The Lockerbie Case

Lockerbie bombing trial will factor in Ramadan for witness testimony

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 06:13:01 +0000

[This is the headline over a report published late yesterday on the website of the United Arab Emirates newspaper The National. It reads in part:]

Plans for the long-awaited trial of alleged Lockerbie bomb maker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Al Marimi have taken Ramadan, forecast to start on February 7, into account. (...)

Of the 270 victims, 190 were US citizens. The US government filed charges against Mr Al Marimi in 2020 and arrested him in 2022. He pleaded not guilty in 2023.

The suspect's health problems, defence team changes, long pre-trial deliberations and the introduction of several pieces of new evidence have delayed the trial.

Washington District Judge Dabney Friedrich recently set a goal of starting jury selection for the trial in January 2027.

According to a recently filed joint status update for the trial, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan could affect the start of it. (...)

"The government requests a January 11 [2027] trial date. The parties have noted that Ramadan is likely to begin February 7, 2027," the status update reads in part.

"Several of the government witnesses observe Ramadan. If witness testimony begins on or about January 19, that will allow three weeks for the government to present any witnesses where Ramadan might affect their availability.

"If jury selection is shifted until January 19, 2027, witness testimony may not even begin until January 25, 2027, which only allows 10 days before the start of Ramadan."

Another recently filed document from US federal prosecutors sheds light on one of many witnesses the government plans to use to make its case against Mr Al Marimi.

"As part of its case-in-chief, the government expects to call Alison Pargeter, an expert in Libyan history," the filing reads.

It mentions arguments over what testimony from Ms Pargeter, author of Libya: The Rise and Fall of Qaddafi [published in 2012], will ultimately be heard by a jury.

In August, proposed jury instructions for the trial seen by The National show that both the prosecution and defence teams are concerned about online prediction and betting markets affecting the case.

"You may have heard of online betting markets, prediction markets, or similar platforms where people can place bets or wagers on the outcome of events, including the outcome of court cases and trials," reads the proposed jury instructions agreed to by the defence and prosecution.

About 150 pieces of crash evidence will be presented, along with accounts of witnesses from several countries. Evidence will also come in the form of passports, hotel records, receipts, telegrams, baggage tags and letters.

Many of those documents come from Libya, the UK, the US, Malta, and what was then known as Czechoslovakia. (...)

Evidence from victims' relatives "could cause high risk of prejudice"

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 17:38:28 +0000

[What follows is the text of an Associated Press news agency report published today:]

A trial in the US for a former Libyan intelligence official charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland is on track to start in January after a delay caused by the discovery of new evidence in the decades-old case.

A federal judge presiding over the case against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is eyeing Jan 19 for the start of jury selection in Washington, DC.

Al-Marimi’s trial had been scheduled to start on Aug 26, but US District Judge Dabney Friedrich postponed it to give defense attorneys more time to examine the newly discovered evidence. The judge said she wants to check on the availability of prospective jurors before locking in a new trial date.

Court filings haven’t specified the nature of the new evidence; the judge and attorneys took pains not to disclose any details during a pretrial hearing on Tuesday [today].

Flight 103 was 31,000 feet (9.45 kilometers) over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb in the New York-bound plane’s forward cargo area exploded 38 minutes after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport on Dec 21, 1988. The blast killed all 259 passengers and crew members and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie.

Al-Marimi is charged with making the bomb that downed the airplane. Prosecutors allege he and others carried out the bombing at the direction of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was ousted and killed during a 2011 civil war.

[A report published today on the BBC News website reads in part:]

The bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie 37 years ago was intended to inflict "pain and horror," a judge has been told.

The US government made the claim as it argued that relatives of the victims should be allowed to give evidence during the trial of a Libyan suspect.

Prosecutors believe their testimony will help the jury understand the impact of the attack, which killed 270 people on December 21, 1988.

They made the request during the latest hearing on the long-delayed case at the District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington DC.

The man facing trial, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, was handed over to FBI agents in Libya in 2022 and has been in US custody for nearly four years.

He has denied building and priming the bomb which brought down the plane.

Assistant US attorney Brittany Keil told the court: "The purpose of the plan was to inflict pain and horror that would be reported around the world."

Judge Dabney Friedrich has not ruled on whether relatives of victims should be called as witnesses, but expressed concern that it could cause a high risk of prejudice against Al-Marimi. (...)

After two postponements, Al-Marimi was due to stand trial at the end of last month but the case was called off at the last minute after new evidence came to light.

Judge Friedrich agreed to give the defence more time to consider the fresh information, which has not been made public. (...)

Now in his mid-70s, Al-Marimi was in court for the hearing and listened impassively to proceedings through an interpreter.

Defence lawyer Laura Koenig said they will need to question new witnesses and present additional expert testimony in response to the new evidence.

The BBC understands that it is alleged to strengthen the prosecution case against Al-Marimi.

US ‘confident’ postponed Lockerbie bombing trial will go ahead in new year

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:50:06 +0000

[This is the headline over a PA News Agency report as published tonight on the Enfield Independent website. It reads in part:]

US officials have expressed confidence that the trial of a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 will “successfully” go ahead in the new year after a recent postponement caused concern among campaigners.

The federal prosecution of Abu Agila Masud over the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history is now due to get under way on January 11 in Washington DC after the judge ordered a delay last week, citing the disclosure of new evidence that defence lawyers wanted to examine.

The last-minute hold-up, just as jury selection was set to begin, sparked consternation within the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, given the elderly age of many bereaved relatives.

A spokesman for the US Department of Justice said: “It is not unusual for trials to be continued, and the government is confident that this case will go forward at the new trial date successfully.”

However, a hearing due to be held into the status of the postponed case on Tuesday [1 September] was itself delayed until September 15.

Court documents said this was due to “the complex nature of the case, the amount of time required to adequately prepare for pretrial proceedings and for trial… the voluminous discovery, including newly discovered evidence, as well as evidence located in other countries… and the need for the defence to determine how best to defend this case”.

As such it was concluded the “ends of justice… outweigh the best interest of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial”.

The nature of the newly discovered evidence has not been revealed.

Masud’s legal team say the disclosure was made at short notice and that their “constitutional and ethical obligations require the defence to investigate this development”.

The defendant, now in his mid-70s, is charged with two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death.

He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors claim he once confessed to his role, although this has been challenged by his lawyers.

Masud, who was extradited from Libya to the US in 2022, has denied the charges. (...)

[RB: Masud was not extradited. He was abducted from his home by a LIbyan armed gang, handed over (probably sold) to US government agents and transferred by them without lawful Libyan authority to the United States.]

US Lockerbie bombing trial postponed days before it was due to start

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 05:57:32 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published today on the BBC News website:]

The trial of a Libyan man over the Lockerbie bombing has been postponed for a third time, after new evidence on the 37-year-old case came to light three days ago.

Jury selection was due to get under way in Washington DC on Wednesday but the BBC understands a new start date has been set for January next year.

Lawyers acting for Abu Agila Mohammad [Masud] Kheir Al-Marimi said "newly discovered evidence" previously unknown to the defence and prosecutors from the US government emerged on Friday 21 August.

Al-Marimi has denied building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people.

His lawyers told the court: "Constitutional and ethical obligations require the defence to investigate this development."

They said they met Al-Marimi on Sunday and he agreed that they should ask for the postponement.

The trial judge, Dabney Friedrich, has agreed that the start date should be set aside, underlining the potential importance of the new evidence.

She would have been extremely reluctant to allow an 11th hour postponement after months of preparation and marathon pre-trial legal battles.

For the relatives of those who died and Al-Marimi himself, this latest delay means a verdict might not come until next spring.

It is yet another stunning development in a saga that has witnessed countless twists and turns over nearly four decades. (...)

Al-Marimi has been in US custody since 2022 and was originally due to stand trial in May 2025.

That date was set aside following a joint request from the prosecution and defence, who cited the complexity of the case and Al-Marimi's ill health.

The trial was pencilled in for April this year but was called off again, after the defence asked for more time to prepare.

The Lockerbie bombing has been the subject of a joint Scottish-US investigation since December 1988.

Prosecutors from the Crown Office and detectives from Police Scotland were due to travel to Washington to attend the case, and Scottish witnesses were expected to be among the first to give evidence at the trial.

Laura Buchan, head of the Lockerbie investigation team at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: "I recognise that this adjournment will be disappointing for the families and for those who have followed this case over many years.

"As the matter remains before the court, it would not be appropriate to comment on the reasons for the adjournment. Although these proceedings are being led by the United States authorities, Scottish prosecutors and police officers remain fully committed to supporting the pursuit of justice." (...)

The US government says Al-Marimi admitted bombing the plane along with Megrahi and Fhimah when he was questioned in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

The alleged confession was handed to Scottish investigators in 2017 and is now central to the prosecution case.

Al-Marimi has claimed the confession is false and was made under duress, but judge Friedrich ruled it can be admitted as evidence at the trial.

[RB: What follows is a reaction from the Rev'd John Mosey, as reported this afternoon on the ITV News website:]

John Mosey, whose 19-year-old daughter Helga died in the Lockerbie attack, told ITV News he had suspicions that it wouldn't go ahead.

Reacting to this morning's postponement, he said: "Not at all surprised, in fact I'd have been surprised if it hadn't been postponed.

"I think there is something going on. This has now been postponed for has it been two, three years? And one has to ask ones self, why? And in this case they say it's new evidence.

"I can't take it seriously, or we're finding it very difficult to take it seriously, but we are trying. Because of how much it's been postponed, and because of the dishonesty and jiggery pokery that's been going on since the first trial and right through."

Asked if he thinks the trial will ever go ahead, he added: "I think they are hoping that this gentleman will pass away and they won't have to produce any evidence. Close the book. Close the case, and that's it. That's my feeling, I may be wrong of course."

The origin of the Lockerbie bomb

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 08:53:46 +0000

[This is the headline over a letter from Dr Jim Swire published in today's edition of The Sunday Times of Malta, following an article in last Sunday's edition of the newspaper. The letter reads as follows:]

After all these years of attempting to discover the truth about the murder of my daughter, Flora and all those 269 others, our group UK Families-Flight 103 have researched the allegations in depth. That search has always and only been for truth.

If there is one aspect of the tragedy about which we are certain, it is that the Lockerbie bomb did not start its journey from Malta.

There seems no robust evidence to show that it did do so, other than the bought ‘evidence’ given by Tony Gauci concerning the buying of clothes from Mary’s House in Sliema and the discovery of a fragment of circuit board produced in the Zeist court from within a Scots police evidence bag.

It is clear that the fragment of circuit board, which was labelled PT35b in the Zeist court, was planted false evidence. It has been repeatedly carefully analysed in the UK by a series of responsible and academic authorities. These analyses showed that the copper tracks on PT35b had been plated with pure tin, not the alloy of tin and lead which was in universal professional use in 1988.

In addition, a series of trial explosions were conducted for the Zeist defence team by a UK based explosives expert of many years standing which found that the circuit board of the bomb would have been reduced to a brown powder by the blast and heat of the IED bomb. PT35b simply could not be genuine, yet, it was said in America to be the one thing that enabled the Zeist trial to be set up.

The court chose both to ignore these findings and failed to explore how a clearly false item could have entered an official Scots police evidence bag.

