Latest news with #PanAmFlight103
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The long wait for answers over the Lockerbie bombing grows longer
Major television productions are bringing the story of the Lockerbie bombing to a new global audience, but the real life drama of the trial of a new Libyan suspect has been delayed once more. Abu Agila Mohammed Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi, known as Masud, had been due to face a Washington jury last month, accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 and killed 270 people. The 12 May starting date was abandoned because of problems with his health and the complexity of the case, and the trial is now scheduled to start in April, 2026.. The date was set at the District of Columbia District Court, where Masud listened with the help of a translator and was expressionless throughout. After the hearing, relatives of American victims of the bombing told BBC News of their disappointment that the trial is now scheduled to start 50 weeks later than originally planned. Kara Weipz is the president of the US group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and lost her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti on the plane. "I'm just going to pray that it stays at 20 April," she said. "I was 15 when this happened, and I'm 52 now and among the relatives I'm considered young. "A lot of our family members are in their seventies and eighties and unfortunately, we lose them weekly or monthly now. "The travesty in all of this that they're not seeing the justice that they've worked 37 years to see. "That's what concerns us the most, that this trial will come around and we'll have lost more family members." Victoria Cummock's husband John was coming home from a business trip to Europe a day earlier than planned, to surprise his family. The founder of the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation, Mrs Cummock said: "We've lived through 36 years of delays and postponements simply because this is an international case filled with politics. "Thirty six years with seven different administrations in America have really collided with the families' search for accountability and justice. "It's no surprise that our mission to hold them to account is being delayed." Mrs Cummock added she was concerned that President Trump's ban on Libyan citizens travelling to the US could affect the trial. She said: "It just seems like it's a very slow journey to getting this case started." Masud has been in US custody since December 2022 and has pled not guilty to the charges. The Tunisian-born Libyan is in his seventies and is understood to have diabetes and heart problems. His family in Libya has already expressed concerns over the delays to the case, saying he's an innocent man. The new trial date was fixed after a joint motion submitted by the prosecution and the defence, both of whom raised the international nature of the evidence and witnesses. A series of crucial legal arguments will have to be resolved before the trial can go ahead, with the judge Dabney Friedrich describing the 20 April date as "tentative." Those will include the admissibility of a confession Masud is alleged to have made while in custody in 2012, following the collapse of Colonel Gaddafi's regime. Another complication is the fact that new information on the case is still emerging, almost four decades after the attack. A book published in France revealed the existence of documents said to have been retrieved from the archives of the Libyan intelligence service, of which Masud is alleged to have been a member. If proved genuine, those documents detail his involvement in preparations for the attack on Pan Am 103. It's more than 24 years since the first Lockerbie trial, when three Scottish judges convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdulbasset al-Megrahi of playing a key role in the plot. Megrahi was jailed for life but released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died three years later at home in Tripoli. His release infuriated many of the American relatives, which is why they have set so much store on the trial of Masud, the first suspect to face an American court over Lockerbie. They believe it will deliver the justice they were denied by the Scottish legal system. The bombing remains the worst terror attack in British history and claimed the lives of 43 UK citizens. Some, but not all, of the British relatives have never accepted the verdict against Megrahi, including the Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga was on the plane. "I think they're just waiting for people like me to pop our clogs and get out of the way," he said. "I'm still pretty cynical about the whole thing. I would like to be proved wrong but I can't see it happening. "As far as I'm concerned, who made the bomb and who put in on the plane are secondary as to who were the main criminals. "They were the group of people who had all the warnings that this was going to happen and warned their own people but didn't warn the public." The big budget television dramas may have pushed the Lockerbie bombing back into the public eye but it's clear that there's a very long way to go before a jury delivers its verdict on Masud. Judge Friedrich warned that if things are not done in a timely manner, there's a risk the trial could "slip" into 2027. As she reminded everyone in the court: "This isn't a normal criminal case." Lockerbie bombing trial delayed until next year New documents blame Libya for Lockerbie bombing 'My brother died in Lockerbie - our story changed how air disasters are handled'
BBC News
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The long wait for answers over Lockerbie bombing grows longer
