and the United Kingdom as far as I know are the only two nations in the civilised world which are not saying 'this is a sensible compromise solution, accept it',” Black said after meeting the head of the Cairo-based Arab League. “What I am hoping is that the United Kingdom can see the error of its ways if it is given an opportunity marginally to save face. They have to find a solution. If this proposal does not work, then I suspect that this may very well be the end of the line.

“I can't very well go on drafting scheme after scheme, that are accepted by one side but rejected outright by the other. All three are going to have to accept something with which they are not 100% happy in order for there to be a compromise,” he said. "If they are prepared to do that then there is a remote possibility of progress. But I wouldn't put it above saying there is a slight chance. But any chance is better than no chance."

Swire slammed the British government for not moving fast enough to end the crisis. “For six years, I have been waiting for the men charged with the brutal murder of my daughter to be put on trial but on March 20, the permanent representative of my country in the United Nations was busy telling the Security Council that the sanctions they imposed on Libya were not working.

“Why have you kept us waiting for six years when they are not working? They are demolishing the thing they invited us to depend on and if that doesn't make you angry, then it should.”

Jim Swire, who acted as representative for British victims of the bombing, said Abdel-Meguid would pass the new proposal to the Libyans.

[RB: Just over four months later the UK and US governments finally accepted the solution of a Scottish court sitting in a neutral country.]

Dignitaries invited to Libya to witness handover of suspects

[What follows is the text of a report (based on material from The Associated Press news agency) published on the CNN website on this date in 1999:]

Arab dignitaries have been invited by Libya to witness the handover of two suspects in the 1988 Pan Am bombing, a further sign their promised extradition is imminent, an Arab League official said Sunday.

However, in Libya, secrecy has surrounded the operation and officials contacted by telephone have refused to divulge details about the much anticipated handover.

Arab diplomats said on Saturday that Libyan leader Col Moammar Gadhafi has ordered the passports of the two suspects returned to them.

Ahmed Ben Heli, the Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General said his delegation would fly later Sunday to the Tunisian airport of Jerba, from where they would be driven to the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Representatives from six Arab countries also would attend the handover to a United Nations representative, he said.

"It is good news for the Libyans -- indeed, for all Arabs -- that this quandary is finally over," Ben Heli told The Associated Press before leaving Cairo, site of the League's headquarters.

The move followed reports that the chief UN legal counsel, Hans Corell, had left for Europe on Friday on his way to Libya to arrange for the handover.

Lamen Khalifa Fhimah and Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi are to be tried under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

The December 21, 1988, bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people -- mostly Americans and Britons -- in the air and on the ground.

The two Libyans, allegedly former intelligence agents, were suspected of planting a suitcase bomb on the plane.

Ben Heli said he would represent the League's secretary-general, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, who could not make the trip because of other commitments.

The Algerian diplomat said the Libyan government also has invited foreign ministers of six Arab countries that formed a contact group set up by the League in 1992 to help negotiate an end to the crisis with the United States and Britain.

Egypt, a member of the group, has announced it is sending a senior minister. The other countries expected to send high-ranking officials were Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania.

Arab diplomats in Cairo said that Libya also has asked South Africa and the Organization of African Unity to send representatives.

After a decade of insistence that Fhimah, 42, and al-Megrahi, 46, be extradited to the United States or Britain for trial, the United States agreed in August to a trial in the Netherlands.

Libya said last month it would turn the men over on or before Tuesday.

Terms of the deal call for the UN Security Council to suspend sanctions imposed in 1992, including an air embargo, as soon as the suspects arrive in the Netherlands.