If PT35b had been genuine, it would have proved that a digital electronic timer had been used. The flight time from Luqa to Frankfurt is around two hours and 45 minutes and digital timers like that from which PT35b was alleged to have come can be user settable and encompass delays of many hours. Our work shows that an analogue timing circuit with a maximum run time of around 45 minutes was what really triggered the bomb, so no one could have sent it on its way from Luqa without it exploding over the Mediterranean or continental Europe.

We hope that some aspect of truth may emerge from the upcoming trial of the Libyan Masud but there is no way that that trial can be made to bridge this two hours and 45 minutes between your lovely island and the now peaceful fields surrounding the little town of Lockerbie.

"You proceed at your own peril" judge tells "slippery" prosecutors

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 20:30:08 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published today on the website of the United Arab Emirates newspaper The National:]

The long-awaited trial of alleged Pan Am Lockerbie bomb maker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud is weeks away, but the US judge in the case issued a warning to prosecutors on Wednesday over evidence concerns.

During the pre-trial hearing, Washington District Judge Dabney Friedrich told lawyers making the case against Mr Masud that she was concerned they didn't seem to be working hard to ensure that all evidence presented in the case is properly certified and notarised.

"You proceed at your own peril," she told prosecutor Erik Kenerson, who argued that the Pan Am bombing had taken place 38 years ago and evidence had come from several countries, complicating the process of authenticating documents.

[Judge] Friedrich told Mr Kenerson that she understood the complications, but added that she felt US prosecutors have had ample time to ensure evidence is certified. She also said that in the event that Mr Masud were to be found guilty, failure to properly authenticate evidence before the trial would open the case up to an appeal.

Mr Masud, who sat silently in court during the exchange, is accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. (...)

"It's like you're not telling me something," she told Mr Kenerson.

The prosecutor replied that "this is a unique case".

"All the more reason for you to dot your Is and cross your Ts," [Judge] Friedrich said.

Roughly 150 pieces of crash evidence will be presented, along with witness accounts from several countries. Evidence will also come in the form of documents such as passports, hotel records, receipts, telegrams, baggage tags and letters. Many of those documents, as US prosecutors also indicated in court, come from Libya, the UK, the US, Malta, and what was known at the time as Czechoslovakia.

Later, [Judge] Friedrich told Conor Mulroe, another prosecutor, that she felt his team was trying to be "slippery" with how they introduced evidence.

"Your honour, if you perceive the government as being slippery or sliding then I apologise for that because we strive every day to advance arguments in good faith that we believe are supported by the law, and we believe are consistent with each other,” Mr Mulroe replied. (...)

Jury selection for Mr Masud's trial is scheduled for August 25, though it could be pushed back in the event that pre-trial deliberations go longer than expected.

Senior Maltese figures deny Malta link to Lockerbie bomb

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 07:31:51 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published in today's edition of The Times of Malta:]

A popular Netflix series about the Lockerbie bombing presents Malta as the starting point of the bomb’s journey, a version of events long disputed by senior Maltese figures as well as some families of the deceased.

The Bombing of Pan Am 103, which is currently the most-watched show on Netflix in Malta and ranks third globally, broadly follows the case presented by Scottish prosecutors.

But that account was disputed by several figures, including certain investigators, former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami and former president George Vella.

The series, first released in the UK last year, follows the joint Scottish and FBI investigation into the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. (...)

Malta features prominently in the series as the Luqa airport is depicted as the place where the Libyan secret service planted a timer bomb in checked-in luggage.

According to the prosecution case, the luggage was transferred to Frankfurt on an Air Malta flight before travelling to London Heathrow and eventually being loaded onto Pan Am 103. (...)

Fenech Adami later questioned whether the bomb could have travelled along the route presented by prosecutors.

In his 2014 book, Eddie – My Journey, he wrote: “My opinion is that it was technically impossible for the bomb to have taken such a complicated route.

“It would also have been a very haphazard method of executing this act of terrorism.”

Alongside many others, the doubts centred on Tony Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper whose testimony became an important part of the prosecution case.

Investigators traced clothing found in the suitcase containing the bomb to Mary’s House, a shop in Sliema owned by Gauci.

Gauci identified al-Megrahi as the man who had bought the clothes in December 1988, weeks before the bombing.

Fenech Adami later described him as an unreliable witness.

“The only evidence against al-Megrahi was the testimony of a Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, who said he sold the Libyan the clothing,” he wrote.

“While I do not think it can be ruled out that al-Megrahi was in some way involved, I have always considered Gauci, who was paid by the Americans, to be a very unreliable witness.”

Vella, who was foreign minister in the 1990s and, again, in the early 2010s, went further.

He told an episode of Times Talk in 2013 that he was convinced al-Megrahi was innocent.

Questions were also raised about Gauci by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body which examines possible miscarriages of justice.

The commission described him as an unreliable witness and said prosecutors had failed to disclose statements to al-Megrahi’s defence showing that Gauci had changed his account on important details over the years.

Al-Megrahi’s defence contended that Gauci was paid “in excess of $2 million” and his brother was paid “in excess of $1m” for their cooperation.

Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, also accused Gauci of “betraying a fellow human being for money” in a Times of Malta interview in 2013.

Documents published later by The Sunday Times of Malta showed that the lead investigator in the case lobbied US authorities to pay at least $3 million to Gauci and his brother Paul for their role in helping secure the conviction.

Neither brother ever confirmed or denied that they had been paid.

Gauci, who lived in Swieqi before his death in 2016, never spoke publicly about the case.

Joe Mifsud, a former Labour Party official and journalist who is now a magistrate, also challenged the prosecution case in his 2014 book Terror’s Footprints.

“It had always seemed manifestly clear to me that the two accused persons had not committed the terrorist attack and that the suitcase containing the bomb which caused the explosion had not left from Malta.”

Mifsud pointed instead to an argument raised by the defence that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command may have been responsible.

The theory is that the Syria-based group received $10 million or so from Iran immediately after Lockerbie. It appeared to have acted as a mercenary or executor in carrying out the wishes of the Iranian Ayatollahs in revenge for the erroneous US downing of an Iranian aircraft in 1988. (...)

US framing Libya to cover up something much darker?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:12:07 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from an article by Martin Jay entitled Lockerbie: Did the CIA itself take down Pan Am 103? published on his Substack today:]

When Western governments used to do highly illegal operations, one of the biggest worries from the outset would always be: what if the press gets hold of this? Scrutiny from journalists for a long time was always the chief worry of the architects of dirty wars, cooperating with terror groups and paying the bad guys.

But since 9/11, the deep state has shifted its views towards media, no longer fearful of its opprobrium.(...)

What is the new relationship [between government and the media]? It is simply that as the internet took off around 2000, media giants realised that their business model of selling newspapers, based on independent journalism which held the state to account, was doomed. The new model to replace it would be to disinvest in journalism as we know it and replace it with a poorer cousin which not only moved it closer to the deep state – in particular the security services – but made it a content junkie for what the CIA, MI5 and Mossad could feed it. The result today is that if you really want to understand a subject and want to do deep research on it, it is highly unlikely you would go to mainstream media. And yet media giants continue to play an important role in shaping our lives and manufacturing a consent which still has the desired effect: keeping the elites in power. We have never seen a period since the invention of newspapers in the 17th century where there is a greater divide between the truth and the perceived truth – and whereby the latter is winning hands down. (...)

This comes about when the political elite allow the security services and journalists to together create an entirely false narrative which works because everyone wants it to be real. (...)

But when those same storytellers get together and re-write history by presenting to the public new documentation which has arrived under extremely dubious circumstances, then those countries can hardly call themselves democracies any more. Under such a farcical arrangement, justice can never be served – or even seen to be served.

The Lockerbie case, where a US airliner fell from the sky over a sleepy Scottish town, killing all on board and 11 on the ground due to a bomb being placed on board, is a good example of how far the deep state can twist and corrupt judicial process as a means to an end. Bluntly, the Americans, after almost 40 years, want to frame the Libyans for the act of terrorism, as it helps them cover up a darker, more macabre role that they themselves played in the bombing. And yet, despite initially planting evidence in the original case in the Netherlands which neatly framed two Libyan intelligence officers, there has been no hue and cry about their tawdry handling of the case, which should be a scandal. Now it’s much worse. In recent days we have heard reports of new evidence which the Americans claimed to have found – such as accounts of the chief culprit’s own activities in Malta at that time, Semtex explosives believed to be in his office, and fanciful accounts of timers having an eleven-hour duration. All of this so far has come from new documentation which readers should be very cynical about.

But just very recently, an account from a former Mossad agent who was employed by Pan Am’s insurance company to investigate what really happened has thrown a light on why the Americans are so determined, after all this time, to keep the Libyan case alive. In a recent podcast interview, former Mossad assassin Juval Aviv explains how the CIA, from 1987, were allowing Hezbollah in Beirut to use Pan Am to send their own narcotics to the US and collect revenue from them. Reagan allowed this in exchange for keeping seven US/UK hostages alive. These weekly flights, usually from Beirut to Cyprus, then to London, then to the US, were run by CIA officers and were very lucrative for the Lebanese group.

To this day, media hardly touch on the point of these so-called ‘controlled flights’. Aviv’s three-month investigation in 1989 uncovered all the details, and because Pan Am was a client of his as an investigator, he came to the conclusion quite quickly that the Damascus-based Palestinian group which specialised in downing planes was the culprit, via its chief drug supplier from the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.

What might have been in his initial report which caused him and his work to be marginalised was the bombshell revelation, also made in the podcast, that it was the Americans themselves who brought down the plane – which explains why, to this day, the Americans are going to extraordinary lengths to feed media with disinformation.

Aviv claims that the CIA knew about the bomb and allowed it to get on the plane so that it would kill three rogue officers who were also on the flight, planning to blow the whistle on the drug-running operation to Congress when they got back. Perhaps even more shocking is his claim that over 40 US government workers were ordered off the flight shortly before it departed, and that the drug money made in the US actually went towards buying arms for the Contras. In short, the CIA discovered the bomb plot and allowed it to go ahead so that their operations could not face the embarrassing ignominy which eventually happened to Reagan through the Contra scandal that followed. But besides all this, we have the most recent “evidence” which is being passed off as legitimate: a Libyan security agent’s testimony – secured through torture – being given the green light by a US judge. Nearly 40 years later, the statute of limitations against those accused is not replicated towards US prosecutors, it would seem, who are able to produce fake documents and blood-soaked sworn testimonies which put the Libyans in the frame. If you’ve ever wondered why Hollywood won’t make the movie of Lockerbie, it’s because Americans wouldn’t believe the real story.

Judge allows Lockerbie suspect's alleged confession to be used at US trial

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 08:00:29 +0000

[This is the headline over a report published today on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]

An alleged confession by a suspect in the Lockerbie bombing will be allowed as evidence in a trial in the United States, a judge has ruled.

Lawyers for Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi had asked for the contested statement to be ruled inadmissible, claiming it was false and made under duress.

But the document will now form a central part of the prosecution case when the postponed trial begins at a federal court in Washington DC later this month.

Libyan Al-Marimi, also known as Masud, has denied making and priming the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Dumfries and Galloway on 21 December 1988. (...)

A group representing relatives of American victims of the atrocity described judge's decision as outcome as "another step in our long fight for justice".

The existence of Al-Marimi's alleged confession was first revealed in 2020 when the US government announced it was charging him over the bombing.

An FBI criminal complaint said he had freely admitted his involvement when he was questioned by a police officer in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

Al-Marimi is said to have told the officer he acted alongside fellow members of the Libyan intelligence service, under the orders of senior officials.

