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Africa North

Lockerbie bomber home after emergency hospital stay

2012-04-17

The Libyan former intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people was released from a Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... hospital on Monday after receiving an emergency blood transfusion, his brother said. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was taken to a private hospital on Friday to receive a transfusion of eleven litres of blood, That seems rather a lot... That's eleven units that could have helped someone else... but subsequently felt strong enough to return home, his brother Abdel Hakim told Rooters. Well, sure. I got one unit, once upon a time, and was oxygen-drunk and giggling very inappropriately for months. Only because the donor had had a highball... "His health is going from bad to worse, but he felt ready to go and his family took him home," Abdel Hakim said. Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 as it flew to New York from London. All 259 people aboard the airliner were killed and 11 others on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie died from falling wreckage. Britannia freed him in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from advanced terminal prostate cancer and thought to have months to live. His release angered many relatives of the victims, 189 of whom were American, and the B.O. regime criticised the decision. A number of U.S. politicians have pressed for his extradition to the United States, something Libya's ruling National Transitional Council said it would not do. Megrahi, who served as an intelligence agent during the rule of Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy ... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope... , denied any role in suspected human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... abuses in his home country before Qadaffy's fall and death in a popular uprising last year

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Africa North

Megrahi says his Lockerbie role exaggerated, facts will emerge 'soon'

2011-10-04

[al-Arabiya] Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, said his role in the attack had been exaggerated and the truth about what really happened would emerge soon. Megrahi, released from a Scottish prison two years ago because he was suffering from terminal cancer, spoke to Rooters from a bed at his home in Tripoli. Looking frail and his breathing laboured, he said he had only a few months, at most, left to live. "The facts (about the Lockerbie bombing) will become clear one day and hopefully in the near future. In a few months from now, you will see new facts that will be announced," he told Rooters Television over the pinging of medical monitors around his bed. "The West exaggerated my name. Please leave me alone. I only have a few more days, weeks or months."

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Africa North

Libya Ready to Cooperate Over Lockerbie

2011-09-30

[Tripoli Post] After declaring on Monday as "cased closed" after a request from Scottish authorities to investigate more suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, Libya's interim justice minister made a U-turn by saying at a news conference, that Libya would co-operate with Sherlocks in Scotland. Mr Alagi said: "I'd like to confirm that we are accepting any facts that might arise in this regard, if there is any suspicion about any other person. We will co-operate in this regard with whoever has any other facts, according to international treaties." Scottish prosecutors had asked Libya's National Transitional Council NTC, to give them access to papers or witnesses that could implicate more suspects in the attack. They could even include deposed leader Muammar Al Qadaffy ...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years... In 2001, Abdel Basset al Megrahi was the only person convicted of the bombing. He was placed in long-term storage in a Scottish prison to serve a life sentence but was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 because he was suffering from prostate cancer. Mr Alagi said he welcomed the possibility of a new investigation because "this will lead to the acquittal of Abdelbaset al Megrahi, who has been unjustly convicted". Scottish prosecutors noted that the evidence in al Megrahi's trial suggested he had not acted alone. The bombing claimed the lives of 270 people Police at the time said they had submitted a list of eight other suspects whom they wanted to interview, but Al Qadaffy had refused to allow them to be questioned.

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Africa North

Libya to Abolish State Security Courts

2011-09-28

[Tripoli Post] Mohammed al-Alagi, currently acting as interim justice minister in Libya's National Transitional Council, has approved a measure to abolish the country's state security prosecution and courts, which sentenced opponents of the old regime to prison. At a presser in Tripoli on Monday, al-Algi that he has signed a document to disband the bodies. The step still needs approval by the National Transitional Council. But, he said: "I am personally very happy to sign an approval to end the state security prosecution and court, and the state security appeals court." The document includes a request to abolish a third court for special cases where many opposition members were to life-term prison sentences like Abu Salim in Tripoli, where it has now been proved inmates were massacred by the Al Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland... regime. Libyans all over welcome the decision it has been said. Libyans are pressing forward with efforts to do away with some of the most hated remnants of the former regime even though fighting continues and the ousted leader's whereabouts remains unknown. Referring to the British foreign office's announcement that the investigation into the 1988 bombing of a US-bound airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland "remains open," Mohammad al-Alagi told news hounds that the investigation is closed, and no new information will be released that could lead to additional suspects being charged. Prosecutors in Scotland had asked the NTC to provide them with access to papers or witnesses that could result in the implication of more suspects, but al-Alagi, said that the case was "closed". Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion... a British foreign office front man has been reported saying that NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul-Jalil has already assured the British PM that the Libyan authorities will cooperate with the UK in this and other ongoing investigations. "Having spoken with the NTC this evening, we understand that this remains the case. The police investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open and the police should follow the evidence wherever it leads them," the front man said. Former Libyan agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted by a Scottish court of the bombing in 2001 and given a life sentence. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, because he was suffering from prostate had cancer. Medical experts believed at the time that he had only months left to live. Hundreds of civilians decamped Al Qadaffy's hometown of Sirte on Monday to escape growing shortages of food and medicine and escalating fears that their homes will be struck during fighting between revolutionary forces and regime loyalists, according to AFP. NTC fighters launched their offensive against Sirte nearly two weeks ago, but have since faced fierce resistance from loyalists holed up inside the city. After a bloody push into Sirte again over the weekend, revolutionary fighters said they pulled back in a tactical move to plan their assault, allow more time for civilians to flee, and to allow NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... to conduct important air strikes targeting the Al Qadaffy loyalists' military sites. NATO, which has played a key role in decimating the former Libyan dictator's military during the conflict, has kept up its air campaign since the fall of Tripoli last month. The alliance said Monday its warplanes struck eight military targets near Sirte a day earlier, including an ammunition and vehicle storage facility and rocket launcher.

