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

Home Front: WoT

Lockerbie bombing suspect makes initial appearance in U.S. court

2022-12-13

[NBCNews] Abu Agila Mas’ud has been charged in a three-count indictment. The charges carry potential sentences of up to life in prison.

A Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that blew up a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 made his initial appearance in federal court Monday after he was taken into U.S. custody.

Abu Agila Mas’ud was charged in a three-count indictment — two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and a count of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce by means of an explosive resulting in death. The charges carry potential sentences of up to life in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson told the judge Monday that the Justice Department will not seek the death penalty

because the charges were not punishable by death at the time of the bombing. Today, those charges are punishable by the death penalty.

Mas'ud, 71, did not enter a plea. He was represented by two public defenders; an interpreter was present, as well. Mas’ud indicated that he wants to try to retain his own counsel and that he has no health problems.

In arguing for Mas'ud to remain in detention, a federal prosecutor emphasized to the judge that he is accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 others on the ground. Of the 270 people who were killed, 190 were American. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in the United Kingdom.

Mas'ud did not argue against the government’s request that he be held in detention. He consented to be detained for one week while he waited to hear about his lawyer.

"I cannot talk until I see my attorney," he said through the interpreter.

Mas'ud was remanded into the custody of U.S. marshals and is being held without bond.

U.S. and Scottish authorities said Sunday that Mas’ud had been taken into custody. It was unclear how he had arrived in U.S. hands.

The bomb went kaboom! 38 minutes after takeoff as the Pan Am flight was on its way from London to New York. It crashed in Lockerbie, a small town in southwest Scotland about 80 miles south of the capital, Edinburgh.

White House Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall praised "the unrelenting efforts of the Department of Justice, Department of State, and their partners."

"Yesterday, the United States lawfully took custody of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al-Marimi and brought him to the United States where he faces charges for his alleged involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103," Sherwood-Randall said in a statement. "This action underscores the Biden Administration’s unwavering commitment to enforcing the rule of law and holding accountable those who inflict harm on Americans in acts of terrorism."

Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather set Dec. 19 for Mas’ud’s next court appearance. She also scheduled a detention hearing for Dec. 27.

Mas’ud will become the first Libyan operative to be tried on U.S. soil in connection with the bombing.

Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing in 2001 at a special court in the Netherlands overseen by three Scottish judges and no jury. He is so far the only person to have been convicted in the attack.

He was freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was terminally ill with cancer. Still protesting his innocence, he died in Libya three years later.

Another Libyan intelligence operative, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted of all charges.

The Times of Israel has a photo of the miscreant, adding:

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a longtime explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, admitted in 2012 to building the bomb that took down Pan Am Flight 103

The announcement of charges against Mas’ud on December 21, 2020, came on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing and in the final days of the tenure of then-attorney general William Barr. At the time of the announcement, Mas’ud was in Libyan custody. The criminal charges were a career bookend of sorts for Barr, who, in his first stint as attorney general in the early 1990s, had announced criminal charges against two other Libyan intelligence officials.

The Libyan government initially balked at turning over the two men, Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, before ultimately surrendering them for prosecution before a panel of Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands as part of a special arrangement.

The Justice Department, which did not disclose how Mas’ud came to be taken into US custody, said Mas’ud faces two criminal counts related to the explosion.

Torn by civil war since 2011, Libya is divided between rival governments in the east and west, each backed by international patrons and numerous armed militias on the ground. Militia groups have amassed great wealth and power from kidnappings and their involvement in Libya’s lucrative human trafficking trade.

A breakthrough in the investigation came when US officials in 2017 received a copy of an interview that Mas’ud, a longtime explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after being taken into custody following the collapse of the government of the country’s leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

In that interview, US officials said, Mas’ud admitted building the bomb in the Pan Am attack and working with two other conspirators to carry out the attack. He also said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gaddafi thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

That affidavit said Mas’ud told Libyan law enforcement that he flew to Malta to meet al-Megrahi and Fhimah. He handed Fhimah a medium-sized Samsonite suitcase containing a bomb, having already been instructed to set the timer so that the device would explode exactly 11 hours later, according to the document. He then flew to Tripoli, the FBI said.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody two years after being charged

2022-12-12

[NYPOST] A suspect in the United Kingdom’s deadliest terror attack was in US custody Sunday morning.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi

...previously in our archives as merely Abu Agila Mas'ud, Abu Agila Mohammed Masud, and Abu Agila Mohammad Masud ...

was arrested for allegedly helping make the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, officials said.

The plane was en route from London to New York when it exploded, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground in the small town near England.

