Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Africa North

Libya PM takes risky bet on US goodwill from Lockerbie handover

2022-12-31

[An Nahar] Libya's Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which 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...
-based leadership is facing a public backlash for handing Washington a suspect in the deadly 1988 Lockerbie attack, but is betting that the resulting U.S. goodwill can strengthen its hand against rivals.

The attack on a Pan Am jet over Scotland killed 270 people, the deadliest-ever terror attack in Britannia, which took place when Libya was under the rule of dictator Moamer Qadaffy.

Earlier this month, alleged former intelligence agent Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir al-Marimi appeared in a U.S. court on accusations he made the bomb used in the attack.

He could face life in prison if convicted of "destruction of an aircraft resulting in death" and two other related charges.

Masud's handover sparked a backlash against the government of Abdulhamid Dbeibah, which controls the west of the conflict-wracked country but is challenged by a rival authority and forces loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar

...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all. Actually, he is, but slowly...
in the east.

Dbeibah has faced bitter criticism from political rivals, rights groups and relatives of Libyan detainees who fear being handed over themselves.

Khaled al-Montasser, a professor of international relations at Tripoli University, said Dbeibah "will probably not stop at extraditing one suspect -- others will inevitably follow".

Dbeibah, after admitting that the handover had taken place, said he had acted "with full respect for Libyan illusory sovereignty".

He also denied rumours he was planning to hand over Abdallah Senoussi, who was Qadaffy's intelligence chief at the time of the attack.

"Senoussi will not be handed to the United States, he's in his prison in Tripoli," Dbeibah told Saudi news channel al-Arabiya.

Only one person has been convicted for the bombing, which killed all 259 people on the jumbo jet, including 190 Americans, and 11 people on the ground.

The Libyan state had considered the case closed since 2003, after Qadaffy's regime officially acknowledged its responsibility for the attack, paid $2.7 billion in compensation and handed over two Libyan suspects.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were charged with the bombing and tried by a Scottish court in the Netherlands.

Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001 while Fhimah was acquitted.

Megrahi died in Libya in 2012, always maintaining his innocence.

But while a 2008 deal put an end to financial claims for compensation, "Washington never closes criminal cases" concerning its citizens, Montasser said.

Link

Africa North

Qadhafi stronghold fate hinges on talks

2011-09-05

[Dawn] The fate of one of Muammar

Qadaffy's
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years...
last bastions hung on negotiations Sunday, as Libya's new leaders called for the ousted strongman to stand trial in his homeland when captured.

"We are negotiating through the intermediary of tribal leaders who hope to convince the gangs (loyal to Qadaffy) to surrender," Abdullah Kenshil, the chief of the National Transitional Council's negotiating team, said.

"We will protect them, we won't do anything to them, we only want to try them, and they will have a fair trial." A military commander had earlier said talks aimed at securing the peaceful surrender of Qadaffy's forces in Bani Walid had been abandoned and an assault on the oasis town southeast of Tripoli was imminent.

But Kenshil said he was awaiting a response from the pro-Qadaffy forces, who he said numbered between 30 and 50 men, "very well-armed, with machine-guns, rocket-launchers and snipers."

He said the talks had been going on for several days. "At the beginning they said no, but now we are assuring them that we will protect them against any act of reprisal."

A local front man for the NTC now holding most of Libya said the front line was 15 to 20 kilometres (10 to 12 miles) north of Bani Walid and that troops were just awaiting orders to advance.

"Last night the Qadaffy forces tried to move out. Our fighters responded and there were some festivities lasting a few minutes," Mahmud Abdelaziz said.

The new government's interim interior minister Ahmed Darrat told AFP he was confident the town's capture was imminent. "We expect Bani Walid to be freed today or tomorrow," he said.

The deputy chief of the military council in Tarhuna, north of Bani Walid, Abdulrazzak Naduri, said, "Everything depends on the negotiations.

"If they refuse (to surrender), we will advance, if the negotiations go well, we will enter and hoist the flag without a fight. It's the last chance, we can't extend our ultimatum again."