Major television productions are bringing the story of the Lockerbie bombing to a new global audience, but the real life drama of the trial of a new Libyan suspect has been delayed once Agila Mohammed Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi, known as Masud, had been due to face a Washington jury last month, accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 and killed 270 12 May starting date was abandoned because of problems with his health and the complexity of the case, and the trial is now scheduled to start in April, date was set at the District of Columbia District Court, where Masud listened with the help of a translator and was expressionless throughout. After the hearing, relatives of American victims of the bombing told BBC News of their disappointment that the trial is now scheduled to start 50 weeks later than originally Weipz is the president of the US group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 and lost her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti on the plane."I'm just going to pray that it stays at 20 April," she said. "I was 15 when this happened, and I'm 52 now and among the relatives I'm considered young."A lot of our family members are in their seventies and eighties and unfortunately, we lose them weekly or monthly now."The travesty in all of this that they're not seeing the justice that they've worked 37 years to see."That's what concerns us the most, that this trial will come around and we'll have lost more family members." Victoria Cummock's husband John was coming home from a business trip to Europe a day earlier than planned, to surprise his founder of the Pan Am 103 Lockerbie Legacy Foundation, Mrs Cummock said: "We've lived through 36 years of delays and postponements simply because this is an international case filled with politics."Thirty six years with seven different administrations in America have really collided with the families' search for accountability and justice."It's no surprise that our mission to hold them to account is being delayed."Mrs Cummock added she was concerned that President Trump's ban on Libyan citizens travelling to the US could affect the said: "It just seems like it's a very slow journey to getting this case started." Masud's health problems Masud has been in US custody since December 2022 and has pled not guilty to the Tunisian-born Libyan is in his seventies and is understood to have diabetes and heart family in Libya has already expressed concerns over the delays to the case, saying he's an innocent new trial date was fixed after a joint motion submitted by the prosecution and the defence, both of whom raised the international nature of the evidence and witnesses.A series of crucial legal arguments will have to be resolved before the trial can go ahead, with the judge Dabney Friedrich describing the 20 April date as "tentative."Those will include the admissibility of a confession Masud is alleged to have made while in custody in 2012, following the collapse of Colonel Gaddafi's regime. Another complication is the fact that new information on the case is still emerging, almost four decades after the attack.A book published in France revealed the existence of documents said to have been retrieved from the archives of the Libyan intelligence service, of which Masud is alleged to have been a proved genuine, those documents detail his involvement in preparations for the attack on Pan Am more than 24 years since the first Lockerbie trial, when three Scottish judges convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdulbasset al-Megrahi of playing a key role in the plot. Megrahi was jailed for life but released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died three years later at home in release infuriated many of the American relatives, which is why they have set so much store on the trial of Masud, the first suspect to face an American court over believe it will deliver the justice they were denied by the Scottish legal bombing remains the worst terror attack in British history and claimed the lives of 43 UK citizens. 'This isn't a normal criminal case' Some, but not all, of the British relatives have never accepted the verdict against Megrahi, including the Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga was on the plane."I think they're just waiting for people like me to pop our clogs and get out of the way," he said."I'm still pretty cynical about the whole thing. I would like to be proved wrong but I can't see it happening."As far as I'm concerned, who made the bomb and who put in on the plane are secondary as to who were the main criminals."They were the group of people who had all the warnings that this was going to happen and warned their own people but didn't warn the public."The big budget television dramas may have pushed the Lockerbie bombing back into the public eye but it's clear that there's a very long way to go before a jury delivers its verdict on Friedrich warned that if things are not done in a timely manner, there's a risk the trial could "slip" into she reminded everyone in the court: "This isn't a normal criminal case."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lockerbie-Syracuse scholarship scheme set to restart
A scholarship scheme - set up in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing - which sends Scottish school pupils to a US university is set to be revived. Two Lockerbie Academy students were selected to study at Syracuse University in New York state every year between 1989 and 2024 but no intake will happen in 2025/26. Thirty-five Syracuse students were among 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. The university has announced that the scholarship is now due to restart in autumn 2026 but it is unclear who will fund the programme. Previously, the Lockerbie students selected to spend a year at the US university were chosen by the Lockerbie Syracuse Trust (LST). The scheme was funded by both the university and the trust - with a contribution also understood to come from Dumfries and Galloway Council. There will been no intake for 2025/26 but Syracuse University has now relaunched the scheme, describing it as a "reimagined partnership". Students will be chosen by a panel of representatives from the university and the academy using "elevated selection criteria based on rigorous academic standards". The university said it would select students who demonstrate "academic excellence and a deep understanding" of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy. A press statement makes no mention of the LST and does not state how the scheme will be funded. Lockerbie: The town scarred by Pan Am flight 103 Lockerbie: Remembering the victims of Flight 103 Carolyne Wilson, who chairs the LST, said the funding situation had not been confirmed