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Africa North

Liberated Libya : No Assistance On Lockerbie

2011-09-27

Also, the NTC said Monday the convict of the notorious December 1988 bombing of a plane over Lockerbie of Scotland was not to be put on trial again as the case is already closed. Despite Britain's recent requests for assistance from the new Libyan authorities to re-open the Lockerbie investigation, Mohammed al-Allaqi, chief of justice and human rights issues of the NTC, told a press conference in Tripoli that, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the main convict of Lockerbie bombing, was already tried, convicted and punished, and he was released with the consent of the British government on humanitarian basis. So the issue may not be tried twice, that is the basic rule of justice, said al-Allaqi. The 'issue' was 'tried' by a tribunal created post facto out of thin air. The trial was a farce and not everyone responsible was tried in the first place. Gaddafi then bribed Scotland and threatened Britain with new terror attacks to force the release of Al-Megrahi. And Britain and Scotland eagerly went along, for the sake of Libyan oil. This is the second time the question has been asked and answered. Nice of the rebels to phrase it so politely, when the Islamists among them would never turn a brother Muslim over to unbelievers under any circumstances anyway. The Lockerbie hijack claimed about 270 civilians' lives, mostly Americans. Former Libyan leader Gaddafi refused to turn over the terrorist suspects until 1999. In 2003, Libya formally claimed responsibility for the bombing, but never offered apology for the attack. The West has forgiven the Taliban so why shouldn't the West forgive the Gaddafi regime elements who perpetrated Lockerbie. The Libyans know that they won't share in the terrorist's fate even if they don't hand them over. Provocative weakness has global consequences.

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Africa North

Lockerbie bomber found in Libya close to death

2011-08-29

Not close enough... Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has been tracked down in Tripoli, dashing rumors that he had been taken out of the Libyan capital, The Telegraph and other news organizations are reporting. Earlier, U.S. politicians had called on Libyan leaders to turn over al-Megrahi and that Libya's new ruling council would not. Before this most recent discovery, al-Megrahi has surfaced on occasion in Libya. Al-Megrahi was discovered by news hounds from CNN comatose and near death, surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip. Link to the CNN story, with video here. Oxygen tubes and IV lines can be disconnected quickly. He might just spring out of bed and laugh at us. I'd rather we be sure. CNN reporters have been known to believe the most amazing whoppers, especially when the company really wants access. The cancer-stricken former Libyan intelligence officer is being cared for by his family at his Tripoli villa. Ah, good. Die slowly, sucker. "We just give him oxygen," al-Megrahi's son, Khalid al-Megrahi, told CNN. "Nobody gives us any advice." Kerosene will add body to the drip. He'll be much more comfy. Al-Megrahi may be the last person alive who knows who in the Libyan government ordered the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 in the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, below, in December 1988. Al-Megrahi was freed from prison in 2009 in Scotland after serving eight years of a life sentence. Doctors treating him for prostate cancer gave him three months to live. Authorities released him on compassionate grounds.

