Latest news with #Megrahi
Daily Mirror
29-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Lockerbie suitcase in landmark DNA test that may put 'bomb maker' behind bars
Scientists are now looking at DNA discovered on the Lockerbie bomb suitcase The Lockerbie bomb suitcase has given up its DNA secrets, 37 years after the atrocity. Now scientists will test the sample for a match to a Libyan suspect facing trial in America for the terrorist attack. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, killed 270 people in what was Britain's worst terror attack. The plane exploded less than 40 minutes after taking off from Heathrow, bound for New York. So far the only suspect to have been convicted of the crime is Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer who was jailed for life in 2001. But prosecutors maintain he acted with others in carrying out the attack. Megrahi was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He lived for another 33 months, dying at his home in Tripoli, aged 60. His release angered many of the American relatives who want to see the next suspect face a US court. Now Abu Agila Masud is awaiting trial, accused of being the Libyan bomb maker behind the mass murders. He has been in US custody since December 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Advances in technology have allowed Scottish scientists to gather DNA from the suitcase lining and an umbrella packed into the luggage before the mid-air explosion. Investigators believe the bomb was placed inside a radio packed in the suitcase. Prosecutors hope the new DNA sample could match Masud, 74. The Sunday Times says it has seen the US court papers which mention the potential breakthrough. Pam Am Flight 103 was flying from Heathrow to John F Kennedy Airport in New York four days before Christmas when it was destroyed above Scotland. A total of 259 passengers and crew, including three Irish citizens and 190 Americans, were killed onboard. Eleven residents from the town in Dumfries and Galloway died when wreckage fell to the ground. A co-defendant in Megrahi's 2000 trial, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, another Libyan intelligence officer, 69, was acquitted, although he remains the subject of an active US arrest warrant. Masud's name came up in the original investigation when it was found the bomb had travelled in an unaccompanied suitcase from Malta to Heathrow, via Frankfurt, before being loaded onto Flight 103. However, investigators were unable to trace him. It was only after the fall of Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, in 2011 that Masud, a bomb-maker for the Libyan External Security Organisation, was detained by opposition forces. He was extradited to the US after allegedly confessing to building the Lockerbie bomb and taking it in a suitcase from Tripoli to Malta. His defence team are set to argue the confession was extracted in Libya under duress, and is therefore inadmissible. But the DNA sample could finally crack the case. The US court papers say Dr Nighean Stevenson had 'examined items relating to an umbrella and an item relating to the lining of a suitcase. These items were examined using specialised lighting, and DNA samples were taken from each. The DNA profiles obtained from these items were of varying quality and were generally commensurate with the expectations of these items." The document continues: "Analysis of a DNA reference sample relating to the accused nominal (Masud) has yet to be carried out. 'When a DNA profile relating to this individual has been generated, it will thereafter be compared to any suitable DNA profiles which have already been obtained." In theory, the tests could also prove whether convicted Megrahi had handled items packed into the bomb suitcase. Part of the evidence against him in 2001 revolved around the testimony of a Maltese shop owner, who claimed Megrahi had bought various items of clothing and an umbrella from his business days before the attack. Masud, in his alleged confession made in a Libyan jail in 2012, named both Megrahi and Fhimah as co-conspirators. A criminal complaint filed by the FBI states: "Approximately three months after (the bombing), Masud and Fhimah met with the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, and others, who thanked them for carrying out a great national duty against the Americans, and Gadaffi added that the operation was a total success."
