[This is the headline over a report by David Cowan that was published late yesterday on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]
The FBI has launched an international search for victims of the Lockerbie bombing, including people who suffered “emotional injury”, ahead of a Libyan suspect's trial in the US. (...)
Abu Agila Masud has denied making the device that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish Borders town on 21 December 1988.
A judge in the US federal court where the trial is taking place is considering whether to allow remote access for people directly affected by the case.
The FBI is now trying to find everyone who meets a legal definition of victims of the bombing and wants to watch the trial online. (...)
Abu Agila Masud is due to stand trial before a jury in Washington next May.
The search for people directly affected by the bombing is being undertaken by the FBI's counter terrorism division and the US Department of Justice.
The FBI says the Washington court wants a finalised list of individuals “who meet the statutory definition of victim and wish to have access to the court proceedings".
The court also wants to know their total number and geographic location before it decides how to proceed.
Legislation passed by the US Congress to pave the way for remote access to the trial defines a victim of Lockerbie in two ways.
It includes someone who was “present at or near the scene in Lockerbie when the bombing occurred or immediately thereafter” and who suffered “direct or proximate harm (e.g. physical or emotional injury) as a result".
The second group involves “the spouse, legal guardian, parent, child, brother, sister, next of kin or other relative of someone who was killed on Pan Am 103 or killed or harmed on the ground in Scotland or someone who possesses a relationship of a similar significance to someone who was killed or harmed in the attack".
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on the plane, welcomed the decision to define people who witnessed what happened in Lockerbie as victims of the bombing, if they suffered harm.
He said: "Those affected by any disaster should never be restricted from access to the consequences of that disaster.
"So I think it's a good move that I entirely endorse."
[RB: No steps appear to have been taken to enable the family of the accused man to have remote access to the trial proceedings. This is a situation that should be speedily rectified.]
No comments:
Post a Comment