Lifting of UN sanctions against Libya

[On this date in 2003 the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution lifting the sanctions that had been imposed on Libya after the bombings of Pan Am 103 and UTA 772. The relevant Security Council press release (which includes the text of the resolution and the speeches made at the session) reads in part:]

After several delays in recent weeks, the Security Council this morning lifted decade-long sanctions against Libya, which were imposed after that country failed to cooperate with investigations into terrorist acts against Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and France’s Union de transports aeriens (UTA) flight 772 over the Niger in 1989.

After postponing action on the issue last Tuesday in an effort to achieve consensus (see Press Release SC/7866 of 9 September), the Council adopted resolution 1506 today by a vote of 13 in favour with two abstentions (France, United States).  The decision became possible after Libya accepted responsibility for the actions of its officials, renounced terrorism and arranged for payment of appropriate compensation for the families of the victims.

Libya also expressed its commitment to cooperate with any further requests for information in connection with the investigation.  Those steps in compliance with relevant Council resolutions were recounted in a letter, dated 15 August, from Libya’s Permanent Representative to the President of the Council (document S/2003/818).

Speaking after the vote, however, the representative of the United States said that his country had abstained in the vote, because it did not want its position to be misconstrued as a decision to modify its bilateral measures regardless of future Libyan behaviour.  The United States’ sanctions on that country would remain in full force.

While Libya had taken steps in compliance with relevant United Nations resolutions, the United States continued to have serious concerns about other aspects of Libyan behaviour, he said.  These included its poor human rights record, its rejection of democratic norms and standards, its irresponsible behaviour in Africa, its history of involvement in terrorism and -- most importantly -- its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Referring to the agreement reached yesterday between representatives of the families of the victims of the UTA flight and the Gadhafi Foundation, France’s representative said that agreement had enabled France to not oppose the lifting of sanctions.  The conditions had been established for the equitable settlement of the painful matter that involved 17 nationalities.

Also speaking after the vote were the representatives of Germany, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Syria, Spain and the United Kingdom.  They pointed out that the lifting of sanctions was an important phase in the process of reintegrating Libya in the international community, emphasizing that such normalization presumed that Libya would continue to abide by its commitments.  Several members of the Council also called on Libya to take other measures, including an equitable settlement for victims of the La Belle night club bombing in Berlin in 1986. (...)

Regarding the Lockerbie investigation, the United Kingdom (S/23307) and the United States (S/23308) had requested that Libya surrender for trial those charged with the destruction of the Pan Am flight on 21 December 1988, resulting in 270 deaths.  They further requested that Libya accept responsibility for the actions of its officials; disclose all it knew of the crime; and pay appropriate compensation.  Those requests were included in resolution 731 (1992).

The sanctions were spelled out in resolution 748, adopted on 31 March 1992, and resolution 883, adopted on 11 November 1993, and included travel restrictions, an arms embargo, and financial sanctions excluding financial resources derived from the sale of petroleum products and agricultural products.  Subsequently, the Council suspended the sanctions by its resolution 1192 (1998) after Libya agreed to hand over two suspects for trial before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands in connection with the Lockerbie bombing.  One of them, Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi, has since been convicted and jailed for his role.

Abu Talb and PFLP-GC in the frame

[What follows is excerpted from an article on the website of The Guardian dated 27 February 2000:]

Meckenheim, Germany, 14 September 1989 Swedish officials attending an international conference of Lockerbie investigators reported a lead that might implicate the PFLP-GC, the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Commando, a radical Palestinian splinter group that includes some of the most experienced bomb experts in the Middle East. In May 1989, the Swedish police arrested Mohammed Abu Talb, a PFLP-GC agent born in Egypt, for several attacks with explosives in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. What caught the attention of other investigators was the fact that Abu Talb had visited Malta twice, in October and November 1988. In apartments where the Egyptian had lived, investigators found pieces of clothing that had been bought in Malta and also a calendar on a kitchen table on which the date of 21 December 1988 - the day of the crash - had been circled.