Telegraph
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Gaddafi's spies were behind Lockerbie bombing, uncovered documents claim
Muammar Gaddafi's regime was responsible for the murders of 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing, a new book claims. Documents published in The Murderer Who Must Be Saved, by French investigative journalists Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille and Libyan activist Samir Shegwara, are claimed to be the first written evidence that Libya's intelligence service was behind the 1988 bombing. The book reveals the existence of files allegedly seized from the archives of Abdullah Senussi, Libya's former intelligence chief, who is understood to be in jail in the North African country. The BBC, which has seen the documents, says the papers appear to implicate Abu Agila Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, who is accused of building the bomb and is due to stand trial in the United States. Masud pleaded not guilty to the charges after appearing in court in Washington in December 2022. The documents also appear to implicate Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who was convicted of playing a central role in the bombing, the BBC reported. Mr Laske and Mr Nouzille said the documents were provided by Mr Shegwara, who took part in the 2011 uprising against Colonel Gaddafi. The journalists spent four years checking their contents with contacts and against information already in the public domain, the broadcaster said. 'Samir Shegwara's not interested in money or in revenge. He just wants these documents to go public for truth and for history and for justice,' Mr Nouzille said. The device that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec 21 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew and 11 residents in the Scottish town, was concealed in a suitcase. A copy of one of the documents seen by the BBC records states its subject matter as: 'Experiments on the use of the suitcase and testing its effectiveness.' The handwritten report is labelled 'top secret' and dated Oct 4 1988, with the sender given as the Information and Strategic Studies Centre, in Tripoli, headed at the time by Megrahi. It allegedly refers to the involvement of Masud. If authenticated, US prosecutors are expected to use the documents during Masud's trial, which is expected to begin in Washington later this year. The FBI says that Masud was a Libyan intelligence agent who acted alongside Megrahi. His trial was due to get underway on May 12, but the US government and the accused's defence have asked for it to be delayed. A motion filed by prosecutors asked for the scheduled start date to be set aside due to Masud's ill health and the complexity of the case. In 2001, three Scottish judges convicted Megrahi for his role in the bombing but he was freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds as he had terminal cancer. He died in Tripoli, aged 60, in May 2012. His conviction has been upheld twice on appeal despite claims – including by Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the atrocity – that Megrahi was innocent.
Sky News
14-03-2025
- Sky News
Abu Agila Mas'ud: US judge agrees to delay Lockerbie bombing trial
The trial of a man alleged to have helped make the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie more than 30 years ago has been delayed, US court papers have confirmed. Libyan national Abu Agila Mas'ud was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on 12 May, but district court judge Dabney L Friedrich has agreed to a postponement following submissions from the prosecution and defence. According to a court document, lawyers had raised the issue of the case's complexity, and the amount of time they had to adequately prepare for both pretrial proceedings and the trial itself. Lawyers also referred to the issue of "voluminous discovery, including evidence located in other countries", and the need for the defence to determine how best to defend the case. A new date for the trial is yet to be set. Mas'ud denies three charges relating to the attack. When the Boeing 747 exploded over the Dumfries and Galloway town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, it killed all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 people on the ground. The bombing - which took place as the plane made its way from London to New York - remains the UK's worst terrorist attack. Following a trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al Megrahi was found guilty of mass murder in 2001 and was jailed for life. In 2008, he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and was freed the following year on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government. Megrahi returned to Tripoli to cheering crowds and continued to protest his innocence until his death in May 2012. It has always been the Crown's contention that Megrahi acted with others in the commission of his crime. A spokesperson for Scotland's Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: "We appreciate that the prospect of delay will be frustrating for those affected but we urge them not to feel disheartened. "Scottish prosecutors have a long-standing commitment to pursuing those responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103.