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Africa North

UK deputy PM wants Lockerbie bomber jailed

2011-08-25

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Wednesday he would like to see convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi put back in jail after the overthow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Many U.S. politicians and victims’ relatives are pressing for Megrahi’s extradition to the United States following his release on compassionate grounds two years ago. In all, 189 of the 270 killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing were American citizens. “My personal view is that I would like to see al Megrahi behind bars, because whatever you think he was convicted in a court of law for one of the most atrocious terrorist acts this country has ever seen,” Clegg told Sky TV. Megrahi was found guilty in 2001 of playing a “significant part in planning and perpetrating” the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish border town of Lockerbie. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum jail term of 27 years but he returned to Libya in August 2009 after being freed from a Scottish jail on the grounds he was allegedly suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Scottish authorities lied said at the time of his release he was only expected to live for another three months. Megrahi recently passed the second anniversary of his release. He appeared last month at a rally in support of Gaddafi, sitting in a wheelchair at a tribal meeting in Tripoli. Prime Minister David Cameron, who took office in May 2010, has called the release a mistake. However, Scotland has responsibility for its own legal system following devolution in 1999. Scottish government sources said Megrahi had abided by the licence terms of his release — submitting regular medical reports and reporting in through telephone conference calls. How reassuring... Megrahi had been held in Greenock prison in western Scotland. Local authority officials said on Wednesday they were trying to get back in contact with him after the turmoil of recent days to ensure he continues to meet his licence terms. “Our contact with Mr Megrahi over the past two years has been up-to date and has given us no cause for concern,” East Renfrewshire Council said in a statement. “The events over the weekend in Tripoli have put us into the position where we will need to contact Mr Megrahi earlier than we would have expected to,” it added.

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Africa North

In UK, new row over al-Megrahis return to Libya

2010-02-21

[Iran Press TV Latest] Scottish opposition parties have demanded the full publication of the medical evidence that declared the Lockerbie bomber terminally-ill, effectively paving the way for his controversial release. "The public deserve to know exactly what the evidence said and I urge the justice secretary to release the medical evidence in full immediately," the DPA News Agency quoted Labor's Justice Spokesman Richard Baker as saying Saturday. He doesn't appear to be dead yet, does he? The release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the sole man convicted of the 1988 Pan Am airliner bombing that killed 270 people, sparked allegations of a clandestine deal between London and Libya over lucrative oil exploration contracts. The only word wrong in that sentence is 'clandestine' ... The Lockerbie bomber, who maintains his innocence, was freed on compassionate grounds six months ago, although in August, medical advisors had given the cancer-stricken 57-year-old only three months to live. Sounds like that old Henny Youngman joke... The Labor Party and the Tories have again lashed out at the decision to return Megrahi to Libya on August 20, 2009, where he received a hero's welcome, and called it a grave error. "The decision to release Megrahi was a grave error of judgment. Kenny MacAskill should have properly weighed the seriousness of Megrahi's crime and long sentence against his compassion for the victims of the Lockerbie bombing," Labor leader Iain Gray said Friday. Libya has denied that Megrahi was a Tripoli agent, while a new BBC show earlier this year cast doubt on the evidence that condemned him, saying there were flaws in the key evidence.

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Africa North

NY Taj cancels Gaddafi booking

2009-09-24

Even as the highest-profile segment of the 64th UN General Assembly opened here today with leaders such as US President Barack Obama and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna taking the podium, the session has been overshadowed, for the man in the street, by a huge controversy over the presence of one of the world’s longest-serving and most mercurial leaders, Muammar Gaddafi. This is Gaddafi’s first visit to the US since he took power at the age of 27, exactly four decades ago. Libya is president of the General Assembly for a year from this month and is an elected member of the UN Security Council, but Gaddafi has been unable to find any place to stay in New York this week. In keeping with his unconventional lifestyle, Gaddafi, who likes to sleep in a bedouin tent, tried to pitch his sleeping quarters on the grounds of New York’s famed Central Park, but the City of New York denied him permission to do so. Ratan Tata’s landmark hotel here, the Taj Pierre, accepted a booking for the “Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya” and “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution”, who has held no official state title for 30 of the 40 years that he has led Libya. But when word got around and the hotel’s long-time clients protested, the Tatas quickly cancelled the booking for Gaddafi. Taj Pierre would not comment on the record on the ground that guest bookings are confidential business. The aborted choice of the Taj Pierre was actually the last resort for the Libyan strongman, according to a Libyan diplomat to the UN. His UN Mission earlier tried to pitch Gaddafi’s tent at a property in the New Jersey town of Englewood. Although that property is owned by the Libyan embassy, the US state department stepped in and banned erection of the tent there in the face of angry protests by residents of Englewood, many of whom are Jews. “In keeping with prior arrangements, the Englewood, New Jersey, property is not available for any use in connection with” Gaddafi’s visit, state department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters. “Any use of this property other than the personal use of the Libyan ambassador and his family has to be reviewed by the state department,” Kelly said. Gaddafi has always been a hate figure among Americans, who view him as an enemy of the US and a promoter of terror and weapons of mass destruction. In 1986, then US President Ronald Reagan bombed what were thought to be Gaddafi’s sleeping tents in Tripoli and Benghazi, killing, among others, Gaddafi’s daughter, Hannah. However, in recent years, Libya compromised with its Western enemies, allowed the inspection and dismantling of Libya’s nuclear programme and was allowed back into the international community by the US and European Union countries. Libya’s presidency of the General Assembly and its election to the Security Council were the results of such acceptance. Earlier this year, there were suggestions from Tripoli that Gaddafi might himself preside over the 64th General Assembly, but the proposal ran aground because he wanted to hand over the post mid-way to his son and heir apparent, Saif Al Islam. Under UN rules, an individual has to be elected General Assembly president for an entire year. The post was eventually filled by Ali Abdussalam Treki, Libya’s minister for African Union affairs. Gaddafi’s visit to New York this week was to have been the high point of Libya’s return to the world order, but it has been spoiled by the controversy over his accommodation. The trigger for the latest round of American protests was the release from a Scottish prison of a Libyan, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was given a hero’s welcome on his return to Libya in August. Megrahi, who was convicted of bombing a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 killing 270 people, was released on compassionate grounds because of his terminal cancer. After the Englewood fiasco, billionaire builder Donald Trump offered his estate in Bedford, 43 miles north of Manhattan, as a site for erecting Gaddafi’s tent, but town authorities stepped in and ordered work to be stopped at the site on the flimsy ground that no permits were sought for building a temporary residence on the estate. Several Manhattan hotels then refused to book the Libyan leader. At one point, Libyan diplomats here, desperate for a roof for Gaddafi under Manhattan’s skyline, pretended to be Dutch diplomats and inquired about renting a six-storey townhouse. They were quickly discovered to be Arabs because of their accents. The Libyan leader will now stay at his country’s Permanent Mission to the UN, which is an office and does not have residential facilities.