Could the PFLP-GC have been responsible for Lockerbie? And what motive would the terrorist group have had? The investigators believed there might have been an easy answer for the second question: money and revenge. For years the PFLP-GC had received political and military support from the Soviet Union and Syria, but this came to a stop at the end of the 1980s when an Iran Air Airbus with 290 passengers onboard was shot down in the Persian Gulf by the US cruiser Vincennes on 3 July 1988. Ayatollah Khomeini demanded revenge. Might the bomb experts of the PFLP-GC have been working for Iran? According to the CIA, several million US dollars were transferred from Iran to the accounts of the PFLP-GC after the airbus strike. [RB: But see Lockerbie & The Legend of The Iranian Payment.]

But investigators were nevertheless sceptical about this lead. A number of technical details seemed contradictory and one would have thought the shopkeeper in Malta would have recognised Abu Talb's Egyptian accent. In addition, Abu Talb, who was sitting out a life prison sentence in Sweden, denied any involvement in Lockerbie.

[RB: Further details about the Meckenheim meeting can be found here (in German).]

Scottish Parliament motion on new Megrahi appeal

[What follows is a motion lodged yesterday in the Scottish Parliament by Christine Grahame MSP:]

Motion S5M-01396: Christine Grahame, Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 12/09/2016 R

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

That the Parliament notes and welcomes the announcement by Kahlid al-Megrahi, son of Abdelbaset, that he plans to return to Scotland to resurrect the appeal abandoned by his father with much evidence previously unheard and untested; considers that there is a view that this, together with comments by the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, to ITV Border on 23 May 2016 that, "I do think that there are doubts upon the conviction and I tend to think that it would probably result in it being found unsafe", makes it imperative that the case against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is now fully explored in the High Court of Appeal in order that, once and for all, victims and victims’ families hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and considers that this may, at last, resolve concerns of constituents in Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, and elsewhere, regarding the guilt, or otherwise, of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Lockerbie police records 'destroyed'

[This is the headline over a report published on the BBC News website on this date in 1999. It reads as follows:]

Police notebooks containing evidence relating to the Lockerbie bombing are alleged to have been destroyed.

Dozens of the notebooks are believed to have been disposed of five years after the 1988 air disaster which claimed the lives of 270 people.

A police officer involved in the investigation telephoned the BBC and said a number of officers had been told their notebooks were missing.

It is unclear whether police destroyed them mistakenly or whether the Crown Office had not ordered them to be kept.

However, police and prosecution officials preparing the case against two Libyans who are due to stand trial for the bombing next year, have refused to comment on the report, which initially appeared in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper.

A spokesman for the Crown Office, which is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland, said: "We cannot make any comment as it would be inappropriate to comment about what may be evidential matters in the Lockerbie trial."

Dumfries and Galloway Police, in whose area the village of Lockerbie is located, also declined to comment.

The newspaper said that with the notebooks destroyed, police officers will have to give evidence years after the disaster without being able to refer to detailed notes taken at the time.

It said some of the notebooks referred to the recovery of fragments of wreckage, and that it was unclear whether police destroyed them mistakenly or whether the Crown Office did not order them to be kept.

The newspaper quoted sources said to be close to the defence as saying: "Police officers have told us they could not give detailed statements because they did not have their notebooks.

"When we asked why, the answer was the notebooks had been taken off them and were later destroyed. In a case like this the order should have been given that they were kept.

"For some reason the order was either not given or was ignored. We are aware of dozens of notebooks which have been destroyed."

A leading Edinburgh solicitor said missing notebooks could cause problems for police witnesses.

George More said: "A witness has to give evidence from his or her memory. A notebook can be used as an aide memoire and that is often done in court.

"If the witness can't remember and the actual notebook is not available then there may be difficulties for police witnesses at the trial."

The non-jury trial of the two accused, Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, is scheduled to get under way on 4 February 2000 at a specially convened court near the Hague.