On Saturday, Naduri said Qadaffy's son Saadi was still in Bani Walid, along with other senior figures of the fallen regime, while prominent son Seif al-Islam had decamped the town.

Civilians coming from Bani Walid said that most of Qadaffy's forces had now decamped, taking their heavy weaponry with them into the surrounding mountains.

NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
said its warplanes had hit an ammunition store near Bani Walid on Saturday, as well as military targets in Qadaffy's coastal hometown of Sirte, Buwayrat west of Sirte and Hun in the Al-Jufra oasis.

NTC forces east of Sirte meanwhile moved to disarm members of the Hussnia tribe suspected of loyalty to the ousted strongman on Sunday.

The NTC front man in London, Guma al-Gamaty, said that when captured Qadaffy should stand trial in Libya and not at the

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
(ICC) in The Hague that has issued an arrest warrant for suspected crimes against humanity committed during the Libyan uprising.

"The ICC will only put Qadaffy on trial for crimes committed over the last six months," Gamaty told BBC television.

"Qadaffy is responsible for a horrific catalogue of crimes committed over the last 42 years, which he should stand trial for and answer for and he can only answer for those in a proper trial in Libya itself."

Gamaty said it would be up to the court to determine whether a death sentence was appropriate for Qadaffy, but added: "The court will be fair and just and will meet all international standards.

"It will be a fair trial -- something that Qadaffy has never offered any Libyans who criticised him over the last 42 years."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini warned against too thorough a purge of Qadaffy appointees in the Libyan apparatus, pointing to the chaos that had ensued in Iraq when even low-ranking officials of Saddam Hussein's Baath party were stripped of their jobs after the 2003 US-led invasion.

In fresh revelations from documents obtained by media and rights groups in Tripoli, Britannia's Sunday Times said London invited two of Qadaffy's sons to the headquarters of the SAS special forces unit in 2006 as then premier Tony Blair tried to build ties with the Libyan regime.

The Mail on Sunday said Qadaffy's regime warned of "dire consequences" for relations between Libya and Britannia if the cancer-stricken convicted Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish jail.

Senior British officials feared Qadaffy "might seek to extract vengeance" if he was not released, it said.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi is the only man convicted of the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people when it went kaboom! over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

He was said to be only three months from death when he was freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government on August 20, 2009, but he was found to be still alive, though very feeble in Tripoli, last week.

Interim defence minister Jallal Dghaili arrived in Tripoli from Benghazi on Sunday with a large following as the NTC gradually transfers from its eastern base to the capital.

Link

Africa North

Gadhafi Threatens Europe if NATO Presses Air War

2011-07-03

[An Nahar]

Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy threatened retaliation against Europe on Friday unless NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
ceases its operations, warning loyalist forces can launch stinging attacks like "locusts and bees."

"The Libyan people are capable, one day, of taking the battle to Europe and the Mediterranean," Qadaffy said in a speech broadcast by loudspeaker to thousands of loyalists gathered in Tripoli's emblematic Green Square.

"They could attack your homes, your offices, your families (who) could become legitimate military targets because you have transformed our offices, headquarters, homes and children into military targets which you say are legitimate," Qadaffy said.

"If we decide to do so, we are capable of throwing ourselves on Europe like swarms of locusts or bees.

"So we advise you to backtrack before you face a catastrophe," he warned in a speech to mark 100 days of the military campaign by NATO countries against the North African country.

Qadaffy's regime has earned notoriety over the four decades since he seized power in 1969, arming Islamic exemplar groups from Northern Ireland to the Philippines, and being held responsible for a string of bombings against Western targets, including in Europe.

A Libyan agent, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, was convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which killed 270 people, most of them U.S. nationals.

The 1986 bombing of a Berlin discotheque frequented by U.S. soldiers, which killed three people, two of them servicemen, prompted then U.S. president Ronald Reagan to call Qadaffy a "mad dog" and order air strikes against Libyan cities in which at least 15 people died.