According to the officer's account, Al-Marimi said he transported the bomb hidden in a suitcase from Libya to Malta, where he met two accomplices.

One was Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, the Libyan agent convicted of playing a central role in the plot at the first Lockerbie trial 25 years ago.

The second was said to be Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, a former Libyan Arab Airline official who was cleared by the same Scottish court.

The officer said Al-Marimi admitted setting the bomb timer so the explosion would occur 11 hours later, before handing the suitcase to Fhimah at Malta's Luqa airport.

Fhimah placed it onto a conveyor belt, introducing the unaccompanied bag into the international baggage system, tagged to be flown to the US.

Later that night, at 31,000 ft, it exploded in the forward hold of Pan Am 103.

Al-Marimi is alleged to have claimed he was later congratulated in person by the late Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, for carrying out "a great national duty" against the Americans.

The Washington court has heard that the Libyan police officer - referred to as Jamal - kept a handwritten document containing the confession and a carbon copy of the statement in a safe in his home.

In 2015, he handed them over to the Libyan Attorney General's Office, who gave a copy of the confession to prosecutors from Scotland's Crown Office two years later. They shared it with the Americans.

The team of public defenders representing Al-Marimi at the District [Court] of the District of Columbia asked for the alleged confession to be excluded from his trial.

Jamal gave evidence in person at a hearing in the United States as judge Dabney Friedrich considered whether the statement should be allowed as evidence.

Prosecutors argued its highly-detailed contents could be corroborated to an extent unlikely with a fabricated confession.

At one point, Judge Friedrich instructed the US government to get hold of the original handwritten document and the carbon copy, only to be told the authorities in Tripoli couldn't find them.

Jamal now looks likely to be called as a witness at the trial, giving the jury the chance to hear his testimony for themselves, and the defence an opportunity to challenge his version of events.

A statement released by the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said: "We are pleased with today's ruling.

"While we have always trusted the [US] government had a strong case, this only reinforces it.

"We look forward to gaining more information about the truth of what happened... this is another step in our long fight for justice.

"Jamal's courage to come forward with this confession and his testimony during the motion to suppress hearing does not go unnoticed by family members."

[RB: Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 is a US organisation. The UK equivalent is UK Families Flight 103. I wonder if their reaction was sought by the BBC.]

Netflix "The Bombing of Pan Am 103": Incomplete, one-sided portrayal

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:53:37 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from an article by Patrick Huber published today on the Austrian Wings website:]

In a six-part miniseries, the US film giant Netflix dramatized the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Despite its high level of detail, the series ultimately disappoints with a one-sided portrayal of the perpetrators, a perspective that is objectively untenable, argues Patrick Huber, a long-time contributor to Austrian Wings, in his recent commentary. Huber has been researching the topic for over 20 years and published the first German-language book on the subject in December 2023, titled Pan Am Flight 103: The Tragedy of Lockerbie - A Christmas Journey to Death.

The facts of the Lockerbie disaster (Pan Am Flight 103) in brief. A bomb exploded in the cargo hold of Pan Am's Boeing 747-121, N739PA, Clipper Maid of the Seas, which was scheduled to fly as PA 103 from London Heathrow to New York JFK on December 21, 1988. The aircraft broke apart in mid-air and crashed into the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The 243 passengers, 2 pilots (captain and first officer), 1 flight engineer, and 13 flight attendants on board the Pan Am jumbo jet died, as did 11 residents of the Lockerbie community. Many children were among the victims; entire families were wiped out.

The question of who was responsible for the bomb was never definitively answered. A trial under Scottish law in the Netherlands in 2001 led to the conviction of a suspected Libyan secret agent – a verdict that remains highly controversial in expert circles. However, experts (including legal scholars and UN trial observer Professor Hans Köchler, whose reports can be found here ) and many relatives of the victims considered it a miscarriage of justice and are convinced of the alleged perpetrator's innocence. Professor Köchler, who contacted me by email on August 6. 2026, after the publication of this commentary, pointed out that he had always consideredEl-Megrahi "not guilty as charged."

Professor Köchler literally wrote in a statement dated August 23, 2003 that can be read online here: "It is highly likely that the convicted Libyan national is not guilty as charged and that one or more countries other than Libya, through their intelligence services and/or financial and logistical support for a terrorist group, may have responsibility for the crime. In this regard, last year's revelations by Atef Abu Baker of the Fateh Revolutionary Council (made public after the assassination of Abu Nidal in Baghdad) will have to be further investigated. Since the events of September 11, 2001, there is absolutely no excuse for not fully investigating the responsibility for the Lockerbie crime. Terrorism cannot be fought through a political deal aimed at covering up the truth, but must be eradicated through identification and punishment of all countries, individuals and organizations that may have had responsibility for a specific terrorist act."

I also recommend my commentary from October 2025, "Commentary on the Lockerbie Bombing - Who Bombed Pan Am Flight 103?" . Two years earlier, shortly before the 35th anniversary of the disaster, my book Pan Am Flight 103: The Lockerbie Tragedy - A Christmas Journey to Death, published after years of research , examines the attack and all open and already resolved questions in minute detail. (...)

When I heard about the new six-part Netflix series The Bombing of Pan Am 103, I decided to watch it. After decades of studying this tragedy, I was eager to see it. It's not a documentary, of course, and some elements have been altered for dramatic effect, but it's fundamentally very well-researched. Even little-known facts are addressed, and the seat numbers of individual passengers are accurately depicted.

While the first five parts are consistently worth watching, the final part is a huge disappointment and ruins everything. It deals with the trial of the two Libyan defendants, which ultimately ended with Abdel Bassit Ali Mohammed el Megrahi being convicted, while his co-defendant was acquitted.

The series concludes with this, usually leaving viewers with the (completely false) impression that the case is (largely) solved – but in reality, it is far from that. The series makes no mention whatsoever of the fact that not only (as mentioned at the beginning) numerous (primarily British) relatives of the victims doubt El-Megrahi's guilt, but also that both UN trial observer Hans Köchler and Scottish law professor Robert Black criticized the verdict as a "miscarriage of justice" that stigmatized an innocent man and deprived him of his freedom. In an interview with "The Scotsman" on November 1, 2005, Professor Black described El-Megrahi's conviction as "the most shameful miscarriage of justice in Scotland in 100 years."

The Netflix series instead adopts the decidedly "convenient" narrative for the US and UK of the convicted Libyan (lone) perpetrator and presents it to the viewer as "the whole truth." But it is, at best, only a part of the story, by no means the whole picture. A great deal is missing.

For although Libya's (and its intelligence agents') complicity in the attack on Pan Am 103 cannot be ruled out and is quite possible, there were and are leads pointing to Iran, more precisely the Islamic Republic of Iran (established in 1979), to Syria, and to the Palestinian territories of the Middle East. The evidence against Iran was particularly strong. However, the Netflix series largely ignores these facts, not even in the end credits. There are only a few tentative hints. To me, they seem like a tiresome "obligatory exercise" by the creators, along the lines of: check item, next scene.

From a legal standpoint, it doesn't have to depict everything (it's a series, not a documentary or academic work), but this one-sided portrayal, on the one hand, simply doesn't correspond to the known facts, and on the other hand, it's a slap in the face to the relatives of the 270 victims, who, after almost 40 years of uncertainty, finally deserve a definitive answer to the question of who was responsible for the deaths of their loved ones. A lone perpetrator—whether El-Megrahi or anyone else—could absolutely not have been responsible, as the UN trial observer clearly stated over 20 years ago. A single perpetrator could never have managed the incredible logistical effort of such a terrorist operation; even two or three perpetrators would have been insufficient. According to UN trial observer Köchler, at least "a dozen" participants would have been needed. It's quite possible that it was some kind of terrorist cooperation between Iran, Libya, Syria, and the Palestinians. It's also not out of the question that the convicted El-Megrahi might have been involved in some way. However, the evidence was simply insufficient for a conviction according to modern legal standards – and that's a crucial point. Because in a modern legal process, the principle of "in dubio pro reo" (presumption of innocence) must always apply. The evidence in El-Megrahi's conviction was extremely weak, leaving many questions unanswered. Or, to quote the UN trial observer, university professor Hans Köchler: "If someone had submitted this verdict as a seminar paper to me, it would have received a clear failing grade for inconsistency of argumentation." Ouch. That stings. (...)

Netflix also omits the fact that Dr Jim Swire (whose daughter Flora was killed in the attack on Pan Am 103) was also convinced of El-Megrahi's innocence, and that a friendship even developed between the two men. Dr. Swire doesn't appear at all (or only so briefly and insignificantly that I must have missed it), even though he made a crucial contribution to improving security measures in the aftermath of the disaster. (...)

If I had to grade the Netflix series "The Bombing of Pan Am 103" using the school grading system, my personal verdict would be, at best, a "Sufficient," and even that only because the first five episodes are solid and well-produced. If I were to evaluate only the sixth episode, my rating would be a clear "Fail."

For anyone interested in this complex case, I have two link recommendations here – in addition to my own book :

The Lockerbie Case (Blog by Professor Robert Black, Scotland)

The video documentary The Maltese Double Cross by American filmmaker Allan Francovich (d. 1997); public screenings of the film were heavily restricted by Great Britain and the USA, which is why it did not achieve widespread distribution; it has never been publicly shown in the USA.

Thus, every reader can form their own opinion on this matter and how they personally categorize the Netflix series The Bombing of Pan Am 103.

Lockerbie trial brings fresh scrutiny of evidence against Libyan suspect

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:45:55 +0000

[This is the headline over an article published yesterday in Libya Review. It reads as follows:]

The upcoming US trial of Libyan national Abu Agila Masud al-Marimi is renewing debate over the evidence surrounding the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, including claims that Iran, rather than Libya, was responsible for the attack.

A BBC report reviewed competing accounts as proceedings against al-Marimi are expected to resume in Washington in August. Al-Marimi has denied involvement in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, while questions over the original investigation have remained contentious in Libya and abroad.

One prominent alternative theory has been advanced by Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing. Swire has maintained that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted in the case, was wrongly convicted and has argued that Iran was behind the attack.

The theory partly rests on the bombing of an Iranian passenger aircraft by a US warship five months earlier, which killed 290 people, followed by Iranian threats of retaliation.

Former CIA officer John Holt has also questioned the official account and previously argued that investigators should examine Iran and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Libya Review has reported Holt’s claims that intelligence material pointing towards Libyan involvement was unreliable.

The credibility of former Libyan intelligence officer Abdul-Majid Giaka has also come under scrutiny. Holt has alleged that Giaka provided fabricated information to the CIA, while parts of his testimony were previously challenged during the Lockerbie proceedings.

Leaked Libyan intelligence documents have added another layer to the debate. Investigative journalist Vincent Nouzille said some documents contain details concerning al-Megrahi and al-Marimi and appear to match information supplied by Giaka. However, the available documents are copies rather than originals, limiting their forensic value.

Al-Marimi was transferred to US custody in 2022 and has consistently denied the allegations. His defence has also raised concerns over missing evidence, including an interrogation recording allegedly linked to his purported confession.

The case could therefore place the original Lockerbie evidence under renewed scrutiny while reopening long-standing questions over Libya’s alleged role in the bombing.