Press coverage of new Megrahi appeal bid story

Many UK newspapers have picked up yesterday’s Sunday Post story about Khaled al-Megrahi’s intention to return to Scotland and seek a fresh appeal to clear his father’s name. The following are examples:

The Herald;

The Times;

Daily Telegraph;

Daily Record;

Daily Mail;

Daily Express.

None of them adds anything of substance to the original Sunday Post coverage.

Never been a proper explanation

[What follows is the text of an article published in The Times on this date in 2009:]

An independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing was called for last night by a leading human rights lawyer.

Gareth Peirce, who has represented a string of high-profile victims of miscarriage of justice, said that the forensic evidence on which the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, was convicted was flawed.

The finding itself was “very, very worrying” and based the same kind of discredited forensic science that was at the heart of several notable miscarriages of justice in the ‘70s and ‘80s, she said.

“The [Lockerbie] case was founded on twin pillars: one, that al-Megrahi was linked to a charred fragment of a bomb timer; and second, his identification was ‘claimed’ by a man who could not be sure of his evidence.

“Has everyone forgotten the lessions learned of flawed scientified evidence and identification?

“The point being made by the families over 20 years is that they want to know the cause of the Lockerbie diaster. And at every turn, limitations have been put on their ability to discover it.”

Ms Peirce, who in a career spanning 30 years has acted for the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six and families of the Marchioness river boat disaster, was speaking at a special event in London attended by campaigners and experts including Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the 270 killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie.

She said that there had been a Fatal Accident Inquiry in [1990/91], which was limited to the immediate cause of the explosion so as not to prejudice future prosecutions, she said.

Some 15 years later there was the prosecution in the Hague of two Libyans, where the family could only be present and observe. But there had never been a “proper explanation of what they want to hear.”

But a UN assessor appointed to the trial had been scathing of the judges’ verdict, she added, and of the “atmosphere of political interference that permeated the trial”.

Megrahi’s son vows to return to Scotland to clear his father’s name

[What follows is excerpted from an article published in today’s edition of the Sunday Post:]

The son of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has revealed he’s heading back to Scotland to fight for justice for his dad – while branding Libya a lawless jungle.

Speaking from his home in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Khalid al-Megrahi said a fresh appeal to clear his dad’s name was imminent.

Khalid, 31, has vowed to return to Scotland to play a central role in the case.

He will bring his family, which now includes a son named after his father, who was the only man to be convicted of the 1988 atrocity.

“Libya is like a jungle,” he said. “I want to return to Scotland for justice.”

An appeal launched by campaigners who believe Megrahi is innocent collapsed last November.

At the time, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission – a Scottish Government body – said it could not proceed without input from Megrahi’s family.

It would have been the third appeal against Megrahi’s 2001 conviction.

He dropped the second appeal in 2009 – launched while he was in prison in Scotland – because he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

Months later, he was controversially allowed to return to Libya on “compassionate grounds”, where he lived for a further three years.

Now, in his first interview since his father died in 2012, Khalid said the family’s participation in the appeal process has been hampered by “lawlessness in Libya”.

Khalid, Megrahi’s eldest son, has borne the burden of paternal responsibility since his dad was convicted in 2001.

He said it was only now during a lull in fighting in Libya that’s it had been possible for his family to get more involved in his father’s case. He said: “In Libya, it’s not a good time to do anything. Before the country was much better than it is now.

“And it’s not just for us but all Libyan people.

“It’s just not safe.

“Crime is everywhere. Banks don’t have money, police don’t work and the court system doesn’t work.

“You can ask any Libyan and he will tell you the same answer.”

Khalid, 31, said the capital often went without power, which compounded the problems of fighting a legal appeal from overseas and communicating with lawyers in Scotland.

Libya has been plagued by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011. (...)

Khalid believes his family was targeted in the aftermath of Gaddafi’s death because of perceived closeness to the regime. (...)

But Khalid has distanced his family from the notorious Gaddafi clan and said he knew “nothing about them”.

Khalid, whose three-year-old son is named Abdelbaset in honour of his dad, said: “We had a lot of problems at the beginning of the revolution.