The Libyan regime also provided arms to Irish Republican Army through the 1970s and 1980s for use in its bloody campaign against British security forces and was held responsible for the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over West Africa.

The flamboyant Qadaffy was speaking from a secret location, but his voice boomed across the square, where the authorities were hoping to gather one million regime supporters.

The crowds, waving green flights and carrying portraits of Qadaffy, rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud of allegiance to "God, Qadaffy and Libya," while some fired guns into the air in celebration as the night sky was lit by fireworks.

The Libyan leader urged supporters to retrieve weapons that La Belle France supplied to rebels battling his regime from bases in an armed enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of the capital.

"March on the jebel (mountains) and seize the weapons that the French have supplied," Qadaffy said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday that this week's arms drop was meant only to defend peaceful civilians from Qadaffy's forces and thus fell in line with existing U.N. resolutions on the conflict.

"Civilians had been attacked by Qadaffy's forces and were in an extremely vulnerable situation and that is why medicine, food and also weapons of self-defense were parachuted," Juppe said La Belle France Inter radio.

"It is not a violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions" under which La Belle France and other allies launched air strikes and imposed embargoes to protect civilians from Qadaffy, he added.

Qadaffy vowed that his forces will defeat NATO and called on European leaders to talk to his people "and heads of tribes" to find a solution to the protracted crisis, saying he was ready to help.

"Pull back, you have no chance of defeating this brave (Libyan) people," he told the NATO alliance. "The Libyans will defeat the Crusader NATO forces."

African heads of state agreed late on Friday not to execute an

International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
warrant for Qadaffy's arrest but ruled the veteran leader out of proposed talks on ending the four-month conflict.

The plan released at an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
summit in Equatorial Guinea includes a commitment from Qadaffy "in favor of an inclusive process of dialogue ... and his acceptance that he will not be part of the process of negotiations."

Sieges on all rebel-held cities must be lifted, attacks ended and people taken prisoner during the conflict released, under the plan.

The proposals call for the United Nations
...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
to lift the no-fly zone which has seen NATO-led air strikes on Qadaffy's forces and to send in a "sizable peacekeeping force" with the African Union and League of Arab States.

Link

Africa North

Gaddafi in Tripoli, crushes officers revolt

2011-04-04

[Asharq al-Aswat] High-level official Libyan sources have denied knowledge of secret negotiations between representatives of

Colonel Muammar Qadaffy
... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
's regime and Western governments while asserting that Qadaffy was still in the Bab al-Aziziyah barracks in Tripoli and that Libyan leader and his family were still in the country.

The sources explained in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that in the last two days, Qadaffy held closed meetings with senior commanders of his military forces and security regiments to study the situation in the field, an indication that Qadaffy is working normally in the center of the Libyan capital despite pressure from the West and the revolutionaries opposed to him who are seeking his overthrow.

The sources revealed that Qadaffy derided Foreign Minister Musa Kusa's departure to Britain and his announcement that he had split from the government and pointed out that the Libyan leader told a number of individuals close to him that pressure tactics and intimidation by foreign intelligence services - which they did not identify - were behind Kusa's departure.

The secret visit by Muhammad Ismail, one of the closest aides of Engineer Saif-al-Islam Qadaffy, to the British capital London caused an argument over whether Ismail was representing the Libyan regime or Qadaffy's son who has been completely absent from the internal scene for a week. Saif-al-Islam and Ismail switched off their cellular phones while figures close to Qadaffy's son said he was not available at present to answer any telephone calls. A source close to Saif-al-Islam told Asharq Al-Awsat he "does not believe that Ismail was representing Qadaffy's regime as much as representing his son Saif-al-Islam during his lightning visit."

In a related development, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that a failed revolt took place Friday inside Qadaffy's residence by some junior officers from the pro-Libyan regime armed forces before Qadaffy's forces intervened to crush it immediately. An informed source in Tripoli said by telephone: "We understood that a small revolt took place which was contained immediately" but the source refused to give any more details.