BBC Scotland revisits Lockerbie bombing

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 13:09:06 +0000

[What follows is the text of an item published today on The Highland Times website:]

One of Scotland’s most enduring and controversial criminal investigations is returning to the spotlight in a new BBC Scotland podcast series examining fresh evidence surrounding the Lockerbie bombing.

The six part series, Lockerbie, follows journalist Myles Bonnar as he revisits the investigation into the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103, which claimed the lives of 270 people in December 1988.

The series launches at a significant moment, with alleged bomb maker Abu Agila Masud due to stand trial in Washington DC.

Masud denies the allegations against him, while American prosecutors believe the trial could reveal new details about how the bombing was planned and carried out.

Produced by BBC Scotland for Radio 4’s Intrigue strand and BBC Sounds, the series explores the evidence gathered over nearly four decades, while examining why questions and competing theories have continued long after the original conviction.

Abdelbaset al Megrahi remains the only person convicted of the bombing, although he maintained his innocence until his death in 2012 and doubts surrounding the investigation have persisted ever since.

Throughout the series, Bonnar speaks with Scottish investigators, intelligence officers, journalists, legal experts, campaigners and relatives of those who died in the disaster.

Among those interviewed is Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing and who continues to argue that the original investigation reached the wrong conclusion.

The podcast also examines intelligence gathered from a Libyan double agent known as “Puzzle Piece” and explores the so called Senussi Files, documents recovered from the ruins of Libya’s intelligence headquarters following the 2011 uprising.

Those files are said to raise fresh questions about Megrahi and other alleged conspirators.

As the new trial begins in the United States, the series asks whether the latest evidence could finally answer some of the questions that have surrounded the Lockerbie bombing for almost forty years.

Myles Bonnar said: “Lockerbie remains a story filled with questions, extraordinary characters and profound human loss.

“As new developments bring renewed attention to the case, this series explores the evidence, the controversies, and the enduring search for answers.”

Lockerbie will be available on 22 July when all episodes will be made available on BBC Sounds.

[RB: The whole series can be listened to here. It is disappointing how little time is given to the very serious concerns about the Megrahi conviction raised by inter alios Paul Foot, Dr Morag Kerr and John Ashton.]

Lockerbie star witness accused of ‘yarns’

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Wed, 06 May 2026 10:24:00 +0000

[This is the headline over a report published in today's edition of the Daily Mail. It reads in part:]

Lawyers for the Libyan accused of building the Lockerbie bomb have lodged papers claiming a ‘star witness’ for the prosecution is ‘not credible’.

The US government’s case against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is largely based on his alleged confession to his involvement in the atrocity.

But his legal team want the case thrown out on the basis the ‘glacial pace’ of proceedings since he was extradited to the US in 2022 violates his rights.

They also say the ‘ongoing failure’ by his Libyan interrogator to provide original copies, allegedly written on carbon paper, support the call to ‘dismiss’ the charges.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Masud, as he is known, have now lodged papers with the court urging it to find the interrogator, known only as Jamal, ‘not credible’. Their claims centre around the alleged carbon copy provided by Jamal that the prosecution plans to use as evidence at his trial.

They also question why there are ‘underlines’ on the document that Jamal claims he did not make. Masud’s lawyers state that the American government ‘seems unwilling to recognise just how fatal these continued lies are for Jamal’s credibility’.

They add: ‘Perhaps it is because Mr Al-Marimi’s alleged confession was central to the government’s decision to charge Mr Al-Marimi and its prosecution of him that the government does not want to accept that its star witness is spinning yarns.’

Prosecutors say the defence ‘has offered no theory for why the officer would convey what he knew was a falsehood when he stood to gain nothing by doing so.’

But Masud’s legal team claim there are ‘possible reasons Jamal has lied’ including ‘acting at the behest of more powerful figures’, or he ‘thinks he can continue getting away with spinning tales in order to build rapport with a government that has worked to provide him personal benefits’.

Masud, an ex-Libyan intelligence officer, is due to stand trial in Washington DC.

He is alleged to have built the bomb that brought down Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. (...)

Only truth, not revenge, allows us to heal and forgive

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 08:17:00 +0000

[This is part of the headline over an article by Dr Jim Swire published in today's edition of Scotland on Sunday. A longer version of the article reads as follows:]

Looking at the situation in the Middle East, we may never have a better opportunity to decry the use of brute force, public deception and material power as a route to bettering our future than we have at this moment.

On 3rd July 1988 the USS Vincennes a cutting edge American missile cruiser equipped with a state of the art Aegis weapons control system, and commanded by (the late) Captain Will C Rogers III was in the Persian Gulf. American warships then were busy protecting international oil tanker traffic in the straits of Hormuz from Iranian attacks. History repeats itself.

Back in 1988 the Vincennes’ helicopter had reported coming under fire from Iranian speedboats, and though unscathed was ordered back to the Vincennes. The ship herself turned into Iranian waters in order to fire back at the Iranian speedboats, known as ‘Boghammers’, with which she then immediately engaged. At this time the ship’s radar picked up the trace of an aircraft climbing out of Bandar Abbas Airport (Iran). This was Iran Air Flight 655 an airliner with 290 people aboard. The airport supported both civil and military aircraft. Those interested to learn more might attempt to get access to a copy of STORM CENTER the USS Vincennes and Iran Air Flight 655 published by the (US) Naval Institute Press ISBN 1 755750 727 9, a personal account of tragedy and terrorism by Will and Sharon Rogers. It is a riveting account from the cutting edge by the Vincennes’ captain and his family.

Back on that 3rd of July 1988, the ship’s captain Will C Rogers III was led to misinterpret the radar trace of IR Flight 655 as being an attacking Iranian warplane, but it must be remembered this occurred in the tense circumstances of the fire from the Boghammers, and the restrictions placed on his ship’s duties from higher levels of the US navy.

We humans do all make mistakes.

Two of the ships missiles were fired and destroyed the airliner: the wreckage and the 290 bodies plunged into the waters of the Hormuz straits, killing all aboard; among cheers over the threat-resolution from the crew [and a from a media team who happened to be recording the amazing facilities of the ship and her technology that day.]

Captain Rogers remained in charge of his ship, and was later awarded the Legion of Merit decoration "for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as commanding officer of USS Vincennes from April 1987 to May 1989”, though IR655 was downed in 1988. The award was given for his service as the Commanding Officer of Vincennes, specifically highlighting his tactical skills and leadership in the Persian Gulf, including engagements with Iranian surface craft. There was no mention there of flight IR655.

Iranian sources immediately publicly swore revenge upon “The Great Satan”, over the tragic loss of IR655 with all those people aboard.

In November 1991, Scottish and American prosecutors simultaneously indicted Libyans Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Both were identified as members of the Libyan intelligence service. This was a sudden dramatic reversal of the previous years of work between the disaster in 1988 at Lockerbie and 1991, in which time intelligence services had concluded, as do we now, that the Lockerbie bombing was a revenge attack by Iran in return for the fate of IR 655.

Within some ten days of this startling about turn [published simultaneously in the USA and by Scotland’s Lord Advocate], to blaming Libya, for the Lockerbie disaster, two Western hostages, one of whom happened to be the British Terry Waite an emissary of the UK’s then archbishop of Canterbury and both having been held by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, were released, others soon followed.

Now that the Persian Gulf is again sporting US warships, with Iran’s leaders no doubt plotting how to manage the repercussions of being bombed this time by US and Israeli warplanes, and also with US marine groups on their way. We need to heed the words of German philosopher Georg Hegel: “The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”

For starters the subsequent bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988 has been shown for our group ‘’UK Families-Flight 103’ by our own careful researches over more than 38 years, to have been the work of Iran, through the use of Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC terrorist group in Damascus acting as mercenaries and financed - just as Hezbollah in the Bekaa has always been - by the Iranian Ayatollas. The PFLP-GC workshop in Damascus was where a set of cunning IED bombs intended to destroy aircraft in flight was made, under Jordanian Marwan Khreesat meanwhile the capture of a terrorist intermediary had confirmed to us [through incriminating documents found on his person by CIA assets], the passage of funds from Iran to Jibril’s group.

We had also obtained in early 1989 access to an illustrated warning sent in July 1988 to the UK Government, [among many others], by the German BKA police group under Herr Rainer Gobel. Containing colour photographs and descriptions of bombs recovered by them from members of Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC Palestinian terrorist group now caught in the small German town of Neuss, convenient to Frankfurt airport.

Please study the story contained in our book LOCKERBIE: a father’s search for justice (ISBN 978 1 78027 920 6: Birlinn, Edinburgh, reprinted 2025) to understand how our search for the truth as to who had murdered our families was pressed forward over the decades, and how it came to fundamentally differ from the official account. It has had no driving force other than the need for us to know the truth about who really had murdered our family members, and to improve, if we could, the protection for other air travellers in the future. Many who have attempted to understand what is said to be the complex story of why Lockerbie happened, seem unaware of how it was shown that the one seemingly solid link between the bomb used at Lockerbie is nothing other than fake news. The link to Malta for the bomb simply did not exist. Its main support among the story tellers of the world was a tiny fingernail sized fragment of circuit board, named from the Zeist trial onwards as PT35b, and allegedly recovered from the crash debris at the site of the tragedy.

The first pointer we got as to the significance of this forensic element ‘PT35b’ found inside a Scottish police evidence bag and produced in court as proof of the concept of the bomb’s travel from Malta, was words from the USA attributed to Richard Marquise working on the tragedy for the FBI from the USA, who is alleged to have said that a court trial without this tiny piece of evidence would not have been possible.

This fragment now known as ‘PT35b’ was treated with great gravity by those attempting to defend the two accused Libyans. The fragment was submitted to electron microscopic and spectroscopic analysis. What that showed was that in the two surviving tracks on it’s small surface, the copper had been plated with pure tin.

At first this seemed part of the normal manufacturing processes used by a reputable Swiss firm ‘Turing’ who were supplying circuit boards to MEBO, who in turn had made the ‘MST13’ digital timers some of which were supplied by MEBO to the Libyans, and which the prosecution decided had been used for the Lockerbie bomb.

There were however two major problems: FIRST,During the intervening years between the disaster and the trial, the electronics industry had undergone a significant change. Those responsible at an international level for industrial and domestic waste disposal practices had become acutely aware of the risks to human health from the metal lead both in the domestic environment and when deposited in landfill. Rapidly it was decided that the metal lead must be removed from domestic use and in the platings on electronic circuit boards. With the cooperation of the EU, Japan and America in particular, it was agreed that all lead should be forbidden in the manufacture of electronic printed circuit boards. Meanwhile statements from Turing about their circuit board manufacture until after December 1988 confirmed that their output was universally made from boards plated in the standard electronic platings of the time, in which the blend of metals used always consisted of tin and lead.

Turing’s director Bonfadelli signed a sworn statement that his firm had been equipped solely for the application of tin/lead platings, before 1988 and so could not have made the board from which ‘PT35b’ would have had to have come.

Second, the police evidence bag in which the fragment PT35b was found was unique in having had its label altered, and in such a way as to make it evident that debris within should be examined, rather than only the charred cloth also within, (which was readily shown to have originated from Malta). The Zeist court failed to have the details of who might have altered the label and what his/her motives might have been for doing so probed.

It was clear that neither the Scottish police nor any agent for the Crown Office were remotely likely to be responsible for originating ‘PT35b’, for we know that the investigating Scots police were in possession of pristine circuit boards given to them by MEBO, and that these were coated with a tin/lead alloy from which the lead could not be removed by the heat or blast of a Semtex explosion.