“We had a home and car stolen and they burned out our farm.

“There were also a lot of other things that happened to the family.

“The reason for doing all these crimes was that we belonged to the tribe of Megrahi.” (...)

Khalid said both he and his family had fond memories of their time in Scotland.

He spent his formative years here, was educated here and can’t wait to return so he can see his friends.

Khalid said: “I want to return to Scotland for the appeal. I love Scotland. I still keep in touch with some of the Scottish families.

“We are fighting because we believe Scotland will give us justice.

“The people of the country have always been very friendly towards us.

“We want justice not just for our family but also for the families of the victims.

“My family have been victims too.”

Khalid also revealed his toddler son Abdelbaset bore a resemblance to his father.

“I believe if I don’t clear my dad’s name my son will,” he said.

“We believe one day the truth will get out  – God willing.”

As well as eldest son Khalid, Megrahi had another four children – Ghada, Mohammed, Ali, and Motasem.

His eldest daughter Ghada, 33, studied law in Scotland and is now practicing in Tripoli.

IT consultant Khalid – also a Scottish graduate – spends time travelling the world with his work.

His three youngest siblings are all supportive of the appeal.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the 1988 disaster and who supports the Megrahi appeal, said: “There is not a scrap of doubt in my mind that if this appeal goes ahead, his conviction will be overturned.

“If that happens the relatives will examine calls for a full inquiry.”

But other relatives of victims last night blasted the Megrahi family’s new appeal as a fresh heartache.

Susan Cohen’s daughter Theodora, 20, was on board the flight when it exploded over Lockerbie.

Speaking from her home in New Jersey, USA, Mrs Cohen, 78, said: “For the Megrahis to call themselves victims, well, that is despicable.

“He was a mass murderer and to defend him is disgusting.”

A Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission spokesman said it had not received any new paperwork about the case and “there is no current appeal”.

The AAIB technical investigation

[What follows is excerpted from a long and detailed article by K P R Smart, AAIB Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, entitled The Lockerbie Investigation: Understanding of the Effects of the Detonation of `Improvised Explosive Devices’ on Aircraft Pressure Cabins that was published on this date in 1997:]

At 19:03 hrs UTC on 21 December 1988 Pan American World Airways Flight PA 103 from London, Heathrow to Kennedy Airport, New York was receiving its oceanic clearance from Shanwick Oceanic Control. Seconds later the secondary radar return disappeared from the controller’s screen and multiple primary radar returns were seen to fan out in an easterly direction for a considerable distance.

An improvised explosive device (IED) had detonated in the forward baggage compartment of the Boeing 747 at station 700. The structural damage to the aircraft forward fuselage caused the forward section of the aircraft to detach and pivot to the right around the window belt on the right side. The nose section of the aircraft struck the No 3 engine intake causing the engine to detach from its pylon. This element of the structural break-up was complete within three seconds of the detonation of the device. The aircraft then entered a steepening descent path with the forward fuselage structure detaching until it reached a vertical descent at some 19,000 feet over the town of Lockerbie. At about this time the tail surfaces of the aircraft started to disintegrate, probably by a flutter mode, and as a consequence the rear fuselage started the break-up. A large section of cabin floor and baggage hold from the rear fuselage together with three landing gear units fell onto a residential area in Lockerbie. The main wing structure struck the ground a short distance away, destroying a bungalow and creating a huge crater in the ground. There was a very strong westerly wind at the time of the accident (115 knots at the aircraft’s cruising altitude of 31,000 feet). These winds produced a wreckage trail that stretched from Lockerbie in the south west of Scotland to the east coast of northern England, some 80 miles away. The recorded primary radar returns showed debris falling over the east coast of northern England more than one hour after the initiating event. All 259 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed and 11 residents of Lockerbie lost their lives as the wreckage fell onto the town.