Another source informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the cause of the shootings local residents heard near Qadaffy's headquarters in Bab al-Aziziyah barracks was a failed attempt by some government officials to leave the headquarters without obtaining prior permit. The source, which is very close to one of Qadaffy's sons, said in a terse comment: "Some government officials tried to leave in the early morning without permission. There are instructions not to leave without approval."

In other news, Scottish detectives and prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing plan to meet Foreign Office officials on Monday to discuss Libyan foreign minister Musa Kusa, who defected to Britain last week and whose fate currently remains unclear.

Kusa, a former head of Libyan intelligence and one-time member of Qadaffy's inner circle, flew to Britain from Tunisia on Wednesday and said he was resigning as foreign minister.

But Kusa was not offered immunity and Prime Minister

David Cameron
... British PM Cameron describes himself as a modern compassionate conservative and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics that doesn't involve calling people names. He has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's probably not. He has also claimed to be a liberal Conservative, and a very tall short person. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has urged politicians to concentrate on improving people's happiness and general well-being, instead of focusing solely on financial wealth, which is easy for a stockbroker's kid to say. Ask him to lend you ten quid and see how that works out. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
has urged police to follow the trail of evidence over the 1988 bombing of a Boeing 747 wherever it leads.

Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi is the only man convicted over the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed 270 people.

Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, was released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009, and received a hero's welcome in Libya.

Link

Africa North

Lockerbie bomber's diagnosis flawed: Doctors

2010-10-01

[Al Arabiya] Medical experts testifying before Congress Wednesday slammed the diagnosis that led to the controversial release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who is still alive more than a year after being told he had just weeks to live.

"I'm not the least bit surprised that Mr. Megrahi is alive today, and it should come as absolutely no surprise to the cancer specialists who cared for Mr. Megrahi either," said James Mohler, an oncology specialist who testified before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee.

The only man convicted in the bombing, Megrahi was freed by Scotland's devolved government on compassionate grounds, after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and given just three months to live.

More than a year later, the convicted Libyan terrorist is still alive however, sparking fury among Americans who believe he should never have been released in the first place.

Mohler said it is clear that the diagnosis used to free him was deeply flawed.

"It would be very difficult to give a three-month prognosis to a patient who was able to negotiate a flight of stairs," said Mohler, referring to widely broadcast video images that showed Megrahi descending aircraft stairs upon his return to Libya.

Another physician at the hearing, Oliver Sartor, concurred with Mohler's assessment, and said he likely would have given a patient in similar condition who had received chemotherapy treatment -- as Megrahi had according to some documents -- a prognosis of around 19 months to live.

Megrahi was convicted for his role in the 1988 downing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland which killed 270 people, most of them U.S. nationals.

His released has galled politicians like U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, who chaired Wednesday's hearing and called the Libyan's release a "miscarriage of justice."

"The release on compassionate ground was deeply deeply flawed," said Menendez.

Link

Africa North

UK warns Libya not to celebrate Megrahi's release

2010-08-21

[The Nation (Nairobi)] A year after the Lockerbie bomber was released from a Scottish prison, Britain warned Libya not to celebrate the anniversary today, saying to do so would be "tasteless, offensive and deeply insensitive".

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was thought to have only three months to live because of terminal prostate cancer when he was freed on compassionate grounds and returned to his homeland Libya to a hero's welcome.

But he has defied his prognosis, to the dismay of the mainly American relatives of the 270 people who died when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, four days before Christmas in 1988.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond again defended his government's decision to free Megrahi in a round of interviews today, telling the BBC it acted "in good faith on the information that was available at the time".

"No-one could have absolute certainty (about how long Megrahi would live)," Salmond said. "That was a reasonable expectation of his life expectancy."

Earlier, the Foreign Office issued a strongly-worded statement urging Libya not to hold celebrations honouring the only man "convicted for the worst act of terrorism in British history".

"Particularly on this anniversary, we understand the continuing anguish that Megrahi's release has caused his victims, both in the UK and the US," a spokeswoman said.