The likely origin for PT35b therefore seems to lie outwith the investigating team in Scotland, even though ‘PT35b’ was first revealed from a police evidence bag, and access to the police evidential bags seems to have been most generous for American agents from the FBI or intelligence agents also from the US. Without the ability to investigate the detailed behaviour of US agents in the investigation, we were made aware that a MEBO type timer had been acquired by the CIA from a site in Togo and that that evidence was passed from the CIA to the FBI, to an operative called James Thurman working in the FBI’s laboratories. This man broke the news to US media that he was the man who identified the CIA materials given to him which carried with them Libyan tainted details. He was lauded as man of the month, for establishing in many US minds the concept that this was a link to Libya. Unfortunately Mr James Thurman was soon removed from his position in the FBI labs after it came to light that internal investigations had shown persistent distortions by him of evidence in other FBI major investigations, his removal seems to have been the work of his superior ‘line manager’ Whitehurst.

There can be no doubt that access to potentially evidential materials was gained by US agents right from the earliest hours following the disaster itself, and that this was found shocking by some who were honestly engaged in extensive searching of the disaster crash site. The late Labour MP Tam Dalyell had experienced the doubts of many who had been witnesses to the early evolution of the police investigations. We had hoped that people within the US would gather what evidence they could, and we never have wanted to disturb any ‘closure’ that American bereaved families might feel they had obtained for themselves.

Recent international political and military events, particularly some emanating from the USA have confirmed what we had already discovered the hard way: truth had been suborned into US foreign policy and there crushed underfoot along with the interests of those bereaved families in the UK who merely sought that truth. Inability to reach that truth is echoed in the subheading of the Washington Post newspaper: ‘democracy dies in darkness’.

Knowingly or not those currently assaulting Iran and her people from above will now find themselves embedded in asymmetrical warfare. The story of how Vincennes captain Will Rogers III’s wife Sharon came to escape miraculously from the shrapnel of a powerful pipe-bomb placed underneath the family’s van within the Continental USA itself in 1989 should leave no doubt about that prediction. American investigators were ‘unable to discover’ who had planted that pipe bomb.

Just so long as those in power in Iran, (Ayatollahs or not), remain in power and able to slake their lust for revenge, so long will the world be a needlessly dangerous place. The Iranian people on the other hand have tried to make their dissatisfaction with their regime known with the greatest bravery, losing around10,000 citizens' lives to the weapons of their own rulers recently.

It is a desperately sad aspect of humanity that the first visceral reaction that comes into so many of our human brains when we are attacked, or worse still those we love are killed, is to seek revenge. Yet it does not have to be so. We do not in our group ‘UK Families-Flight 103’ seek revenge against Iran for the Lockerbie atrocity. We have sought the truth, and not simply in ’Truth Social’ either.

Knowledge of what the truth really is about the origins of the dreadful attack on Pan Am 103, has only reinforced the realisation for us that revenge is self-defeating and generates hatred and the lust for revenge.

Revenge attempted by Iran against the family of the Captain of the Vincennes was amplified for many through the killing of 270 people at Lockerbie. Yet there still is another way; from accepting the truth of where blame lies could spring the roots of healing. If on the other hand, for reasons of State, of International Politics or simply from our own human nature we were to enlarge or repeat the words and acts of revenge, where then would be the route to forgiveness or healing? One cannot forget, but can forgive. Even for that, we need to know the truth.

Sometimes it is educational to remember days long past when young. As an eight year old boy, the writer living in the Scottish Island of Skye was aware of family links to Canada, whose current leader speaks so much free common sense nowadays. There, like so many in Scotland we had Canadian cousins, who unlike us in 1946 had freedom already to buy as much food as they required, and who sometimes were able to send to us food parcels to help fill the limitations of post World War 2 rationing. One day a large parcel from Canada arrived for us, inside were large packets of tea and white sugar, sent with love.

Seated around a dining room table in Skye our family were set to work, the younger ones with sharp eyes, but the adults also dedicated to the task of disentangling the contents of those bags, for they had burst and the sugar and the tea leaves so precious to us in those days had mixed in the jumbling of their travels. We were separating tea leaves from grains of sugar. It took all day, with the rain beating on the windows as though it disapproved of this affront to the limits of the post war rationing. Sometimes it is all too easy to think of people together as if all were to be tarred with the same brush and to think that all the parcel contents were good for would be to make cups of exceedingly sweet tea, or plates of sweet but tannin laden porridge. Dealing with Iran can be like failing to disentangle the sweet from the sour. It would be wise to think of Iranian people not as evil but like a mixed up parcel, just like we are here. Iran, after all is the remaining rootstock of one of the greatest civilisations the world has ever seen and its people of today may hold the seed-corn of a great future.

Not being Iranians ourselves we should not seek to distinguish between one Iranian and another, we are not this time best placed to tell the ‘sugar' from the 'tea leaves' and can only say that those who claim to run their Iranian 'theocracy’ have, over many years, held themselves free to attack and destroy the lives of others indiscriminately, whether or not those others appeared to have any connection other than just their nation or even just their common language with any acts of violence or hatred.

True, Iranians have emerged to find themselves governed by a ‘theocracy’ which they themselves may have summoned back from France, but which, given the reins of power, corrupted itself through the lust for even greater influence through militarism and terrorist-related bloody revenge.

Our Western bible does tell us stories of the life of Jesus, and at Easter we are there bidden to remember even stories of resurrection and glory. Let us though not forget, believers or not, how, in one such story when a woman was to be stoned to death for adultery, none of the accusing rabble of men could convincingly tell himself that he ‘at least’ was free of sin, and so they did not cast the first stone, but slunk away, and the woman lived. Elsewhere in that book we are told ‘judge not, that you be not judged, and forgive even those who have sinned grievously against us.

Both Iran and the UK whether Muslim, Christian, agnostic, or atheist can read or listen to the teachings which Jesus Christ left behind, namely that judgement of others should be the realm of God, not us, and that our privilege is to love one another.

By chance it so happens that only last week in England was enthroned a fresh Archbishop of Canterbury, for the first time ever in history a woman. How healing it would be if the people of Iran who have suffered so much already could somehow come to forgive their Western assailants. How hard that would be today with bombs and missiles being showered on them.

But meanwhile here in an act of amnesty towards our little group of Lockerbie victims, (‘UK Families - Flight 103’) now that the bonds between our own country and the USA have loosened considerably, and the truth has been so often crushed, perhaps the restrictions upon being allowed to know the contents of all the files that our own country keeps relevant to Lockerbie, but has kept out of public or media sight in Kew all these years, could be released for us to see. It was after all our loved ones who were killed, and time must have loosened both the need for security over the events of December 1988 and the need to protect any ongoing idea of prosecuting the guilty. We only seek to know the truth and after so many years surely the whole of the truth known, by our Government at least, about the atrocity over Lockerbie could be allowed out into the daylight? As the Washington Post heading proclaims ‘Democracy dies in Darkness'.

Did Israel just settle Lockerbie’s oldest score?

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:13:00 +0000

[This is the headline over an article by barrister David Wolchover published today on the website of Jewish News. It reads in part:]

As the Iran conflict intensifies, fresh scrutiny is falling on the true architects of the Pan Am bombing, which killed 270 people aboard Flight 103 and 11 Lockerbie residents, and on Israel’s long-delayed reckoning with them

With the world focused on the joint US/Israel war against Iran, this may be a timely moment to recall an episode years ago which has had an intriguing outcome in the new conflict.

At the tail end of the Iran-Iraq War, American warships were engaged in protecting tanker movements in the Persian Gulf. On 3 July, 1988, the missile cruiser USS Vincennes was involved in hostile exchanges with Iranian Boghammer fast patrol boats when an IranAir Airbus on flight IR655 took off from Bandar Abbas and was ascending on route to Dubai.

The facts are complex, but by a combination of computer and human error, the airliner’s profile and trajectory were misinterpreted as that of two Iranian F-14A Tomcats descending towards the cruiser. A missile was launched, and all 290 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus died.

The next day, President Reagan referred to the terrible human tragedy but provocatively added that it was a “proper defensive action”, and Vice President Bush subsequently rubbed further salt in the wound. As revealed by contemporary American and Israeli intelligence gained from telecommunications intercepts and mole infiltration, the Iranians were so enraged that they resolved to take revenge.

To do so, they enlisted Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (General Command) to destroy an American airliner using a bomb of the kind the faction had perfected and used previously. Such bombs were typically detonated by an ingenious barometric device triggered by the drop in air pressure as the aircraft gained altitude.

Meanwhile, in the summer of 1988, Israel had incurred Whitehall’s wrath when Israeli agents were found to be treating the UK as their own private intelligence fiefdom and four diplomats were expelled. Then, in November, Israel tipped off MI6 that, as security was lax at Heathrow during the reconstruction of Terminal 3, the airport had been chosen by terrorists to plant a bomb on board an American airliner in revenge for IR655.

The tip-off was dismissed as a facile attempt by Israeli intelligence to worm its way back into Britain’s good books, but it proved to be disastrously prescient.

On 21 December, Jibril’s nephew Marwad Bushnaq flew into Heathrow aboard an IranAir freighter, bringing a suitcase containing a small barometric bomb. He was able to place the bag in a portable luggage container due to be loaded into a Pan American Airways 747 designated for flight 103 to New York JFK, positioning it precisely where it would need to be, up against the hull, to blast a hole in the fuselage.

The bomb detonated over the Scottish town of Lockerbie with the loss of all 270 passengers and crew and 11 Lockerbie residents.

In the months which followed, there was little doubt as to the identity of the conspirators – highly placed members of Iran’s government and their agents, the PFLP-GC – but priorities moved on. The US government was under pressure to secure the release of American and other Western hostages held by Hezbollah in Lebanon. A scapegoat for Lockerbie had to be found, and these were the Libyans Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi and Lamin Fhima. American indictments were obtained against them in November 1991, and within days, the hostages were released.

The case against the Libyans, which culminated in their trial before a special Scottish judge-only tribunal in the Hague in 2001, was utterly ludicrous. It was contended that the suitcase containing the bomb travelled as unaccompanied luggage from Malta to Frankfurt, where it was transferred to a Pan Am feeder flight to Heathrow.

There, it was alleged, it was hurriedly transferred by innocent baggage handlers on the tarmac to the doomed aircraft, where it happened to end up quite by chance in the exact position necessary to avoid its going off like a damp squib.

The prosecution had to get around the awkward facts (a) that the bomb exploded after exactly the time from take-off at a normal climb rate, which a typical PFLP-GC barometric device would have detonated, and (b) that such a device would have anyway detonated on the first leg. So they alleged the perpetrators used an electronic timer. Yet with the vagaries of pre-Christmas scheduling, that might well have resulted in detonation between flights, a complete waste of effort.

Furthermore, the microchip fragment of a timer, which featured as a key plank in the prosecution’s case, has been decisively exposed as a fake, probably planted at a later date to prop up the Malta origin story. The British were only too delighted to go along with the charade because it got them off the hook for ignoring the Israeli tip-off and exonerated Heathrow.

The Iranian conspirators responsible for commissioning the PFLP-GC included a number of prominent officials, but overall executive responsibility for authorising the atrocity rested with the then president of Iran. It may be some consolation for the Lockerbie victims’ families that he was none other than Ali Khamenei, later Supreme Leader, who finally got his comeuppance courtesy of an Israeli air strike on 28 February.