At the time of the disaster it was dark and the initial emergency service response was concentrated in and around the town of Lockerbie. The area to the east of Lockerbie is sparsely populated and includes one of the largest manmade forests in Europe, the Kielder Forest. The police had initially identified some seven major wreckage sites in or near the town and the rescue teams set about the task of recovering bodies whilst at the same time preserving essential evidence for the criminal and technical investigations. Increasingly it became clear that wreckage was being discovered at greater and greater distances from Lockerbie and the eventual wreckage and evidential trail was established to have covered an area of 840 square miles.

From the start of the investigation into the causes of the Lockerbie disaster, the police and the AAIB were considering two possible scenarios. The first involved sabotage, which would obviously have resulted in the police conducting a criminal investigation. The second, that the aircraft had been destroyed by defects in the aircraft structure, which would have resulted in the AAIB taking the lead in an investigation under the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents) Regulations. On 26 December a small section of baggage container was recovered from the open countryside to the east of Lockerbie. This piece of wreckage showed evidence of being in the vicinity of detonating high explosive. Forensic examinations conducted on 26/27 December confirmed the initial  findings and the world was notified of these facts in a press release on 28 December. At that time the AAIB decided that the technical investigation, conducted under the Civil Aviation (Investigation of Air Accidents) Regulations, required clear boundaries to ensure that no conflict arose with the criminal investigation. It was decided that the AAIB investigation would determine the position of the device within the aircraft, the sequence of structural failures that led to the break-up of the Boeing 747, and consider what safety action could be recommended to provide the aircraft with enhanced protection against explosive devices. The technical investigation was therefore able to concentrate on the aviation safety aspects arising out of this disaster whilst at the same time assisting and supporting the criminal investigation being conducted by the police.

The initial AAIB team of ten accident investigators arrived in Lockerbie at 01.30 hrs, some six hours after the accident occurred. Over that first night they started to assess the task ahead and co-ordinate their activities with the police. In the days that followed the disaster the numbers of agencies and personnel increased to peak at around 2000 personnel working on the accident site. On the day after the disaster the AAIB arranged for the Royal Air Force to fly a series of photographic reconnaissance missions in an attempt to establish the boundaries of the wreckage trail. It quickly became clear that there were in fact two wreckage trails. One, the `northern trail’ , was bounded at its western end by the town of Lockerbie where a number of large sections of aircraft structure and three of its engines fell. This trail extended to the east by some 15 km. The second trail, `the southern trail’ , was far longer and stretched from the site of the initial explosion, south of Lockerbie, to the east coast of northern England some 80 miles away. These very long wreckage trails were a result of the upper level winds on the evening of 21 December which were from the west at 115 knots at flight level 310 (31000 feet), the cruising altitude of the aircraft prior to the explosion taking place. The first priority for the technical investigation was to identify and record the position of all the items of wreckage over the very long wreckage trail. This was done with the aid of military photographic interpreters and large teams on the ground who examined, identifed and recorded each piece of wreckage.

Lockerbie: Heathrow break-in revealed

[This is the headline over a report published in The Independent on this date in 2001. It reads as follows:]

New evidence relating to the bombing of the Lockerbie jumbo jet was revealed today.

A former security guard at Heathrow airport says he discovered a break-in at a Pan Am baggage facility early on the day that 270 people died in the bombing of the New York-bound flight.

Ray Manly, 63, was quoted in The Mirror as saying he was surprised that the incident was not mentioned during the trial of two Libyans for the bombing.

The Scottish Office, the government executive office in Scotland, would not comment on the report because an appeal is pending.

Manly said that anti-terrorist police questioned him after the bombing, but the report was not mentioned in the trial that led to the 31 January conviction of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent. A co-defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted.

Prosecutors alleged that the bomb had been hidden in a suitcase and put aboard an aircraft in Malta. It was then alleged route through Frankfurt to London and the Pan Am flight.

Manly's statement suggested the possibility that the bomb was sneaked into a luggage area in London.

In sworn affidavits, he said he had found a padlock had been cut from a door that led to Pan Am's baggage about 18 hours before Flight 103 took off, The Mirror said.

