Libya has turned its back on us, says daughter of Harrods bomb victim
WOMAN whose police inspector father died in the IRA’s Harrods bombing has accused the Libyan government of turning its back on victims.
It followed a pan-Arab call to protect the country’s frozen funds and assets in the UK.
In December 1983, a republican bomb containing Semtex imported from the north African state exploded at the Harrods department store in central London, killing three police officers and three members of the public.
Among those to die were Inspector Stephen Dodd (34) of the Metropolitan Police.
His daughter Susanne Dodd said: “How can the Libyan government promise to help us and now change their minds?
“I’m devastated as we helped the Libyans during their struggle for freedom and now they have turned their backs on us.
“The UK and now the Libyan government do not care about us. I’m heartbroken. My poor dad and all the victims should have been worth more than this.”
The Arab Parliament, which consists of four representatives from each member state of the Arab League, has reportedly called on the UN to protect Libya’s frozen funds and assets in the UK.
Ulster Unionist peer Sir Reg Empey is piloting a private memA ber’s bill through Parliament which seeks to secure money from assets linked to the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He wants the UK Government to put pressure on the Libyan authorities to co-operate.
Ms Dodd added: “I hope this compensation bill goes through because this would make a moral stand and send a symbolic message to all those that support terrorism throughout the world that eventually you will be held to account.”
Sir Reg said the UK could exercise its veto at the UN Security Council. He added: “The Government has been running away from this over many years and the Arab Parliament should be encouraging negotiation.”
Ihsan Bashir, whose brother, Inam Bashir, died in an IRA attack in the London Docklands in February 1996, said the UK had weakened the bereaved families’ position because ministers considered compensation from Libya to be a private matter.
President of the Docklands Victims Association Jonathan Ganesh said the Libyan government should be talking to the UK rather than expressing unwillingness to help.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “The Libyan government has a responsibility to deal with the legacy of the Gaddafi regime, as part of a broad process of national and international reconciliation and justice.
“While we do not support Lord Empey’s Private Member’s Bill, we are clear that it is a manifestation of the strong public and Parliamentary feeling in the UK that the Libyan government must engage on this matter.”