Lockerbie, petition PE1370 and the continuing political debate

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 08:41:00 +0000

[At a meeting held on 11 March 2026 the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee kept open the Justice for Megrahi campaign’s petition PE1370. What follows is an account of the historical background:]

More than three decades after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, the political and legal debate surrounding the conviction of Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi continues. One of the most persistent mechanisms keeping the issue alive in Scotland is Petition PE1370, lodged in the Scottish Parliament in 2010 and still technically open today.

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 killed 270 people, including passengers, crew and residents of Lockerbie. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack ever to occur in the United Kingdom. The investigation that followed involved police forces and intelligence agencies across several countries and eventually led to charges against two Libyan intelligence officials.

Because of diplomatic complications, the suspects were tried under Scottish law at a special court sitting in the Netherlands at Camp Zeist. In 2001 the court convicted Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi and sentenced him to life imprisonment, while his co‑accused Lamin Fhimah was acquitted. The conviction was upheld in Megrahi’s first appeal in 2002.

However, the case soon became controversial. Critics argued that key elements of the prosecution case were uncertain. Central among these concerns was the testimony of Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who identified Megrahi as the man who bought clothing that surrounded the suitcase bomb. Gauci’s identification was criticised as inconsistent and influenced by media exposure. Questions were also raised about the forensic evidence linking a tiny fragment of circuit board to Libyan intelligence and about the broader theory that Libya alone was responsible for the attack.

The debate intensified in 2007 when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission completed a four‑year investigation into the conviction. The Commission concluded that there were six grounds on which a miscarriage of justice might have occurred and referred the case back to the appeal court. That appeal never reached a conclusion because Megrahi abandoned it in 2009 shortly before he was released from prison by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He returned to Libya and died in 2012.

Because the appeal was abandoned, many of the questions raised by the review were never fully tested in court. This gap in the legal process became the central argument for campaigners who believed the case should be re‑examined.

In 2010 campaigners led by Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing, lodged Petition PE1370 in the Scottish Parliament. The petition called for the Scottish Government to establish an independent public inquiry into the conviction of Megrahi. Over the years the Public Petitions Committee repeatedly decided to keep the petition open while related investigations and appeals continued.

The legal debate resurfaced again in 2020 when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to the High Court of Justiciary for a second time. Megrahi’s family pursued the appeal after his death, arguing that evidence had been withheld and that the identification evidence was unreliable. In January 2021 the appeal court rejected the challenge, ruling that although aspects of the evidence had been criticised, a reasonable court could still have convicted Megrahi. In 2022 the United Kingdom Supreme Court refused permission for a further appeal, effectively bringing the legal process in Scotland to an end.

Despite these decisions, the political debate has not disappeared. Some relatives of victims, lawyers and former investigators continue to argue that the conviction has never been adequately scrutinised in light of the concerns raised by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Members of the Scottish Parliament from different political parties have periodically suggested that a public inquiry might still be necessary to resolve lingering doubts.

At the same time the international investigation has continued. In 2022 a Libyan suspect, Abu Agila Masud, was transferred to the United States to face charges related to the construction of the bomb used in the attack. His trial may produce new evidence about the operation that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103.

For this reason Petition PE1370 has remained open within the parliamentary system. By carrying the petition forward into new parliamentary sessions, committees have effectively preserved the option of revisiting the case if significant new information emerges. The petition has therefore become less a single political demand than a continuing parliamentary placeholder for one of the most controversial criminal cases in modern Scottish history.

Timeline of Key Events

1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, killing 270 people.

1991 – Two Libyan suspects, Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi and Lamin Fhimah, are formally charged.

2000–2001 – Trial held under Scottish law at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

2001 – Megrahi convicted; Fhimah acquitted.

2002 – Megrahi’s first appeal is rejected.

2007 – Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission concludes a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and refers the case for appeal.

2009 – Megrahi abandons the appeal and is released from prison on compassionate grounds.

2010 – Petition PE1370 lodged in the Scottish Parliament calling for an independent inquiry.

2012 – Megrahi dies in Libya.

2018–2020 – Further review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission leads to another referral for appeal.

2021 – High Court of Justiciary rejects the posthumous appeal.

2022 – UK Supreme Court refuses permission for a further appeal.

2022–present – Libyan suspect Abu Agila Masud faces prosecution in the United States.

Key Figures Associated with Petition PE1370

Dr Jim Swire – British doctor and leading campaigner for a full inquiry; his daughter Flora died in the Lockerbie bombing.

Members of the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee – the parliamentary body responsible for considering and keeping PE1370 open.

Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi – Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing in 2001.

Lamin Fhimah – Co‑accused at the original trial who was acquitted.

Tony Gauci – Maltese shopkeeper whose identification evidence played a key role in the conviction.

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission – the body that twice referred the conviction back to the appeal court citing possible miscarriage of justice.

Lockerbie bomb suspect appears in US court over confession claim

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:19:00 +0000

[This is the headline over a report published yesterday on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]

A Libyan man accused of building the device used in the Lockerbie bombing has appeared in a US court as his lawyers attempt to stop his alleged confession being used as evidence at his trial.

The US Department of Justice claims Abu Agila Mohammed Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, referred to as Masud, admitted taking part in the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 when questioned at a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

However, Masud has claimed the confession is false, was made under duress and should be ruled inadmissible before his trial in Washington DC later this year. (...)

Wearing a washed-out prison uniform and sporting a short grey beard, Masud listened as the hearing before judge Dabney L Friedrich got under way at the District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday. (...)

Details of Masud's alleged confession were first made public when the FBI criminal complaint against him was published in 2020.

It is claimed Masud admitted bombing the LaBelle Discotheque in West Berlin in 1986, killing three people, including two American servicemen.

He is also said to have further confessed to taking a bomb hidden in a suitcase from Libya to Malta in December 1988, under the orders of senior officials from the Libyan intelligence service.

There, he is alleged to have met two accomplices - Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, the Libyan agent convicted of bombing the plane after standing trial 25 years ago, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, a former Libyan Arab Airline official who was cleared by the same Scottish court.

According to the confession, Masud set the bomb timer so the explosion would occur exactly 11 hours later, bought clothes to pack into the brown Samsonsite suitcase that held the device, and then handed it to Fhimah at Luqa airport on Malta the next morning.

Fhimah was said to have placed it onto a conveyor belt, introducing the unaccompanied bag into the international baggage system, tagged to be flown to the US.

In court documents lodged before the hearing, Masud claimed he had been forced into making a false confession by three masked men who had threatened him and his family.

In response, the US government said Masud had freely provided a highly detailed insider account corroborated by other evidence from the case. (...)

In 2020, two FBI agents and two Police Scotland officers interviewed the Libyan official who questioned Masud in 2012, referred to in court as "Jamal".

Agent Tunstall said the contents of the confession were supported by evidence from the crime scene, forensics and immigration and flight records.

"Jamal" told the Scots and Americans he had tried to record what Masud was saying, using audio or video on a phone, but the recording was "lost". (...)

The hearing is scheduled to last two days, with the judge expected to issue her decision at a later date.

Lockerbie bomb suspect confession video 'lost or destroyed'

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 18:58:00 +0000

[This is the headline over a report published today on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]

A Lockerbie bombing suspect cannot get a fair trial because a video of his alleged confession has been "lost or destroyed", his defence lawyers have claimed.

Public defenders representing Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi in a United States court case said the disappearance of the video deprived him of evidence which could have cleared his name.

They are also arguing the case against the Libyan - also known as Masud - should be thrown out of court because it involves events which took place 37 years ago, outside US territorial jurisdiction. (...)

Masud was forcibly removed from Libya and taken into US custody in 2022, with his trial due to get under way in Washington DC this August after two postponements.

US prosecutors allege Masud admitted his role in bombing the airliner when he was interrogated in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

According to an FBI summary of the case, he told a Libyan law enforcement officer that the bomb was hidden in an unaccompanied suitcase on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt.

The device was then transferred undetected onto a Pan Am feeder flight to Heathrow, where it was placed in the forward hold of Pan Am 103.

Masud has already claimed he was forced into making a false confession under duress and is arguing that it should be ruled inadmissible.

In a fresh line of attack, his lawyers have said his right to a fair trial has been violated because of the "bad-faith loss of material" during the long history of the case.

That material is said to include a video recording of Masud's alleged confession, made by the Libyan official who had questioned him.

According to the defence, the official claimed to have kept the video in a safe for three years before telling a colleague what had happened in 2015.

Scottish investigators heard about the alleged confession later that year and obtained copies of a written statement in 2017.

The documents were passed on to the Americans and were central to the charges against Masud, which were announced on the bombing of the anniversary in 2020.

The defence says that in 2024, the Libyan interrogator stated he had "located the recording device but could not locate the recording itself".

Federal public defender Geremy Kamens submitted that the loss of the video had deprived Masud of "potentially exculpatory evidence would could have attacked the centrepiece of the government's case against him".

"A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video comprises dozens of pictures every second," Kamens said.

"The interrogation video may have shown Mr Al-Marimi [Masud] appearing nervous, apprehensive, uncomfortable, tense, jumpy, subdued or any combination of these states at various times.

"He may have been sweating, his language may have been stilted, he may have avoided eye contact.

"Any discrepancy between the recording and the written statement or the interrogator's descriptions of the conversation would provide powerful fodder for cross-examination and impeachment.

"It was not until he [the Libyan official] was asked to provide a copy of the recording to US law enforcement in 2024 that the recording suddenly vanished."

Kamens also argued that delays in bringing Masud before a jury would deny him his right to a fair trial.

"It borders on the impossible for Mr Al-Marimi [Masud] to investigate his actions and whereabouts 30 years ago, let alone the government's allegations, whereas the government can rely on the fruits of a contemporaneous investigation and decades of preparation by an international cohort of prosecutors and police."

Kamens said Masud's defence would be hampered by his "mental and physical deterioration" and the deaths of crucial witnesses, including Al-Megrahi.

The US government is expected to respond to the defence arguments this week.

A hearing on the admissibility of the alleged confession is due to be held in Washington next month.

Father of US Lockerbie victim concerned about Masud trial delays

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:33:00 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published yesterday on the Devon Live website:]

The dad of a Lockerbie victim has called for greater transparency on the health of the alleged bombmaker - after revealing further delays to his trial.

Libyan Abu Agila Masud, 74, has been accused of making the bomb which killed 270 victims over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988 and was originally due to go on trial in Washington in May this year.

But Paul Hudson, who lost his daughter Melina in the bombing as she flew home to New York after a semester at a school in Exeter, Devon, said it has now been delayed until May next year "at the earliest."

He has now raised concern about the health of the defendant, which he says is being held back from the public under 'privacy grounds'.

And he fears his health could be being manipulated - citing the example of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was freed early in the UK under claims he had months to live - but survived for another three years.

Paul said he fears this could be being deployed as a delaying tactic for the trial, which has already been pushed back twice.

He said: "He seems to be stable as of now from what we know. But they are keeping secret his actual medical information. I find it a little strange as that is not something that is prejudicial. They are keeping it secret and the judge is saying it is based on medical privacy standards.

"It seems that should not really apply in cases like this.

"There was something similar in a different context with al-Megrahi. He was let out of prison in the UK prematurely based on claims he was going to pass away within six months. There was never any release of the medical information outside experts could evaluate. It turns out it was completely untrue and he went on to live a lot longer.

