Lockerbie terror suspect must not be tried in US, say victims’ families
THE suspect in the Lockerbie bombing set to face new US charges should stand trial in Scotland or the International Criminal Court, not in America, relatives of the terror attack’s victims have told The Daily Telegraph.
Two family members of people who died in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the deadliest terror attack i n modern British history, expressed concern the suspect could be executed if put on trial in America.
The US justice department is expected to announce charges against Abu Agila Mas’ud, a Libyan believed to be held by authorities in Tripoli, at a press conference on Monday, the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy. It would be the first public breakthrough in the case for many years. Investigators in America and Scotland have long been frustrated with the failure to bring more perpetrators of the attack, which killed 270 people, to justice.
Pam Dix, whose brother Peter Dix was killed in the tragedy, said: “I would rather see this prosecuted in British courts. I would feel more comfortable about the trial being in Britain partly because the whole process has been through the British justice system up until now.
“Mas’ud could face the death sentence in the US and on principle it isn’t right to execute criminals, therefore it should not be in America.”
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed, said: “If the Americans have any evidence to bring a prosecution I would rather it was in the International Criminal Court.
“I would not want to see this in an American court. Certainly, the death penalty rules out America as a venue.” One major complication once charges are announced will be the extradition of Mr Mas’ud. It is understood that it is easier to extradite suspects from Libya to Britain than the US so holding a trial in Scotland remains a possibility.
Lockerbie, the town in southern Scotland, was where the plane crashed after the explosion on board. A majority of those killed were American.
Peter Millett, Britain’s former ambassador to Tripoli, said he thought the Libyan government would probably be willing in principle to hand Mr Mas’ud over to the US for trial, assuming extradition arrangements could be made.
He pointed out that last year, Libyan authorities permitted the extradition to Britain of Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi.
“The Libyan government was upset by the Manchester bombing and wanted to do what they could to help, and in the same way, I don’t think they want to defend anyone who carried out a bombing under Gaddafi’s orders,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Mas’ud would be the third suspect charged. Abdel Baset al-megrahi is the only person ever convicted over the attack. Al-amin Khalifa Fhimah, a second suspect, was acquitted.
Megrahi, a Libyan, was convicted by Scottish judges in 2001. He was sentenced to life in prison, but released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Despite an assessment that he had just months left before his death, he lived until 2012.
A panel of five appeal judges in Edinburgh is currently deliberating whether to acquit Megrahi after the conclusion of the third appeal against his conviction last month.