"Any celebration of Megrahi's release will be tasteless, offensive and deeply insensitive to the victims' families."
She added: "We have made our concerns clear to the Libyan government."

Britain's ambassador to Tripoli, Richard Northern, has told senior Libyan government officials that any public events honouring Megrahi could damage warming ties between the two countries, the Guardian newspaper reported.

Salmond added it would be "totally inappropriate" for Libya to celebrate the anniversary.

Questions remain about the precise circumstances of the release, though, with US senators demanding more information on the case.

Link

Africa North

Lockerbie bomber could live 10 years

2010-07-05

Anyone surprised by this?

The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to the cancer specialist who said last year he would be dead within three months of his release.

Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times newspaper it was "embarrassing" that he had outlived his three-month prognosis.

Prof. Sikora should be publicly shamed ...

If only the National Health Service would strike him off their rolls. But the British government doesn't seem to cavil at having to choose between corruption and incompetence for some of their medical employees.

The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released Megrahi from prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he is suffering from terminal cancer.

Megrahi is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which left 270 people dead.

But the newspaper claimed that Sikora, the dean of medicine at Buckingham University in southern England, was the only expert the Libyan authorities could find who would agree to put the three-month estimate on Megrahi's life. It reported that the advice of two other experts was ignored after they said Megrahi could live for 19 months.

Not unusual for a man with metastatic prostate cancer to live for years. For many men it's a slow-growing tumor.

Sikora said: "There was always a chance he could live for 10 years, 20 years... But it's very unusual."

The professor told The Sunday Times that the Libyan authorities made it clear to him that if he concluded Megrahi would die in a matter of months, it would greatly improve his chances of being released from jail in Scotland.

"It was clear that three months was what they were aiming for. Three months was the critical point," Sikora said. "On the balance of probabilities, I felt I could sort of justify (that)."

He denied he came under any pressure but admitted: "It is embarrassing that he's gone on for so long."

"There was a 50 per cent chance that he would die in three months, but there was also a 50 per cent chance that he would live longer."

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's eldest son, Seif al-Islam, said in May that Megrahi was still "very sick" with cancer at an advanced stage.

Link

Britain

Dying Lockerbie bomber 'could survive for 10 years or more'

2010-07-04

Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times it was "embarrassing" the bomber had outlived his three-month prognosis.
Or 30 years since the Libyan agent and murderer of hundreds is only 58.

Link

Britain

Brown 'not snubbed' by Obama at UN

2009-09-25

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office has rejected reports of US President Barack Obama's slighting of the premier by ignoring his calls for a meeting.

In a statement published on Wednesday, Brown's office rejected reports in which UK media accused Obama of 'snubbing' the British premier after Brown's requests to convene an official meeting with the US president on the sidelines of a UN meeting failed to draw a response from the White House.

"There were five attempts to set up a meeting and none have come off," British media had earlier quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying.

The Downing Street, though, ruled out the claims as being 'completely without foundation', and countered the allegations, saying that the two leaders had a 'number of meetings'.

The allegations of Obama's 'snubbing' of Brown stirred media controversy as a number of news outlets underscored the US president's meetings with the Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the margins of the UN General Assembly convention launched on September 23, while playing down Brown's attempt to portray an 'established' image of UK's traditional partnership with the US.

Britain's recent expatriation of the Libyan Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who blew up a bomb on a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 which left 270 dead, has reportedly undermined relations between Washington and London.

However, the British government has remained upbeat about the cross-Atlantic ties and maintains that 'there will be further meetings at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh' between the two leaders.

Link

Africa North

Lockerbie bomber in intensive care: Libya

2009-09-03

The convicted Lockerbie bomber, released from a Scottish jail last month on compassionate grounds because of ill health, has been admitted to hospital intensive care in Tripoli, a Libyan official said on Wednesday, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brow rejected suggestions that his government put pressure on Scotland to release the bomber.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer and was given only three months to live when he was released on August 20, was hospitalized "three days ago," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He is in a critical state. He is undergoing chemotherapy sessions," said a person close to Megrahi, adding: "Even his family are forbidden to visit, on doctors' orders."