"I don't agree with that. There is not much I can do but there should be as much transparency as possible. If health of the defendant and medical issues is used to delay trial - or even accelerate it - it should not be kept secret to anyone.

"Even the judge doesn't have access to it I understand. There is only limited access to the prosecution but none at all for the public. (...)

Mr Hudson has since spent decades fighting for justice for the victims of Pan Am 103.

Masud was initially due to stand trial at a federal court in Washington in May this year accused of two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.

He has denied all three charges and Paul was initially told of a delay due to his health.

After being told his health had improved and a target trial date was set for March next year, further delays have now been confirmed to the victim's families.

Paul added: "There have been more delays and I think we are probably looking at late spring or summer at the earliest for trial.

"I think it requires leadership at a higher level to make it all go forward in a good way.

"I don't trust the prosecutors, the police or judiciary, even if they wanted to.

"One of the things I am hoping for is a meeting with the US attorney general and with the chief prosecutor to make sure all the different parts are moving together to a proper conclusion and schedule.

"Reasons given for the latest delays include a change of personnel in prosecution and the defence law firms.

"They are also going through suppression hearings where the defence will try to exclude evidence the prosecution wants to present at trial.

"There is a confession the defence claims was improper and a bunch of other things they are going through.

"Motions are being filed back and forth. Hearings are mostly closed to the public and to the victims. It is really hard for any outsider to know the know to keep it from potential jurors what evidence is going to be excluded.

"I have read the paper motions but have not been able to go to the hearings before the judge to hear about the evidence in great detail.

"My feeling is I would like to see it happen sooner rather than later to never. However I would like to see it done correctly.

"So on the other hand a trial that begins prematurely could also be negative for prosecution and justice generally." (...)

Masud stands charged with two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.

He has denied all three charges and claims his confession to building the bomb and taking it in a suitcase from Tripoli to Malta was made under duress.

Paul, who is now 79, said he would never stop fighting for justice. (...)

"I am hopeful, not only of a conviction here, but we may have a defendant who no doubt knows other people involved that could lead to further prosecutions."

Currently the only suspect convicted remains Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was jailed for life in 2001 but released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds in 2009.

His co-defendant Lamin Khalifah Fhimah was acquitted but remains the subject of an active US arrest warrant.

US trial of Lockerbie bombing accused delayed further

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 19:16:00 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published this evening on the BBC News website:]

The trial of a Libyan accused of building the bomb that destroyed an American airliner over Lockerbie has been delayed for a second time.

The case against Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi, known as Mas'ud, was due to get under way in Washington in May but was postponed to 20 April next year.

In July his lawyers requested a further delay, saying they needed more time to consider all the evidence from the 37-year-old case.

Mas'ud has denied constructing and priming the bomb which brought down Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. (...)

Prosecutors from the US Department of Justice argued against a second postponement, but the trial judge has set aside the April start date.

It is understood the legal teams are now exploring whether the trial can get under way in the summer.

A small group of public defenders are representing Mas'ud, who has been in US custody since 2022.

They said they have to review 356GB of data with 413,000 separate files, including expert evidence on DNA, finger and palm prints, explosives, facial recognition and handwriting analysis.

The defence team said they also have to consider "voluminous documents in multiple foreign languages, thousands of pages of prior-trial transcripts, and documentation of a sprawling 37-year investigation".

In a submission to the court, they added: "Mr Al-Marimi is anxious for his trial to begin, but understands the challenges that his current attorneys face."

In response, prosecutors argued a further delay would be "an extraordinary step that could be justified only by extraordinary circumstances which are not present here".

They said many potential witnesses are in their 80s and could become unavailable to testify "due to death or infirmity".

Further delays could "irreparably damage" the prospects of a full and fair determination of the facts, they said.

The Department of Justice team also pointed out that many relatives of the victims are advancing in age and have already "suffered for decades".

BBC News understands that the availability of witnesses next July or August will determine when the case finally gets under way. (...)

Bombing accused Masud confessed in 'safest place' say US prosecutors

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Sat, 04 Oct 2025 07:32:00 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published yesterday on the Daily Mail website:]

A Libyan accused of building the bomb that blew up Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie was in the ‘safest place’ when he ‘voluntarily’ admitted his involvement in the atrocity, prosecutors have said.

Abu Agila Masud Kheir Al-Marimi claims he was forced into making a false confession after he was held captive in Libya by men who threatened his family.

But U.S. prosecutors argue that there were no signs of coercion or torture and that the Libyan officer who interviewed him was ‘unarmed’.

In court papers, they state that the 74-year-old, known as Masud, was ‘housed in the same room’ as several other men and ‘appeared to the officer to be in good health, and to have access to necessities and to news about the outside world through a television’.

This is contrary to claims by Masud, who is due to stand trial in Washington DC in April over his role in the 1988 terror attack which killed 270 people, that he was kept in isolation.

He also claims that while in custody he witnessed others being beaten and abused.

Prosecutors, however, state: ‘Based on the officer’s observations, the facility that the defendant was held at was one of the best available during the chaos of the post-revolution period, and it was the safest place for the defendant… given the extent of street violence and anti-Gaddafi sentiment prevailing at the time.’

They add that the officer ‘observed no signs of torture or coercion’ and that Masud was interviewed in a ‘typical office-type room’ during which time he was ‘afforded a lunch break and…the proper facilities to pray’. (...)

The officer asked the defendant whether he consented to be interviewed, and he freely gave his consent.’ Masud’s defence team have filed a ‘motion to suppress statements’, saying the ‘circumstances’ of his arrest, ‘incommunicado detention’ and ‘captivity in a system well known for human rights abuses’ renders his confession ‘inadmissible’.

But prosecutors have urged the court not to accept this ‘fictitious account’.The bomb maker for the Libyan External Security Organisation was extradited to the US in 2022 after allegedly admitting to building the Lockerbie device.

Lockerbie bombing accused Masud says he was forced into false confession

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 06:58:00 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published today on the BBC News website:]

The Libyan accused of building the bomb that brought down an American airliner over Lockerbie 36 years ago has claimed he was forced into making a false confession.

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, 74, has said he was in custody in Libya when three masked men ordered him to memorise information about the destruction of Pan Am 103 and another terror attack.

Referred to as Mas'ud by prosecutors, he said he repeated what he had learned to a Libyan official, under duress, after the men threatened his family.

Masud's lawyers have asked a federal court in Washington to rule the alleged confession inadmissible in advance of his trial in April next year.

Details of the alleged confession were first made public five years ago after the US department of justice announced it was charging Mas'ud over the atrocity which claimed the lives of 270 people on 21 December 1988. (...)

With just seven months to go until the scheduled start of Mas'ud's trial, public defenders acting on his behalf have lodged a motion with the district court asking a judge to rule that his confession should not be allowed as evidence.

The Libyan has pled not guilty to the charges against him. But the "motion to suppress" reveals for the first time his version of what led to the alleged jailhouse confession.

Setting the scene, the motion quotes a US Department of State report which said Gaddafi's regime had controlled Libya through extrajudicial killings and intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention.

The document says that after the revolution there was a climate of anger and retaliation against those associated or thought to be associated with Gaddafi.

Contemporary reports by US government officials recount more incidents of "arbitrary and unlawful killings, kidnappings, torture and other cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment."

The defence lawyers say: "Just as... a black man accused of killing a white man in Jim Crow-era Arkansas would fear mob violence... so would a Libyan who allegedly worked for Gaddafi have feared retaliation against himself and his family in post-revolution Libya."

It was against that background, according to Mas'ud, that he was abducted from his home by armed men, separated from his family and his medication, held incommunicado in an unofficial prison facility and denied procedural rights.

He says he saw bodies lying in the streets when he was being driven to the prison and while in custody, and encountered other inmates who had been beaten and abused.

Mas'ud has told his legal team that he was alone in a small room when three men in civilian clothes came in. They were unarmed but wearing face coverings and did not identify themselves.

He says he was certain the men, who handed him the piece of paper, were anti-Gadaffi revolutionaries.

"The single, handwritten sheet began with an order that Mr Al-Marimi confess to the Lockerbie incident, as well as another terrorist attack," his defence lawyers claim.

The men told him to read over the details and to repeat what it said when he was questioned by someone else the next day.

"They told him he had to answer the questions with what was on the paper, otherwise bad things would happen to him or his family.

"Mr Al-Marimi felt he had no choice but to comply. He had ample reason to fear for himself; before his seizure, he had personally witnessed beatings in other prisons.” (...)

The lawyers say a frightened Mas'ud did as he was told when he was questioned by another man the next evening.

They say that - when presented with similar evidence of coercion - American courts have found custodial statements involuntary and inadmissible under the fifth amendment of the US constitution, whether they were made in the United States or abroad.

The defence has asked the court to order the suppression of the alleged statements and has requested a hearing so the issue can be decided.

The FBI has said that the Libyan official who noted Mas'ud's confession in 2012 is prepared to give evidence at his trial.

Prosecutors from the US Department of Justice have not yet responded to the claims made on Mas'ud's behalf.

Sturgeon considered resigning over Lockerbie bomber release

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 06:41:00 +0000

[This is the heading over a section of an article published in today's edition of The Times under the headline Ten things we learnt from Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir. It reads as follows:]

The decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, almost led to Sturgeon’s resignation from the government, she reveals.

In one of the biggest decisions taken by Salmond’s government, in a move of global significance, Megrahi was released and returned to Libya on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

Suffering from terminal prostate cancer, he was given a prognosis of three months to live, but survived for three years.

Sturgeon recalls bereaved constituents who lost loved ones in the attack informing her that they would see the release of Megrahi a “betrayal of their loved ones’ memories” and she says she did not support his release or transfer. [RB: Opinion polls conducted by Scottish local newspapers showed that the Scottish public supported by substantial majorities the decision to release Megrahi.]

However, she bemoans the lack of consultation with the cabinet over the issue and says she was “astounded” to learn of Kenny MacAskill, then the justice secretary, visiting the terrorist in Greenock prison. She says she later learnt of the decision to release him from Newsnight. [RB: The criticism of Kenny MacAskill's visit to Megrahi in prison is misconceived, as I commented at the time.]

After Megrahi’s releases was confirmed, Sturgeon recalls him arriving “like a conquering war hero returning from battle” in Tripoli, with some in the crowd waving saltires.

[RB: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who accompanied Megrahi on the plane back to Tripoli denied that he had received a hero's welcome:]

"There was not in fact any official reception for the return of Mr Megrahi, who had been convicted and imprisoned in Scotland for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The strong reactions to these misperceptions must not be allowed to impair the improvements in a mutually beneficial relationship between Libya and the West.

"When I arrived at the airport with Mr Megrahi, there was not a single government official present. State and foreign news media were also barred from the event. If you were watching Al Jazeera, the Arabic news network, at the time the plane landed, you would have heard its correspondent complain that he was not allowed by Libyan authorities to go to the airport to cover Mr Megrahi’s arrival.

"It is true that there were a few hundred people present. But most of them were members of Mr Megrahi’s large tribe, extended families being an important element in Libyan society. They had no official invitation, but it was hardly possible to prevent them from coming.

"Coincidentally, the day Mr Megrahi landed was also the very day of the annual Libyan Youth Day, and many participants came to the airport after seeing coverage of Mr Megrahi’s release on British television. But this was not planned. Indeed, we sat in the plane on the tarmac until the police brought the crowd to order."

