He was subsequently arrested and convicted by a Swedish court in for a series of terrorist bombings in Copenhagen. A search of his apartment in had uncovered a barometric detonator, clothing from Malta, and a calendar with the date of the Pan Am bombing, December 21, , circled. Despite these revelations, the court concluded: "We accept that there is a great deal of suspicion as to the actings [sic] of Abu Talb and his circle, but there is no evidence to indicate that they had either the means or the intention to destroy a civil aircraft in December The murder conviction of al-Megrahi was therefore based on four findings: first, that he was proved to be a Libyan intelligence officer "of fairly high rank"; second, that he traveled on a fake passport; third, that he was in military procurement and had dealings with MEBO; and fourth, that Gauci had identified him as the purchaser of the clothing found in the bomb suitcase.
Al-Megrahi's lawyers have filed a notice of appeal, which will likely argue that the court's equivocal findings do not amount to proof of al-Megrahi's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The appeal will be heard by a five-judge panel of Scottish justices at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands later this year.
From the point of view of the families of the victims, the most important finding in the judgment had to do with Libya's responsibility for the bombing. The court stated: "The clear inference which we draw from this evidence is that the conception, planning, and execution of the plot which led to the planting of the explosive device was of Libyan origin.
In any event, the court's finding will make it immeasurably easier for the civil plaintiffs to prevail in the litigation against Libya now pending in the Southern District of New York. Now that the government's evidence implicating Libya has been used in a public trial, the plaintiffs can access it and use it in their civil litigation.
Although the Scottish Court's findings will not apply to the civil case as res judicata or collateral estoppel, the New York judge can take judicial notice of the Scottish Court's conclusions in denying a pre-trial motion for dismissal. And the Scottish Court's conclusions will make it much more likely that Libya will settle the case because of the risk of a judgment with tremendous punitive damages rivaling recent tobacco litigation.
Libya's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mohammed al-Zwi, said the day after the verdict that Tripoli would consider compensating the victims once the appeal process was over. Many experts expect Libya to make an ex gratia payment to the families as part of a settlement of the multi-billion dollar law suit and to satisfy President George W. Bush's condition for lifting U. While U. Pan Am flight was a regular scheduled transatlantic service that incorporated the busy London-New York corridor.
Upon arriving in London, the passengers, luggage, and cargo were transferred from the to a larger NPA was just the 15th built, and it was 18 years old at the time. Stay informed: Sign up for our daily and weekly aviation news digests. The was due to depart at , and left Heathrow more or less on time, pushing back at It took to the skies at , and within an hour, tragedy would strike.
Instead, investigations into the accident concluded that the bomb was first loaded onto an aircraft in a suitcase in Malta, before being transferred onto the Pan Am flight in Frankfurt. Sex Pistol John Lyndon and his wife Nora told The Guardian that they had also missed the flight because she did not finish packing on time.
Intelligence agencies had some warning prior to the bombing that allowed them to identify preliminary suspects. Supposedly, a Finnish woman would unwittingly carry a bomb onto a US-bound Pan Am flight from Frankfurt within two weeks of the call.
The caller also provided two names associated with the Palestinian Abu Nidal militia. This memo pointed to Middle Eastern terror groups but was dismissed. Within hours of the bombing, the CIA had four potential suspects. French and British intelligence suspected Libyan involvement, given President Muammar Gaddafi's support for the West Berlin nightclub bombing and his ongoing feud with the United States.
American investigators found supporting evidence while combing through the Lockerbie wreckage. According to Christopher Joyner and Wayne Rothbaum , investigators discovered a microchip from the bomb that matched the type used to blow up three flights over Chad, Togo, and Niger between and In addition, Senegal arrested two Libyan men with Semtex explosives that investigators matched to the Lockerbie bomb fragments.
This provided more direction for the investigation, which shifted from Iran to Libya. Following the French intelligence services' leads, British intelligence identified two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah , as persons of interest. Both men were identified as Libyan intelligence operatives, again suggesting a link to Gaddafi. But until they could be tried, their involvement could not be confirmed.
Gaddafi refused, citing the Montreal Convention's "aut dedere aut judicare" "either give or judge". This principle allowed Libya to try terror suspects on its own soil. These sanctions placed restrictions on Libya's aviation industry, military, and high-ranking government officials until Gaddafi withdrew his support for terrorism. However, the sanctions were not as effective as hoped. In Europe, British government agencies opposed the sanctions and had hoped other UNSC members would veto the resolution.
The Times of Israel reported that the British Department for Trade and Industry was most concerned with the economic impact of British exports to Libya. After , Gaddafi found an unlikely champion in South African President Nelson Mandela, who violated the sanctions with a visit to Libya in Under such circumstances, the quest for justice had reached in impasse. As the impasse continued into , international bodies offered to mediate, and the Arab League proposed a compromise.
The extradited suspects could be tried in a neutral country outside the UK. If they were found guilty, they would serve their sentences in British prison. Gaddafi accepted the offer and extradited both men to face trial. The proceedings began in May Lamen Khalifa Fhimah pictured above with Gaddafi was found not guilty. He had been in Sweden on the day of the bombing and could not have been involved. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's trial was more complicated.
The critical piece of evidence was the testimony of the man who had allegedly sold the clothes in the suitcase bomb. During al-Megrahi's trial, the main prosecution witness was a Maltese national named Tony Gauci.
Gauci testified that he had sold the clothes to a man of Middle Eastern appearance who resembled al-Megrahi. However, he could not match the man he had met in Malta with the suspect on trial with certainty. Per American Radio Works , Gauci could only recall that a picture of al-Megrahi in a magazine resembled his client. However, his testimony was enough to convict al-Megrahi , who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the UK.
Later evidence has cast serious doubts about his guilt. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's conviction vindicated Gaddafi's accusers. In return, the UN lifted the sanctions under Resolution and allowed Libya back into the international community. While Gaddafi's admission provided a sense of closure to the victims' families, the Libyan president continued to deny responsibility in private.
Had Gaddafi accepted responsibility just to have the sanctions lifted? Had special interests in Europe lobbied for leniency despite Libyan complicity? The web of special interests suggests that this scenario is at least partially true. Remember, parts of the British government had opposed the sanctions from the beginning.
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