RELATIVES of those who lost their lives in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing have told of their horror at plans to announce US moves to pursue the suspected 'bombmaker' today, on the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy.

Some have been asked to attend a "statement" being made in the US today and connected to plans by outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr to seek the extradition of Abu Agila Mohammad Masud from Libya.

He is thought to be currently held prisoner there on unrelated charges, but the US could request his extradition with a view to putting him on trial.

Lawyers seeking to clear the name of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was convicted of the bombing have said they are "horrified" by the development.

Al-Megrahi, who died in 2012, was the only person convicted for the bombing which killed 243 passengers and 16 crew on Pan Am Flight 103 as it travelled from London to New York. Eleven people on the ground in Lockerbie also lost their lives in what was the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil.

Most of the victims on board the flight were American citizens.

Libyan national Al-Megrahi, who denied involvement, was jailed for life for mass murder by three Scottish judges at a special court sitting in the Netherlands in 2001.

An appeal has been started after a Scottish commission ruled a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.

If the conviction of the late Mr Al-Megrahi is overturned then the case against Mr Masud is likely to fall apart.

Some of the British relatives of those who died received an email from the Crown Office Lockerbie Appeal Team on Friday indicating that the US Department of Justice, Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the Attorney General to attend a "statement" being made about Lockerbie on the day of the anniversary.

The US Department of Justice is expected to unseal a criminal complaint against Mr Masud.

John F. Mosey, co-ordinator of UK Families Flight 103 and father of Helga who died on December 21, 1988, responded saying: "I write to inform you that I will not be checking into that event as my wife and I have far more important things to do on that rather special day.

"Also, I wish to say that we consider the timing and particularly the choice of this specific day, which is special to many of us, to be bizarre, disrespectful, insensitive and extremely ill considered. Why exactly, when the Attorney General is about to leave office, has he waited 32 years to bring charges?

"Why would you use the anniversary of our daughter Helga’s death along with 269 others to parade once more a highly suspect prosecution?

"How and why it was allowed to happen is a far more important question to us than 'who did it'.

"Your own Department, and perhaps some parts of the Scottish legal system, should also be investigated for spending over three decades trying to divert the course of justice and hide the truth."

Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, who represents the Megrahi family and others said: "The families I represent are horrified at the intrusion on their grief, on the day that they wish to remember their loved ones. The fact that the outgoing Attorney General thinks it is appropriate to invite families to watch his ‘grandstanding’ at a press conference is deeply disrespectful to the families and victims.

The Herald:

"Many of the families will refuse to do so and suspect the motivation of choosing to prosecute 32 years after the bombing."

The Scottish Criminal cases review commission in March issued a 419-page decision saying that “further information” provided grounds for appeal.

The commission cited an “unreasonable verdict” and “non-disclosure” in the handling of the case.

The Scottish government approved Megrahi’s release from prison on compassionate grounds in 2009 because he was suffering from prostate cancer.

He died in Libya three years later.

The appeal was commenced in 2007 but following the diagnosis of terminal cancer it was suddenly abandoned in 2009.

Mr Anwar's office says that it is widely claimed that the Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian based terrorist group in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian Airbus six months earlier, in which 290 people died.

Meanwhile, the eldest son of Mr Al-Megrahi has claimed a new suspect identified as being behind the atrocity is innocent.

Khaled Al-Megrahi said US prosecutors seeking the extradition of Mr Masud are “trying to hide the truth”.

The 36-year-old said: “This is just another false story.

“The US Government are just trying to create a new story. Their main aim is only to hide the truth.

“Libya wasn’t the architects of the bombing — it is clear to me it was carried out by another country.”

Mr Masud was alleged to have been a top bomb-maker for late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Journalist Ken Dornstein, whose brother David was on board the Pan Am plane, went to Libya to track down Mr Masud as part of a 2015 TV documentary by US network PBS called My Brother's Bomber.

He at the time that the Libyan national was "a mystery figure" who was named in the initial investigation and "was said to have been a technical expert".