Victims of the attack included 190 Americans and citizens of 20 other countries. Dozens of the slain passengers were Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after spending a semester studying abroad.

In a statement Sunday, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said the development was a notable step in the process “to bring those responsible for this despicable act to justice.”

Masud was taken into custody two years after authorities charged him in connection with the massacre. He was being held by Libyan authorities.

The suspect is the third Libyan intelligence official charged in the attack, but would be the first to stand trial on US soil.

“At long last, this man responsible for killing Americans and many others will be subject to justice for his crimes,” William Barr, the US Attorney General at the time, said at a news conference.

It was unclear how the US negotiated his extradition.

Masud had been kidnapped from his Tripoli residence by armed men last month, and his family accused the government of not responding to the apparent abduction, according to reports by Lybian news outlets.
Sounds like the family tree needs pruning as well
The US got a breakthrough in the Lockerbie crash case in 2017 when it received a copy of a interview in which Masud admitted building the bomb with two other cohorts; Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. The suspect purportedly gave the confession to law enforcement after Khadafy’s government dissolved in 2012.

Al-Megrahi and Fhimah were tried by a panel of Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in 2001. He is the only person ever convicted in the terror attack and died in 2012 while trying to appeal his conviction. Fhimah was acquitted of all charges.

Link

Africa North

Will Libya Hand Over Lockerbie Suspect?

2021-11-05

[LIBYAREVIEW] Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al-Mangoush said Libya could work with the US on extraditing a man wanted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Al-Mangoush told the BBC that "positive outcomes are coming" in the case of Abu Agila Mohammed Masud.

In the Rantburg archives as Abu Agila Mohammad Masud...

Masud is alleged to have been a top bomb-maker for former Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him...
. He is a former Libyan intelligence official who is currently imprisoned on unrelated charges. He has been charged in the US with terrorism-related crimes, with officials claiming he helped build the bomb which downed the aircraft, and set the timer.

The FM said the Libyan government "understands the pain and sadness" of the victims’ families but "needs to respect the laws". She added that the US and Libya were collaborating on the case, and it was progressing.

The deadly attack on Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York killed 270 people, including 190 Americans. Of those who died, 35 were study-abroad students who were returning home for Christmas, while 11 were killed on the ground in the Scottish town.

Libya claimed the credit in 2003, and paid compensation to the families.

The current Libyan government wants to maintain good relations with the US, and Washington hopes to have Masud extradited. The BBC’s Orla Guerin in 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...
says the signs are that ultimately the suspect will be handed over.

US officials also say Masud conspired with another Libyan intelligence official, Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi who was the only man convicted for the attack.
Al-Megrahi maintained his innocence until his death in 2012. His family has vowed to clear his name in the UK courts.

Among bereaved relatives in the UK, there are questions and doubts. Some believe Iran
Iran

Link

Britain

Scottish Court Rejects Appeal Request of Lockerbie Bomber's Family

2021-04-03

[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Scotland’s Supreme Court rejected the request of the defense of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi

...also in our archives as Abdelbaset Mohmet al-Megrahi and Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. The U.S. accuses him and another of having created the bomb that blew up the airplane...

to refer his case to the UK's Supreme Court.

The case dates back to December 21, 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie en route from London to New York, killing 270 people.

Megrahi, an intelligence officer who died in 2012, was found guilty in the case and locked away
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
for life in 2001.

Libyan academic, Mustafa Fetouri said in a press statement that the Court of Scotland had justified its rejection, saying the agent of Megrahi’s family has no legal entitlement to file the case before the UK’s top court.

Fetouri, a loyalist of the regime of the late President Muammar al-Qadaffy, dismissed the rejection as "illogical," indicating that Megrahi’s agent filed the case before the Scottish court of appeals.

The defense team and Scottish legal experts confirm that the defense does not need the approval of the Scottish judiciary to go to the London court, he said, adding that the case file is being prepared.

Fetouri went on to say that the defense team needed the support of Libya’s new Government of National Unity (GNU), describing it as its "biggest national test".

He urged the GNU to end the negligence of previous cabinets, accusing former head of the Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, of obstructing the case, which he described as a national Libyan cause.

Local media quoted Amer Anwar, the lawyer of Megrahi’s family, as saying he would act according to the client’s wishes, revealing it plans on proceeding with the case so that he can be declared innocent.

Ali, Megrahi’s son, announced that he instructed the legal team to appeal directly to the UK Supreme Court, which is the final court of appeal in his father’s case.

"I regard my father, Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, as the 271st victim of Lockerbie," he remarked.