with them. "Previously, Syracuse University have funded part of it, and the trust has picked up the other part which equates to about £40,000 a year," she said. She said the LST would be happy for that arrangement to continue but it had not been approached to do so. "I think there would definitely need to be discussions between all parties because obviously we would love to strengthen and maintain our partnership with both Lockerbie Academy and Syracuse University to provide the best opportunities possible for the students of Lockerbie and the surrounding area," she added. Anna Newbould, one of the Lockerbie Academy scholars for 2024/25, said it was important to keep the link. "I think everyone would agree that it's incredibly important for this scholarship to continue, not just as an experience for the upcoming students but especially for the families of the victims who were sadly lost," she said. "Without the scholarship, the connection with Lockerbie, I believe, would only fade over time and ultimately it could be forgotten which is not something anyone wants. "Now more than ever, as the disaster is drifting further from the current generation, 36 years on, it's important to keep educating future generations and to keep the victims' memories alive." Brian Asher, head teacher at Lockerbie Academy, welcomed the move to re-establish the scholarship. He said: "Syracuse University has, since the terrible events of 21 December 1988, held a special place in the heart of Lockerbie. "We reforge our bond in honour of all those who were lost that night. "I am excited to work with our Syracuse University colleagues on behalf of the academy as we build on our shared past, towards a shared future." Syracuse University said the scheme would run until at least 2028.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Lockerbie-Syracuse scholarship scheme set to restart
A scholarship scheme - set up in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing - which sends Scottish school pupils to a US university is set to be revived. Two Lockerbie Academy students were selected to study at Syracuse University in New York state every year between 1989 and 2024 but no intake will happen in 2025/ Syracuse students were among 270 victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. The university has announced that the scholarship is now due to restart in autumn 2026 but it is unclear who will fund the programme. Previously, the Lockerbie students selected to spend a year at the US university were chosen by the Lockerbie Syracuse Trust (LST). The scheme was funded by both the university and the trust - with a contribution also understood to come from Dumfries and Galloway will been no intake for 2025/26 but Syracuse University has now relaunched the scheme, describing it as a "reimagined partnership". Students will be chosen by a panel of representatives from the university and the academy using "elevated selection criteria based on rigorous academic standards". The university said it would select students who demonstrate "academic excellence and a deep understanding" of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy. A press statement makes no mention of the LST and does not state how the scheme will be funded. Carolyne Wilson, who chairs the LST, said the funding situation had not been confirmed with them."Previously, Syracuse University have funded part of it, and the trust has picked up the other part which equates to about £40,000 a year," she said. She said the LST would be happy for that arrangement to continue but it had not been approached to do so."I think there would definitely need to be discussions between all parties because obviously we would love to strengthen and maintain our partnership with both Lockerbie Academy and Syracuse University to provide the best opportunities possible for the students of Lockerbie and the surrounding area," she added. Anna Newbould, one of the Lockerbie Academy scholars for 2024/25, said it was important to keep the link."I think everyone would agree that it's incredibly important for this scholarship to continue, not just as an experience for the upcoming students but especially for the families of the victims who were sadly lost," she said."Without the scholarship, the connection with Lockerbie, I believe, would only fade over time and ultimately it could be forgotten which is not something anyone wants."Now more than ever, as the disaster is drifting further from the current generation, 36 years on, it's important to keep educating future generations and to keep the victims' memories alive." 'Reforge our bond' Brian Asher, head teacher at Lockerbie Academy, welcomed the move to re-establish the scholarship. He said: "Syracuse University has, since the terrible events of 21 December 1988, held a special place in the heart of Lockerbie."We reforge our bond in honour of all those who were lost that night. "I am excited to work with our Syracuse University colleagues on behalf of the academy as we build on our shared past, towards a shared future."Syracuse University said the scheme would run until at least 2028.
Epoch Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Gadhafi's ‘Missing Billions' Stashed in US and Southern Africa, Officials Say
JOHANNESBURG—Billions of dollars stolen by former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi are hidden in clandestine bank accounts and secret vaults in the United States and two southern African countries, say intelligence operatives and financial investigators. The latest news was first According to the report, Libya's Asset and Management Recovery Office says at least $50 billion in oil revenues pillaged by Gadhafi between 1994 until his murder in 2011 were invested in 'debt instruments'—including treasury bonds—using front companies, nominees, and banks that Separately, intelligence agents and a former top government official in Pretoria told The Epoch Times about $20 billion stolen by Gadhafi is spread across banks in South Africa. They added that $30 million in cash flown by Gadhafi to South Africa in the months before his execution by rebels is now hidden in Eswatini—the small kingdom neighboring South Africa and the continent's last absolute monarchy that was formerly called Swaziland. The