The Independent
04-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Nurse-turned-MSP recalls ‘no casualties coming' horror after Lockerbie bombing
An SNP MSP who served as a nurse at the hospital nearest the site of the Lockerbie bombing has told of the moment staff realised no casualties would be coming. Emma Harper worked at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and was called after Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town in the Scottish Borders on December 21 1988, killing 270 people, 11 of whom were locals to the area. In a members' business debate brought by fellow SNP MSP Christine Grahame, Ms Harper said her father had called her and her sister – a colleague at the hospital – to tell her of hearing a 'boom' in the sky, with initial reports suggesting a military plane had crashed. 'We were summoned to the hospital where we both worked and under the professional, calm, efficient, effective instruction from the senior charge nurse in theatre, the theatre team were expected to anticipate mass casualties,' she said. 'We prepared for that. 'We prepped theatre one and theatre two, major trauma, theatre three, orthopaedic trauma, theatre four, minor injuries. 'We primed IV fluids, set up trolleys for general anaesthesia and intubation for arterial lines and for central venous access line placement.' But she added: 'At 10pm, the theatre staff were crowded in the coffee room, glued to the news as the facts were beginning to unfold. 'There would be no casualties coming to theatre. 'This was not a military plane crash – it was Pan Am Flight 103, with 259 humans on board (which) exploded at 7.02pm, four days before Christmas.' Ms Grahame brought the debate before Holyrood in response to a book released by Dr Jim Swire – whose daughter Flora died in the disaster – late last year, subsequently turned into a drama starring Colin Firth. In her speech, Ms Grahame laid out the history of the case which put Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – the only man ever convicted of the atrocity – behind bars, including some questions which remain, and called for a public inquiry into its handling. Ms Grahame pointed to the testimony of shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who said Megrahi resembled the man who bought clothes in his Maltese store which were found in the suitcase holding the bomb – evidence which the Megrahi family's lawyer described as 'low quality' in their appeal. Any inquiry should look at the shooting down of Iran Air flight 655, which was hit by a US ship in Iranian airspace in 1988, Ms Grahame claimed. 'So much more can be said, but at the very least, doubts over that identification should be enough for a public inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding events from the date of the Iranian passenger plane being shot out of the sky by an American warship while that passenger plane was flying over Iranian airspace,' she said. Another man is due to stand trial in the US this year in relation to the attack, with Abu Agila Masud denying the three charges against him.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nurse-turned-MSP recalls ‘no casualties coming' horror after Lockerbie bombing
An SNP MSP who served as a nurse at the hospital nearest the site of the Lockerbie bombing has told of the moment staff realised no casualties would be coming. Emma Harper worked at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary and was called after Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town in the Scottish Borders on December 21 1988, killing 270 people, 11 of whom were locals to the area. In a members' business debate brought by fellow SNP MSP Christine Grahame, Ms Harper said her father had called her and her sister – a colleague at the hospital – to tell her of hearing a 'boom' in the sky, with initial reports suggesting a military plane had crashed. 'We were summoned to the hospital where we both worked and under the professional, calm, efficient, effective instruction from the senior charge nurse in theatre, the theatre team were expected to anticipate mass casualties,' she said. 'We prepared for that. 'We prepped theatre one and theatre two, major trauma, theatre three, orthopaedic trauma, theatre four, minor injuries. 'We primed IV fluids, set up trolleys for general anaesthesia and intubation for arterial lines and for central venous access line placement.' But she added: 'At 10pm, the theatre staff were crowded in the coffee room, glued to the news as the facts were beginning to unfold. 'There would be no casualties coming to theatre. 'This was not a military plane crash – it was Pan Am Flight 103, with 259 humans on board (which) exploded at 7.02pm, four days before Christmas.' Ms Grahame brought the debate before Holyrood in response to a book released by Dr Jim Swire – whose daughter Flora died in the disaster – late last year, subsequently turned into a drama starring Colin Firth. In her speech, Ms Grahame laid out the history of the case which put Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – the only man ever convicted of the atrocity – behind bars, including some questions which remain, and called for a public inquiry into its handling. Ms Grahame pointed to the testimony of shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who said Megrahi resembled the man who bought clothes in his Maltese store which were found in the suitcase holding the bomb – evidence which the Megrahi family's lawyer described as 'low quality' in their appeal. Any inquiry should look at the shooting down of Iran Air flight 655, which was hit by a US ship in Iranian airspace in 1988, Ms Grahame claimed. 'So much more can be said, but at the very least, doubts over that identification should be enough for a public inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding events from the date of the Iranian passenger plane being shot out of the sky by an American warship while that passenger plane was flying over Iranian airspace,' she said. Another man is due to stand trial in the US this year in relation to the attack, with Abu Agila Masud denying the three charges against him.