Link

Home Front: WoT

DOJ to announce new criminal charges against Lockerbie bombing suspect: report

2020-12-21

[The Hill] The Department of Justice plans to announce criminal charges against a suspect in the 1988 Lockerbie, Scotland bombing on Monday, CNN reported Sunday evening.

Before officially leaving his position, Attorney General William Barr intends to announce charges against former Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Mohammad Masud for his involvement with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, three officials briefed on the matter told CNN.

Barr, who served as the attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, will reveal the charges on the 32nd anniversary of the attack of the flight over Scotland that resulted in 270 people dead, most of whom were Americans.

Officials think Masud is in Libya. They told CNN that the U.S. is discussing his potential extradition with Libya and talking to Scotland officials about obtaining evidence for the case. Prosecutors are expected to file the charges in D.C.

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

When Barr was the attorney general for Bush, he announced the charges against two other men associated with Libyan intelligence in the attack. The U.S. alleged that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah put explosives in a cassette and radio player inside a suitcase on the plane.

Link

Africa North

Will the US Charge a New Libyan Suspect over Lockerbie Bombing?

2020-12-18

[LIBYAREVIEW] The US is expected to bring new charges against a Libyan national suspected of being involved in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Monday will mark the 32nd anniversary of the incident.The suspect was identified by the Wall Street Journal as Abu Agila Mohammad Masud. He was an intelligence officer whom the Journal reported is in jug in Libya and is expected to be extradited to the United States to stand trial.

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people, spurred global investigations, and resulted in sanctions against Libya. Two intelligence officers faced charges before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, after Libya refused to extradite the men to the US.

In 1992, the UN Security Council imposed air travel sanctions, and a ban on arms sales against Libya to pressure Colonel Muammar Qadaffy

...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland...
into surrendering the two suspects. The sanctions were later lifted after Libya agreed to a $2.7bn compensation deal with the victims’ families.

A former Libyan intelligence official, Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi,

...also in our archives as Abdelbaset Mohmet al-Megrahi...

was convicted of the bombing, and another Libyan suspect was acquitted of all charges. al-Megrahi was given a life sentence, but Scottish authorities released him on humanitarian grounds in 2009 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He later died in 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...
in 2012.

The Jerusalem Post adds:

The case, to be unveiled in the coming days, would mark the second time Attorney General William Barr has overseen charges in connection with the bombing.

During Barr's first stint as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, the Justice Department indicted two Libyan Intelligence Agency operatives - Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah - for building a plastic bomb with a timer, hiding it inside a suitcase and planting it on an Air Malta flight.

The suitcase was eventually transferred to Pan Am Flight 103.

"We will not rest until all those responsible are brought to justice. We have no higher priority," Barr said in 1991, at the time the indictment was unveiled. Parallel charges were also filed against the men in Scotland.

Link

Britain

Lockerbie Bomber Appeal Set to Start in Scotland

2020-11-25

[AnNahar] A posthumous legal challenge to overturn the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmet al-Megrahi is due to begin in Scotland on Tuesday.

Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Justice General Colin Sutherland, and four other judges at the country's highest criminal court will hear the case via video link.

The legal team for Megrahi's family will take part remotely from Glasgow. The case is due to last for three to four days with a ruling at a later date.

The family's lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said Megrahi's conviction has been described as "the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history".

He added: "There can never be a time limit on justice. The families who support this appeal have never given up their search for the truth."

Megrahi was the only person convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, which was blown up as it travelled from London to New York over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.

A total of 270 people from 21 countries were killed -- 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 people on the ground -- in what remains Britannia's biggest terrorist attack.

Three Scottish judges sitting at a special court sitting in the Netherlands jugged
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
the former Libyan intelligence officer for life in 2001, recommending he serve at least 27 years.

His first appeal was dismissed in 2002 but he was released in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He returned to Libya, where he died in 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...
three years later.

- SECRECY ORDER -
His family's appeal was referred to the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in March.

The SCCRC ruled a possible miscarriage of justice may have occurred on the grounds of an "unreasonable verdict" in that it could not be proved Megrahi bought the suitcase that contained the bomb.

It also highlighted "non-disclosure" of evidence to Megrahi's defence team.

It has been widely claimed that the bombing was ordered by Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and carried out by a Syrian-based Paleostinian group, in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian Airbus six months earlier in which 290 people died.

Late last Friday, the High Court upheld a secrecy order signed by UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab to withhold intelligence documents related to the case.

Disclosure would cause "real harm" to UK international relations and national security with regard to counter-terrorism liaison and intelligence-gathering.

The documents are thought to allege a Jordanian intelligence agent within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC) built the bomb.