What Lockerbie meant for Libyans

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 07:07:00 +0000

[This is the headline over an article by Owen Schalk just published in the July/August 2025 issue of the Scottish Left Review. The following are excerpts:]

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit exploded over the rural Scottish town of Lockerbie, raining hellfire on the community’s inhabitants. Eleven people were killed by falling debris. All 259 of the plane’s occupants died.

The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom pointed the finger at Libya. In 1992, the United Nations Security Council imposed wide-ranging sanctions against Libya over the bombing, including an air embargo, an arms embargo, and a ban on the sale of oil equipment to the country. In 1996, the US Congress tightened sanctions by passing the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act. These sanctions deprived the Jamahiriya of billions in revenue and contributed to the Libyan leadership’s ill-fated decision to “open up” economically to the West in the early 2000s.

37 years after the Lockerbie bombing, two TV shows aired in Britain: Lockerbie: A Search for the Truth (Sky Studios) and The Bombing of Pan Am 103 (BBC). The production of two TV series about Lockerbie almost four decades after the bombing shows the continued public interest in the case’s many ins, outs, and inconsistencies. Despite this, the retrospectives around Lockerbie leave out one important piece of the story: the Libyans themselves, namely, how they experienced the economic sanctions that resulted from the Lockerbie bombing.

The bombing and the trial

Initial investigations into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 implicated members of the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), based in Syria. The group had apparently executed the bombing on behalf of the Iranian government, which sought revenge for the destruction of Iran Air Flight 655, a civilian airbus shot down by the USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988. 290 civilians died in the US warship’s attack.

On November 13, 1991, the Lockerbie investigation abruptly shifted focus from the PFLP-GC/Iran to the Libyan government. Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the bombing of Pan Am 103, recounted his shock at the sudden turn of events: “There were hints from various sources of surprises to come, but nothing has prepared me for this. Today Iran is forgotten; it’s all about Libya.”

An “official story” was provided to the public: the bombing was revenge for the Reagan administration’s assassination attempt against Muammar Qadhafi in 1986, a US attack that had killed dozens of civilians and the Libyan leader’s infant daughter Hana.

According to the main counternarrative of the Lockerbie bombing, the US and UK decided to shift blame for the attack to Libya because Libya, unlike Iran, was more vulnerable to destabilization and less likely to retaliate.

The Libyan government maintained its innocence. After years of diplomatic wrangling, a trial was held for the accused in the Hague. Two Libyans went to trial: Lamin Khalifah Fhimah and Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Fhimah was acquitted. Circumstances surrounding the trial remain highly questionable.

The Lockerbie case is a window, albeit a cloudy one, into the tense relationship between the West and Qadhafi’s Libya. Readers in the West have a general awareness about what the case meant to the US and the UK. However, they have little knowledge of what Lockerbie meant for Libyans themselves.

The sanctions period

In Libya, the Lockerbie sanctions resulted in constricted state revenues, which meant unpaid salaries, diminishing subsidies, and goods shortages. Inflation rose, public infrastructure decayed, while a growing number of smugglers and black marketeers sought to resell subsidized goods at higher prices in neighbouring countries. Corruption became increasingly normalized, a system of “favours” and “bribes” running through the public administration, damaging Libyans’ confidence in their socialist-oriented political system. As Matteo Capasso writes, the process of egalitarian development that characterized the early Jamahiriya was “abandoned in the 1990s. The structure of the dominant class started to change, the effectiveness of the newly democratic structures decreased and this affected the entire political edifice of al-Jamahiriyah, leading to the dramatic increase of socio-economic inequalities.”

Estimates have been made regarding Libyan economic losses from the Lockerbie sanctions. One found that between 1992 and 1999, “the oil sector lost between $18 billion and $33 billion both as lost opportunities and lost revenue.” Meanwhile, $8 billion in overseas assets were frozen, “denying [Libya] the cash needed to buy all kinds of equipment, expertise, machinery, food and medicine.”

A former Libyan deputy foreign minister recalled that “steps were taken” by the Libyan government to compile data on economic losses. One Qadhafi-era minister said the Lockerbie losses file contained “everything including the number of deaths” caused by the sanctions. Some of these deaths resulted from a lack of medical care, which forced Libyans to take tortuous routes abroad for treatment. “Because of the sanctions,” writes Libyan academic Mustafa Fetouri, “people wishing to leave Libya had to drive to Djerba in Tunisia for example and take a flight from there.”

Libya’s Lockerbie losses file was destroyed during the 2011 NATO war. Fetouri estimates that the sanctions cost Libya nearly $100 billion. These losses hit the oil sector, aviation, healthcare, agriculture, and industry, and caused thousands of deaths. The daily price of food rose by an estimated 40 percent and the cost of medicine rose by 30 percent (though most medicines were free). In 2003, the Libyan government paid another $2.7 billion in compensation as part of the agreement to have the sanctions lifted.

In the context of massive economic losses caused by the Lockerbie sanctions, many in the Libyan leadership, including Muammar Qadhafi himself, became sympathetic to the idea of economic opening to the West. They believed such an opening would appease the imperialist powers while giving an economic boost to the Jamahiriya, thereby stabilizing the Libyan political system. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

The failure of “opening up”

Libya’s “opening up” was a disastrous failure riven by internal tensions and external interventions, both overt and covert, by the US government. Unlike China’s reform and opening up after 1978, Libya’s was the result of economic strain imposed from the outside, namely, the Lockerbie sanctions and destabilizing interventions from imperialist powers. For an export-dependent, import-reliant country like Libya, these interventions had a wide-ranging impact. The liberalizing reforms would not have happened without the above factors. The sanctions in particular devastated Libya’s economy, hindered Libya’s revolutionary momentum, and set the bounds for internal debate on the Jamahiriya’s economic policy. In order to reach détente with the West and encourage foreign investment, Libya sacrificed its nuclear program and ended support for revolutionary activities abroad. The sanctions were lifted in the early 2000s.

Qadhafi and his allies viewed opening up as a means of encouraging foreign investment in the oil sector, while retaining majority state control, in order to strengthen the economy and thereby stabilize the Jamahiriya political system. Not all agreed with this approach. The reformists – including the Western-trained Mahmoud Jibril and Shukri Ghanem – sought wide-ranging privatizations that would undermine the leading role of the state. For his part, Ghanem declared the need to “change the thinking, the mentality and the culture of the [Libyan] people,” describing the Libyan mindset as “their general feeling that the state is their father and it is their guarantor that has to pay everything for them and provide them with housing, treatment, work and everything else.” In the context of desperation over massive economic losses, individuals like Ghanem were empowered within Libyan power structures.

The US government funded opposition civil society and established contacts with the reformist camp, whose economic policies would give US companies greater access to Libyan labour and resources. Persistent fissures between the revolutionary and reformist camps in the leadership weakened the Libyan state. When protests over housing policy in early 2011 avalanched into a NATO-backed revolution, prominent reformists including Jibril and Mustafa Abdul Jalil defected to the increasingly Islamist-led opposition. (,,,)

Lockerbie sanctions and the fall of the Jamahiriya

The Lockerbie sanctions cost Libya billions of dollars, and they led the Jamahiriya’s leadership to make security concessions to the West and liberalize the economy in order to encourage foreign investment. Various factions in the leadership had conflicting views on how far this liberalization should go, and in the context of continued Western interference in Libya, these divisions proved fatal. Indeed, the sanctions-imposed liberalization spelled the end of the Jamahiriya, leading directly to various wars that have caused thousands of deaths, impoverished hundreds of thousands and led hundreds of thousands more to flee the country.

The above reality cannot be ignored in retrospectives on the Lockerbie bombing. The horror of subsequent tragedies in Libya (the civil war, the open-air slave markets, the Derna floods) may divert attention from Libyans’ experience of the 1990s, but one should remember the steps by which Libya reached its current situation of state collapse and internal conflict. The Lockerbie sanctions – which, it should be recalled, were imposed following dubious legal proceedings – had a significant impact on straining the Libyan economy, which led directly to “opening up” and the fall of the Jamahiriya.

This is what Lockerbie means to Libyans. It should be what Lockerbie means to people in the West too.

Father of US Lockerbie victim on DNA "breakthrough" and health of Masud

noreply@blogger.com (Robert Black) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:19:00 +0000

[What follows is excerpted from a report published today on the website of the Teignmouth Post and Gazette:]

The dad of a young Lockerbie victim has hailed a "significant" DNA breakthrough - and revealed the alleged bomb-maker was now 'healthy' to stand trial next year.

Paul Hudson, whose daughter Melina died aged 16 travelling home from a semester at a school in Exeter, Devon, said the link to DNA could be 'crucial' in next year's trial of the suspect.

He said he hopes proceedings are now 'on a good path' and the coming months could finally lead to some justice for the families of the tragedy.

Paul also revealed the health of Abu Agila Masud had significantly improved following a delay to proceedings - clearing the pathway for the much-anticipated trial to start in April next year.

He was speaking after forensic experts were reportedly able to extract DNA from the luggage lining that contained the bomb and an umbrella packed inside for the very first time.

Steps are now being taken to see if it is a match for the alleged bombmaker Masud, 74.

Paul, who now lives in Florida and has been campaigning for justice for the families for decades, said: "The DNA testing could be a real breakthrough if it pans out.

"Details are pretty much all kept secret but the judge will rule if it can be presented at trial.

"All I can say is DNA technology has advanced greatly in the last 30 years and they are able to get DNA residue off many things with much more sophisticated testing.

"Assuming they have DNA from the suspect and assuming they have DNA from something that was close to the bomb - that would tend to be good substantial evidence that could be used at a trial.

"Unless the confession is going to be accepted you are going to need circumstantial evidence to prove a case - and scientific findings would be a huge benefit." (...)

Mr Hudson has since spent decades fighting for justice for the victims of Pan Am 103 that claimed the life of 270 people when it exploded in mid-air in December 1988.

Masud stands charged with two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle resulting in death.

He was previously a bomb-maker for the Libyan External Security Organisation and was extradited to the US in 2022. [RB: Masud was not extradited. He was abducted from his home by a local militia, was sold on to US authorities and then became the victim of extraordinary rendition to the United States.] He has denied all three charges and claims his confession to building the bomb and taking it in a suitcase from Tripoli to Malta was made under duress.

Paul added: "Everyone on our side would like to see the trial happen as soon as possible and - assuming he is guilty - with a conviction. But it is more important to get it right than to get it done quickly.

"I don't see the delay as being excessive in the circumstances. The defendant had some medical issues and the impression we've now been given is they've got better. His health has improved so we seem to be on a good path now."

Paul has also been campaigning for the victim's families to be allowed to access the trial remotely - and was part of an audio trial for a previous hearing.

He said: "They are not going to allow access except at certain locations in the US and the UK where people have to physically go to watch a video of the trial.

"I was part of testing for an audio only feed where victim's family members can listen in to parts that are not considered confidential.

"It seemed to work and hopefully going forward when we get to the trial and more hearings, if people can not come to one of the locations at least they can hear the audio.

"I would prefer a zoom type video but it is certainly better than not allowing any remote access other than from a government controlled location."

Paul revealed another recent revelation coming out of Libya from the abandoned archives of the Gaddafi government surrounded the testing of the bomb with this defendant being part of it.

The information was published in a book in France and used during a corruption trial.

Paul, who is now 78, said he would never stop fighting for justice.