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Britain

US opposes Lockerbie bomber release

2009-08-14

[Iran Press TV Latest] The United States has objected to the release of a Libyan national, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who is serving life imprisonment for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. "We have made our views clear to the UK government, to other authorities, that we believe that he should spend the rest of his time in jail," State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley said. On Thursday, British media reported that al-Megrahi's release was imminent on compassionate grounds because he has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He would be allowed to return to his family in Libya. Susan Cohen, whose daughter was killed in the bombing, told Sky News that Megrahi's release would be "a disgrace." In 2001, three Scottish judges sitting at an extraordinary tribunal in the Netherlands had sentenced al-Megrahi, 57, to life imprisonment for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. The blast, Britain's deadliest terror attack, killed all 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground due to falling debris. Many of those on the flight were Americans traveling home for the Christmas holidays.

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Africa North

Libya asks for Lockerbie bomber to be freed

2009-07-26

The Libyan government has formally asked Scotland for the compassionate release of the former Libyan agent jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the Scottish government said on Saturday. Libyan authorities made the application on behalf of Abdel Basset al Megrahi, who was sentenced to life for blowing up a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. "We can confirm an application for compassionate release has been made by Mr al-Megrahi, and forwarded by the Libyan Government to the Scottish Ministers," a Scottish government spokeswoman said in a statement. "Scottish ministers will not comment on the content of the application and will now seek advice on the application." Libya has repeatedly brought up the fate of the 57-year-old Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, most recently at a meeting in Italy between Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier this month. But the British government has said it is a matter for Scotland, which has a separate legal system from the rest of Britain. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will now consider whether the application should be granted.

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Britain

Libya and Britain agree to transfer prisoners

2009-04-30

[Al Arabiya Latest] Libya and Britain agreed to transfer prisoners on Wednesday, opening a legal window for the repatriation of a former Libyan agent jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing as his lawyers launched an appeal against his conviction. The deal to allow the transfer of prisoners between the two countries was one of four agreements on judicial cooperation ratified in Tripoli, and removes an obstacle to any future deal to send home Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi. He was convicted in 2001 for the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently in a Scottish jail. All 259 people on board the Pan Am Boeing 747 en route from London to New York died, along with 11 people on the ground at Lockerbie as a result of falling debris. "The agreements are effective as of today," said a statement released by the Tripoli government shortly after the signing by Libya's Foreign Ministry judicial department director Mohammed es-Sagaier and Britain's ambassador to Libya, Vincent Fean. The Libyan statement said the four agreements covered the exchange of wanted suspects, prisoner transfers, judicial cooperation on civil and commercial affairs, and legal aid in criminal cases. "The agreements are standard deals ... They allow the transfer of prisoners after final court verdicts to permit them to spend the remainder of their prison terms near their families," Libyan Cooperation Minister Mohamed Tahar Sayala said, when asked if Megrahi would benefit from the deals.

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