The PFLP-GC has been designated a proscribed terrorist group by several countries, including Britannia and the United States.

Lawyers acting for the Megrahi family believe the documents are central to their appeal.

In August, Raab signed a public interest immunity certificate to keep the documents secret.

In 2008, then-foreign secretary David Miliband also refused to release the papers before Megrahi's second appeal, which was started in 2007 but abandoned after Megrahi's diagnosis.

Link

Britain

Lockerbie, 31 years on.

2019-12-24

[BBC] 21 December 1988

A bomb blows a passenger plane from the sky above Scotland

270 people are killed

There was a bomb in the forward hold. It was hidden inside a radio cassette recorder which was in a suitcase.

Twelve years after Pan Am 103 fell on Lockerbie, Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of mass murder.

He was sentenced in 2001 to 27 years in a Scottish prison but was released on compassionate grounds eight years later after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

He died in 2012. But the story did not die with him

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Lockerbie 'bomber' found living in America

2018-12-23

[DailyMail]

Man allegedly identified as Abu Elias found living as US citizen in Washington DC

He claimed it was 'f***ing lies' that he was involved in the terror attack in 1988

This comes after daughter of former terrorist claims Ahmed Jibril led the plot

Elias dismissed claims made by author Douglas Boyd that he was Jibril's nephew

A man suspected of planting the Lockerbie bomb has been discovered living in a suburban town in Washington DC under a different name.

Once allegedly identified as Abu Elias, the Syrian-born American father claimed it was 'complete lies' that he was involved in the terror attack that killed 270 people 30 years ago.

Elias hit out at former Cold War spy and author Douglas Boyd who claimed Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrah - the man convicted of the attack - was falsely imprisoned.

And the suspect, who lives 20 miles from the Lockerbie Cairn Memorial at Washington, told the Daily Mirror he was innocent.

Author Boyd claimed the man is now working at a school in the US capital under the name Basel Bushnaq.

Mr Boyd told the Mail on Sunday that shortly after the disaster, the Paleostine Liberation Organisation, keen to boost its credentials as a political rather than terrorist organization, published an 80-page report claiming the PFLP-GC had been paid to blow up the plane ‐ by Iran.

It also named Elias as a prime suspect for breaking into the Pan Am baggage store in Heathrow and planting the bomb. The baggage handling area had been broken into with bolt croppers shortly before Flight 103 took off.

Campaigners have long claimed it was Elias who planted the brown Samsonite suitcase on the flight before it took off for New York.

This comes after the daughter of a former terrorist said her father admitted to relatives that his cell leader, Ahmed Jibril, led the 1988 plot to down Pam Am flight.

Jordanian Saha Kheersat, 43, claimed her father Marwan Khreesat left his wife a dossier of evidence showing that Jibril - Marwan's boss in a Paleostinian terror group - was paid millions of pounds by Tehran to criminal mastermind the attack.

Author Boyd, in his recent book Lockerbie: The Truth, claims it was Jibril's nephew Elias that broke into the baggage storage at Heathrow to plant the device.

The Paleostine Liberation Organisation and the CIA have also previously named Elias as the suspect of the bombing.

Asked by the Daily Mirror if he was ever known under the name of Abus Elias, he said: 'No. I have been subject to more than 90 hours of investigation from Scotland Yard and the FBI, and they are through with me.'

He added: 'I'm not the nephew to no one. The bit you are talking about is full of f***ing lies. It's a bloody lie.'

When asked by The Daily Mirror where he was on December 21, 1988, he said: 'I was in the United States. The FBI saw my journal they know I was in South West Washington DC handling my job.'

He later admitted that the identity he is currently living under is not his birth name.

And the suspect branded Mr Boyd a 'son of a b***h', the Daily Mirror revealed.

Author Boyd wrote in his book: 'Megrahi was convicted on a tissue of lies. Little of the evidence against him can be taken at face value.

'It is a story of incompetence, vengeance, political expediency and then a cover-up orchestrated from the highest levels in London and in Washington ‐ where the real bomber is said to live today, under cover of a witness protection scheme.'

The former Libyian security officer Megrahi was convicted in 2001, the only person found guilty of the bombing.

He was locked away
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
for 27 years but died of prostate cancer at home in 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...
aged 60 in 2012 after being released on compassionate grounds in 2009.

It is believed he planned to reveal Elias' identity before he died in a bid to clear his own name.

But shortly after he was freed SNP politician Christine Grahame used Scottish Parliamentary privilege to identify the man she named as Elias.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) announced earlier this year that a full review of the case is to be carried out to decide if a fresh appeal against Megrahi's conviction can be made.

