Tripoli: Libya`s transitional justice
minister Mohammed al-Alagi has said that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, should not face a new prosecution.
His comments came yesterday after officials said
prosecutors in Scotland had formally asked Libya`s new
government to help them with the investigation into the
bombing.
"Personally I did not receive any request (from
prosecutors), but what I know, as a lawyer, and as a justice
minister, is that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was prosecuted and
convicted and he spent more than 10 years in prison," Alagi
said.
"Then they decided to release him on compassionate grounds
and this was approved by the Scottish and British governments.
And I say we should not prosecute the same person twice."
Scottish authorities in particular want Libya`s National
Transitional Council (NTC) to make evidence and witnesses
available for their probe into the attack on Pan Am flight 103
in which 270 people died.
Megrahi, the only person convicted of the bombing, was
released on compassionate grounds on August 20, 2009 after
doctors said he had only three months to live. He is still alive.
The Pan Am jumbo jet exploded over the Scottish town of
Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 259 people on the
aircraft, mainly Americans, and 11 on the ground.
A second Libyan man, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, also stood
trial at a Scottish court sitting in The Netherlands with
Megrahi, but was acquitted in the trial in 2001.
PTI
