×

Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, to be buried today

The funeral of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is due to take place in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, later today.  Megrahi, the only person convicted over … Continue reading Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, to be buried today


File photo of convicted Lockerbie bomber Megrahi speaking during an exclusive interview with Reuters TV at his home in Tripoli

The funeral of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is due to take place in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, later today.  Megrahi, the only person convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing above Scotland which killed 270 people, died at his home in Libya on Sunday. He was convicted by a special court in the Netherlands in 2001.
He was freed from Scottish jail in 2009 on compassionate grounds as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Our previous report: 

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie, died of cancer on Sunday at age 60, leaving many questions on the attack and its aftermath unanswered.

File photo of convicted Lockerbie bomber Megrahi speaking during an exclusive interview with Reuters TV at his home in Tripoli

Megrahi who said he was not responsible for bringing the jumbo jet down on the Scottish town and killing 270 people, was found guilty in 2001 but released in 2009 and returned to Libya because he had terminal cancer and not expected to live long.

That decision by officials in Scotland angered relatives of many victims, 189 of whom were American, and was criticised by Washington as Megrahi returned to a hero’s welcome from Muammar Gaddafi. That he survived for nearly three more years, outliving Gaddafi himself, who was overthrown last year, caused discomfort in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron, visiting the United States on Sunday, said Megrahi should never have been freed.

Megrahi’s brother Mohammed told Reuters he had died at his home in the Libyan capital from complications from prostate cancer. “He was too sick to utter anything on his deathbed,” another brother, Abdulhakim, said outside Megrahi’s house.

“Just because Abdul Basset is dead doesn’t mean the past is now erased,” he said. “We will always tell the world that my brother was innocent.”

Megrahi, the only person convicted for the bombing, was found guilty under Scots law of secretly loading a suitcase bomb onto a plane at Malta’s Luqa Airport, where he was head of operations for Libyan Arab Airlines in December 1988.

The suitcase was transferred at Frankfurt to another flight and then onto New York-bound PanAm Flight 103 at London’s Heathrow airport, concluded Scottish judges sitting at a converted Dutch military base selected as a neutral trial venue.

All 259 people aboard the aircraft were killed when it exploded and 11 people in the small town of Lockerbie died when homes and vehicles were obliterated by falling debris.

Megrahi, handed over by Gaddafi under a U.N.-brokered deal, always insisted he was merely an airline executive, not a Libyan intelligence agent as prosecutors charged.

His trial was part of a process of rapprochement by which Gaddafi distanced himself from association with groups regarded as terrorists in the West and secured renewed cooperation with Western firms keen to exploit Libya’s oil and gas reserves.

CONTROVERSIES

Reaction to Megrahi’s death reflected the controversies that have raged for years over his role.

Many people in Britain say they believe he was a scapegoat, while many in the United States have accused Britain of releasing him to help secure oil deals in Gaddafi’s Libya. Britain has denied the charge.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, who wanted the Libyan government that took over after Gaddafi’s ouster and killing by rebels to take Megrahi into custody, said his return to Libya was a major injustice.

“The whole deal smelled of a deal for oil for this man’s freedom and that was almost blasphemy given what a horrible person he was and the terrible destruction and tragedy that he caused,” Schumer told CNN.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the bottom of it now.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was in opposition when Megrahi was freed, said in Chicago: “I’ve always been clear he should never have been released from prison.

“Today is a day to remember the 270 people who lost their lives in what was an appalling terrorist act. Our thoughts should be with them and their families for the suffering they’ve had.”

Jim Swire, the father of one of the British Lockerbie victims, said he was convinced Megrahi was innocent.

“I’ve been satisfied for some years that this man had nothing to do with the murder of my daughter and I grit my teeth every time I hear newscasters say ‘Lockerbie bomber has died'” he told BBC News television. “This is a sad day.”

Megrahi told Reuters in October the West had exaggerated his role and the truth about what happened would emerge soon.

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), which ousted Gaddafi last year, has said it would work with the Scottish government over the possible involvement of others in the 1988 bombing, an attack the country’s new rulers are eager to distance themselves from.

It declined immediate comment on the death, saying it was preparing a statement for later on Sunday.

Gaddafi’s Libya emerged from isolation after it scrapped a banned weapons programme and paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing.

Megrahi was handed over by Libya with fellow suspect Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima under a U.N.-brokered deal. Fahima was acquitted by the Scottish judges at Camp Zeist in January 2001.

Megrahi was jailed in the town of Greenock, near Glasgow.

On Sunday, his neighbours in the Libyan capital rolled out a carpet and set up chairs in the courtyard outside his house in preparation for condolence visits by family and friends.

“My brother was surrounded by his wife, children and his mother as he took his last breath,” his brother Abdulhakim said.

REUTERS