Link

Africa North

2 Lockerbie Bombing Suspects, Libyans, Sought by U.S. and Scotland

2015-10-16

[NYTIMES] Scottish and American prosecutors are asking the Libyan government for help tracking down two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the terrorist attack that brought down Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people.

"The lord advocate and the U.S. attorney general have recently agreed that there is a proper basis in law in Scotland and the United States to entitle Scottish and U.S. Sherlocks to treat two Libyans as suspects in the continuing investigation into the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie," a front man for Frank Mulholland, the lord advocate, or top prosecutor, for Scotland said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement did not name the individuals sought in the case. Mr. Mulholland has written a letter to the Libyan authorities requesting their help in interviewing the two suspects, according to the statement.

Many details of the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing remain unresolved.

In 2001, a former Libyan intelligence officer, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was convicted of plotting the bombing. The verdict came from a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands -- a highly unusual arrangement agreed to when Libya's longtime ruler, Col. Muammar el-Qadaffy, allowed the deportation of Mr. Megrahi and another suspect, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah.

Mr. Fhimah was acquitted. Mr. Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but in 2009, the Scottish government, over the strenuous objections of American officials, released him on compassionate grounds. He returned to Libya where he died of prostate cancer in 2012, still maintaining his innocence. Colonel Qadaffy was tossed and killed in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprising in Libya.

The Lockerbie bombing occurred at a low point in United States-Libyan relations. Two years before the attack, in April 1986, President Ronald Reagan ordered ~~Arclight~~ airstrikes against the Libyan cities of 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...
and Benghazi in retaliation for the bombing of a West Berlin nightclub club frequented by American armed service members. The bombing of the Pan Am flight that killed 189 Americans was believed by American authorities to have been a response to the strikes against Libya.

An article published last month in The New Yorker magazine revisited the Lockerbie case through the eyes of Ken Dornstein, a filmmaker whose brother, David, died in the attack. Mr. Dornstein's three-part film about the case, "My Brother's Bomber," has been airing on PBS's "Frontline" series the last three weeks.

Mr. Dornstein, who has doggedly followed the case, tracked down Musbah Eter, a Libyan who was convicted of involvement in the 1986 nightclub bombing. Mr. Eter told Mr. Dornstein that Abu Agila Mas'ud, a Libyan official, armed the bomb that was used in the Lockerbie attack. Mr. Mas'ud is in a Libyan prison, having been convicted of making bombs for the Qadaffy government at the outset of the popular uprising in Libya.

So far, Western authorities have not been able to question Mr. Mas'ud; it is not clear whether he is one of the two people now being sought.

Mr. Dornstein's film suggests that a former Libyan intelligence officer, Abdullah Senussi
...former Libyan supremo Muammar Qadaffy's right hand man and brother-in-law. He looks like you always expected Luca Brasi to look....
, who fled to Mauritania during the uprising against Colonel Qadaffy, may have been involved. It is unclear if he too is one of the individuals sought by Scottish and American authorities.

The film also raises questions about the role of Badri Hassan, a friend of Mr. Megrahi's whose widow told Mr. Dornstein in an interview that she always suspected her husband had been one of the plotters. Mr. Badri died of a heart attack a few years ago.

"It has always been our position that Megrahi did not act alone in committing this crime," the Scottish prosecutor's office wrote in an email to families of the victims, which was reviewed by The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
. The email went on to say that the request to Libya was made by the Scottish authorities because the United States and Libya do not have an extradition treaty.

"As the investigation remains live, and in order to preserve the integrity of that investigation, we are unable to provide any further information or confirm the identity of the two suspects but we hope this reassures you that progress is being made," the prosecutor's office told the families.

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Terror Networks

Iranian intelligence defector: Pan Am 103 was the work of Iran.

2014-03-12

[The Telegraph] The Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian-based terrorist group, a former Iranian intelligence officer has admitted.

Abolghassem Mesbahi, a defector to Germany, said Pan Am flight 103 was downed in 1988 in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian commercial jet six months earlier, in which 290 people died.

He claims the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was Irans Supreme Leader, ordered the bombing to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus.

Previously unseen evidence gathered for the aborted appeal hearing of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing, supports Mr Mesbahis claim and suggests that the bombers belonged to the extremist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC).

Documents obtained by Al Jazeera television for a documentary called Lockerbie: What Really Happened? name key individuals said to be involved in the bombing, including the alleged bomb-maker, the alleged mastermind and the man who may have put the bomb on the doomed Boeing 747.
New reporting and potential confirmation on an old theory.

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