Lockerbie victims’ families split over call for full probe amid calls to quiz Koussa

Senior News Reporter

Sunday 10 April 2011

RELATIVES of victims of the Lockerbie bombing are divided over demands for a full investigation into Libya's links to the attack, as the pressure grows for Libyan defector Moussa Koussa to be questioned about the terrorist act.

Custom byline text:

by Martin Williams

The former Libyan foreign minister who was Colonel Gaddafi’s right-hand man is thought to have been a senior figure in the Libyan intelligence service when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988. Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi is the only person to be convicted for the attack and was released on compassionate grounds with the authority of the Scottish Government in 2009.

Dr Jim Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the attack, confirmed that the legal team representing the victims’ families had been instructed to approach officials with a view to setting up a meeting with Koussa. He said: “The underlying problem is that many of us are not satisfied with the verdict that Megrahi was guilty as charged.”But he has warned that anything Koussa said would have to be taken with “a huge pinch of salt”. Paul Hudson and Victoria Cumnock, two US relatives of victims of the bombing, have also made a request for a full investigation, but believe the US and British governments are trying to conceal Libya’s role in the attacks by failing to arrest Koussa and by allowing him access to his overseas wealth. Having formed a new group called the Gaddafi Terror Victims Initiative, they have written to all of the Lockerbie relatives urging them to support a “vocal and unified” demand for a full probe by US prosecutors into Libya’s role in the attack. Their contention is that Koussa is being treated too leniently, despite the fact he is expected to have useful information about the Lockerbie attack in which 270 passengers, crew and local people were killed. “We have waited over 20 years for justice, accountability and the truth of the horrific facts of the Gaddafi regime’s terrorism,” they said. “No government should be able to suppress truth, justice and accountability for the sake of diplomatic convenience and oil money.”Mr Swire has written to other Lockerbie families, attacking their campaign as “unwise”, based on “profoundly unsecure foundations” which “may lead to unnecessary further grief for them, and perhaps all of us Lockerbie relatives”.He warned the war in Libya would provide “fog not clarity” and that allegations from rebels in Benghazi or Koussa would be difficult to assess “laced as they will be with strong but partially-hidden motivations”.He writes: “However strong our need to find the truth about why our loved ones died, I believe we have an absolute obligation to find out what that truth really is, lest from our activities further injustice and revenge should be unleashed. We must not fall into that trap: surely the victims would not be proud of us if we did. Failure to show restraint now may make coping even harder in the years ahead.”Meanwhile, leading criminal QC Paul McBride has pointed out that it was still possible for Scotland to grant Koussa immunity from prosecution in return for evidence on the Lockerbie bombing – although no such offer has been made.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Lockerbie victims’ families split over call for full probe amid calls to quiz Koussa

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED