Megrahi’s son US hiding truth over Lockerbie
Libyan slams bid to extradite suspected bomb maker as smokescreen by States
The son of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has claimed a new suspect identified as being behind the atrocity is innocent.
Khaled al- Megrahi said US prosecutors seeking the extradition of Libyan national Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud are “trying to hide the truth”.
The 36-year-old – the eldest of son of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who died in 2012 – said: “This is just another false story.
“The US Government are just trying to create a new story. Their main aim is only to hide the truth.
“Libya wasn’t the architects of the bombing — it is clear to me it was car r ied out by another country.”
Mas’ud is thought to be held in Tripoli ahead of a possible extradition to the United States.
It comes after a third appeal against t he conviction of al-Megrahi brought by the convicted murderer’s other son Ali was launched at the High
Court in Edinburgh last month.
Mas’ud, believed to be a former intelligence officer, has previously been named as a bomb maker for Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Scottish prosecutors previously identi f ied him and another Gaddaf i spy chief, Abdul lah al-Senussi, as suspects.
But they have never been brought to trial.
Only al-Megrahi has ever been convicted of the 1988 outrage that left 270 dead.
At his 2001 trial at the Hague, fellowfel Libyan Lamin Khalifah FhimahFh was cleared. InvestigatorsI built the case againstaga Mas’ud with the help of workwo carried out by journalist Ken Dornstein.Do His brother David was amongam those killed on the LondonNewNe York flight.
Dornstein’sD investigation concluded that Mas’ud — also linkedlin to a 1986 BerlinBe nightclub bombingbo in which threethr people died — was the bomb maker ma behind the Pan Am 103 flight explosion. exp
While W making a documentar doc y in 2011, 2011 he travelled to Libya Liby following Gaddafi’s Gad death to confront conf suspects.
He was turned away by Khaled from al-Megrahi’s home.
It has been claimed Mas’ud confessed his role in the bombing to Libyan authorities.
But IT worker Khaled said: “I don’t believe Mas’ud or al-Senussi are guilty. I think this is just a ploy to confuse the Scottish judiciary.
“I believe it was carried out by Palestinian terrorists.”
He added: “I can’t remember the visit from Dornstein. A lot of journalists came to see us in 2011 to try and speak with my dad.”
Intelligence officer al-Megrahi, who always proclaimed his innocence, unsuccessful ly appealed against his 27- year sentence before his death.
He was released from prison in Scotland and allowed to return to Libya on compassionate grounds in 2009 when it emerged he had terminal cancer. He died three years later. The third appeal against his conviction was lodged after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred the case to the High Court in March, ruling a possible miscarriage of justice.
Judges then granted the family permission to proceed in relation to the argument “no reasonable jury” could have returned the verdict the court did and on the grounds of non- disclosure of documents by the Crown Office.
Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who is conducting the family’s appeal, said: “They see this as a cynical and desperate attempt by outgoing US Attorney General William Barr.
“If he was so sure of Mas’ud’s involvement, why has he waited 32 years? Mas’ud is not a new name to Lockerbie.”