man leading the hunt for Libya's missing public funds, Asset and Management Recovery Office Director-General Mohammed al-Mensli, confirmed that hundreds of billions of dollars were stolen during Gadhafi's brutal military rule. Related Stories 5/24/2025 5/24/2025 Gadhafi came to power in a coup in 1969 and began ruling Libya through fear, and plundering his country's vast natural resources. As chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Gadhafi imprisoned, tortured, and murdered political opponents, and forged close links to global terrorist organizations. Files lodged at the International Criminal Court detail the starvation of entire populations and the bombardment of towns and villages that were home to perceived political opponents. Libyans look at war remnants, including the golden fist that was taken from Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli and transported to Misrata, displayed at a museum set up on Tripoli boulevard in Misrata on Feb.12, 2012. Mahmud Turkia/AFP via Getty Images In 2003, Gadhafi's regime accepted responsibility for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, which killed 259 people, including 190 Americans. He paid nearly $3 billion in compensation to the families of the victims. Yet Gadhafi continued to be revered among left-wing nationalists in Africa as an anti-Western, anti-colonialist, and anti-Israel revolutionary. The United States and its allies Tripoli tried to evade the sanctions by illicitly channelling oil profits to secret locations across the world, al-Mensli told The Epoch Times. He said information he uncovered during his investigation will be used by the Libyan government in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dubaiba 'to lodge legal claims in the U.S. to retrieve stolen public funds in interest-bearing accounts.' Al-Mensli said recovery of the funds would be 'vital to rebuilding' the country, which devolved into another civil war in 2014 until an October 2020 U.N.-led cease-fire agreement. A member of security forces stands behind a weapon, in Tripoli, Libya Feb. 1, 2021. REUTERS/Ayman Al-Sahili News Causing Stir in South Africa News of al-Mensli's investigation has triggered interest in South Africa, where Gadhafi secretly financed the African National Congress (ANC), the party that came to power under Nelson Mandela in 1994 following decades of apartheid white minority rule. One of Gadhafi's greatest admirers was former ANC leader and South African President Jacob Zuma, who is currently facing In 2022, a commission of inquiry Zuma, a Chinese Communist Party and Soviet trained former chief of intelligence for the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), denies all charges and allegations. In the months leading up to Gadhafi's ouster and murder, Zuma and the Libyan ruler met several times. Initially, said Zuma's former top advisor and ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa, the brief for the then-president of Africa's largest economy was to convince Gadhafi to surrender power voluntarily to 'facilitate a peaceful democratic transition' in Libya. But shortly after a meeting with Gadhafi in April 2011, six months before his death at the hands of rebel forces, Zuma 'inexplicably' changed tack, Phosa said. 'He suddenly began insisting that Colonel Gadhafi must remain in power,' Phosa told The Epoch Times. Similar details are contained in Phosa's autobiography, 'Witness to Power,' 'Beginning in 2009, when Gadhafi began to get paranoid about being deposed, I accompanied President Zuma to a number of meetings in a luxury tent near Tripoli,' Phosa said. 'The Colonel promised to donate a lot of money to the ANC, and for Libya to sign military contracts with Mr. Zuma's associates.' The meetings were held under the guise of Gadhafi's chairmanship of the African Union, which lasted from 2009 to 2010, said the ANC stalwart. After civil war broke out in Libya in February 2011, Phosa and Zuma also met with rebel leaders to try to broker peace. 'Those leaders told me they would no longer cooperate in any way with Zuma because he had betrayed them by aligning with Gadhafi,' Phosa said. Two serving and one former South African intelligence agents, speaking anonymously, told The Epoch Times that Zuma also met with Gadhafi a few months before the dictator was executed by rebels in the town of Sirte on Oct. 20, 2011. 'President Zuma offered to fly Colonel Gadhafi to safety in South Africa because the rebel troops were approaching fast,' said one of the operatives. 'Colonel Gadhafi refused and said, 'No; I will die in my own country. If I am captured or killed, please give this money to my loved ones.'' In the months that followed, 'many flights' carrying 'crates of dollars, gold, and diamonds' flew to several locations in South Africa, including a military base near Pretoria, another agent said. 'From there, the loot was transported to Mr. Zuma's compound and hidden in a place that was under the ground,' the agent added. 'Later, when things began to get hot for Mr. Zuma, I hear the cash, etcetera, was moved to Swaziland under the care of the King [Mswati].' Spokespeople for both Zuma and Mswati denied knowledge of the Libyan cash and valuables. South African investigative journalist, Jovial Rantao, has previously presented information similar to that provided by the intelligence operatives. In the Sunday Independent in 2014, Rantao According to the documents, about $30 million dollars in cash, hundreds of tons of gold, and about 6 million carats of diamonds were transported from Tripoli to South Africa in more than 60 flights. 'What could be the world's largest cash pile is stored in palettes at seven heavily guarded warehouses and bunkers in secret locations between Johannesburg and Pretoria,' Rantao wrote, adding that Gadhafi's treasure was guarded by former apartheid-era Special Forces members. He said another 260 billion rands (now worth almost $14.4 billion) was deposited in four commercial banks in South Africa. In April 2019, South Africa's Sunday Times reported that Mswati had confirmed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that Zuma had transported $30 million dollars to his country. The president's spokesperson would not comment on Ramaphosa's meetings with Mswati.