Megrahi is in the Tripoli Medical Center's cancer ward, a security officer told an AFP correspondent at the scene.

Plain clothes police could be seen preventing visitors from going in and a security barrier blocked access to cars.

Link

Africa North

Lockerbie over, time for business: Qadaffy's son

2009-08-29

[Al Arabiya Latest] There is no reason to be angry about the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son said Friday, calling for improved business and trade ties with the oil-rich country while an opinion poll released in Britain showed Britons suspect the release of the Lockerbie bomber was connected to their country's oil interests in Libya.

In remarks likely to fuel anger in the United States, Seif al-Islam told Scottish newspaper The Herald that many Lockerbie victims' families backed the release.

" Lockerbie is history. The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh and London. Libya is a promising, rich market and so let's talk about the future "

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi

And he accused some politicians of trying to manipulate the issue "to their own advantage."

He also insisted that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds this month, was an innocent man.

For a given value of innocence that has nothing to do with actual culpability, anyway.

"Lockerbie is history. The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh and London. Libya is a promising, rich market and so let's talk about the future," he said. "There is no reason for people to be angry. Why be so angry? This is an innocent man who is dying," he added.

Megrahi, who ~~supposedly~~ is dying of prostate cancer, was the only person convicted of the 1988 plane bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie which killed 270 people. Most of the victims were American.

Link

Africa North

Lockerbie bomber home in Libya amid US anger

2009-08-21

[Al Arabiya Latest] The terminally ill Libyan convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing arrived home from Scotland on Thursday after being freed on compassionate grounds despite U.S. anger over the decision.

Because they sent him home, they don't have to pay for his cancer treatments. The National Health Service has run low on funds to treat actual British citizens and more or less law-abiding illegal aliens. Or am I being overly cynical?

Hundreds of young people waving Libyan and Scottish flags greeted the aircraft carrying Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi as it landed in Tripoli amid heavy security and to the sound of patriotic music.

Loudspeakers pumped out patriotic songs ahead of a celebration later in the heart of the Libyan capital that Megrahi was expected to attend, said a source in the delegation that accompanied him from Scotland.

U.S. disappointment
Megrahi, the only person found guilty of blowing up a U.S. Boeing 747 airliner and killing 270 people, said earlier he was "very relieved" to be freed, but described his original conviction as a "disgrace."

But the release was immediately condemned by the U.S. government, which asked Libya not to give a "hero's welcome" to the Lockerbie bomber.

U.S. President Barack Obama said that the release of the dying Lockerbie bomber by the Scottish government was a "mistake" and that he should be placed under house arrest on return to Libya.

It's not a 'mistake', it's an outrage.

"We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake," Obama told a U.S. radio journalist, giving his first reaction to the decision. "We're now in contact with the Libyan government and want to make sure that if, in fact, this transfer has taken place, that he's not welcomed back in some way, but instead, should be under house arrest."

Justice vs mercy

" Our justice system demands that justice be imposed but compassion be available, our beliefs dictate that justice be served but mercy be shown "

Scotland Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill

Scotland's justice minister announced Thursday that he had granted release on compassionate grounds to the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, Britain's worst terrorist attack.

Kenny MacAskill said al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, could return to Libya to die because Scottish law required that "justice be served but mercy be shown."

"For these reasons, and these reasons alone, it is my decision that (Megrahi)... be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die," he said.

A lot more compassion than the passengers on the plane ever got ...

The United States fiercely opposed the release of Megrahi, jailed for 27 years over the murder of 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown from the skies over the Scottish town of Lockerbie late on December 21, 1988.

Compassion and mercy

" Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated "

MacAskill

But the Scottish minister insisted he had not taken political pressures into consideration.

"Our justice system demands that justice be imposed but compassion be available, our beliefs dictate that justice be served but mercy be shown," he said.

And he added: "Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated."

"It's my decision and my decision alone ... We have done so on the basis of following due process. I know that there will be those who disagree," he said, adding that he made the decision "without political or economic consideration."

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