"I believe it would have been possible for an unauthorized person to obtain tags for a particular Pan Am flight then, having broken the ... lock, to have introduced a tagged bag into the baggage buildup area," Manly was quoted as saying.

The Mirror reported that Al-Megrahi's lawyers may use the new information in an appeal scheduled to begin on 15 October at Camp Zeist, a former US air base in the Netherlands where the initial trial was held.

If the appeal is rejected, al-Megrahi, 48, will serve his life sentence in a Scottish prison. Judges recommended a minimum term of 20 years.

During the proceedings, defense attorneys suggested a bomb could have been introduced into the inter-airport luggage system, either in Frankfurt or London. The defense also tried to throw suspicion onto two Palestinian groups.

The New York-bound Pan Am flight was over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December in 1988 when it exploded, sending 259 passengers and crew to their deaths. Eleven people were killed on the ground.

[RB: The concealment from Megrahi’s defence team of the evidence relating to the Heathrow break-in is the subject of one of Justice for Megrahi’s allegations of criminal misconduct in the Lockerbie investigation, prosecution and trial that are currently under investigation by Police Scotland.]

Many felt uneasy as the proceedings were played out

[On this date in 2009 the late Margo MacDonald MSP contibuted an article headlined No need to hide politics behind Megrahi release to Edinburgh’s evening newspaper, the Evening News. It reads in part:]

When Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was tried for the murder of 270 people at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands, the usual process was amended. (...) [H]is trial was conducted without a jury, with the verdict and sentence being decided by three Scottish High Court judges. (...)

A few people at his trial, whose numbers have grown over the years, harbour suspicions that the changed procedures served to protect the security interests of these states, and others, at least as much as al-Megrahi's safety. But allowing for the compromises in procedure, there was still the intention that justice should be the overriding factor.

Many people felt uneasy as the jury-free proceedings were played out in public, in the presence of victims' relatives. But they trusted in everything else being done according to the book. It's now known the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has turned up evidence withheld from al-Megrahi's defence lawyers at the trial, pertinent enough to have the SCCRC advise that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred. You can bet your bottom petro-dollar that if there was any manipulation of evidence, it was down to diplomatic, and not judicial considerations.

This being the case, why should anyone find it an unthinkable departure from the paths of righteousness for Kenny MacAskill to have taken notice of the multiplicity of state interests involved with his decision on whether to agree to al-Megrahi's request to be allowed to end his days in Libya? Legal considerations doubtless influenced and guided the justice secretary's decision. But it beggars belief that in meetings between civil servants from Edinburgh and London, transatlantic phone calls between the American State Department and Scotland's Justice Ministry, and meetings and communications between Arab, Scottish and UK governments there were no exchanges of views on what should happen to al-Megrahi.

Apart from anything else, people who were not directly affected by the atrocity can address the issue buffered by the 20 years that have passed. In the same way as many other wicked cruelties have come to be accommodated by their victims as the world has moved on and new relationships have developed, so the realpolitik of 2009 is different from that of 1988. The Berlin Wall was still in place, the world was divided between states under the influence of either Moscow or Washington. In the Middle East, internal civil war all but destroyed Lebanon, Iran and Iraq had pursued a long, destructive war, other Arab countries were unable to exert influence or power in defence of their interests because of internal tensions, and Libya was a pariah state. (...)

Nelson Mandela's was the name invoked by the supporters of the decision to let al-Megrahi go home. Twenty years ago, he was still a convicted terrorist. It's ironic that should have been his legal status when he was released from prison, and nobody even thought to ask about the legal niceties. (...)

The details of such things may have blurred in the public mind, but experience and common sense ensures understanding of all the pressures on the justice secretary when the Libyans and al-Megrahi applied for release.

The Scottish government and the justice secretary would have saved themselves a load of angst if they'd admitted this up front. For the record, I agreed with the decision, but thought the stated reasons for it didn't ring totally true.

[RB: Earlier this week a portrait of Margo MacDonald was gifted to the Scottish Parliament. It can be viewed here.]