Latest news with #PanAmflight103
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Daily Record
Lockerbie bombing suspect trial delayed until next year
The case is now scheduled for next April. The trial of the man accused of making the Lockerbie bomb - the worst terrorist attack in UK history - has been delayed. Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi was due to go on trial last month. But the case against the pensioner, who is known as Masud, was postponed due to how complex it is, and his poor health. It is now scheduled to go ahead in April next year. The new date for the case, which is to take place before a jury in Washington, was chosen at the request of the defence and prosecution teams lined up to conduct the trial. The BBC reports Masud has denied priming the explosive device which brought down Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988, killing 270 people. The explosion killed 259 passengers and crew and a further 11 people in the Dumfries and Galloway town when wreckage of the Boeing 747 fell on their homes. It remains the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United Kingdom. Masud, who is in his early 70s, is described as a joint citizen of Libya and Tunisia. He has been receiving treatment for a non-life threatening medical condition. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. In a joint status report to the US district court for the District of Columbia last month, both parties referred to the "complex, international nature" of evidence in the case, adding that a pre-trial schedule would be "atypical". Lawyers also requested an early deadline for motions to "suppress the defendant's statement," presumed to be an alleged confession Masud made while in jail in Libya in 2012. The claim, which is said to be of "importance to the [US] government's case," alleges that Masud admitted working for the Libyan intelligence service and confessed to building the device which brought down the aircraft. It is also alleged he named two accomplices, Abdelbasset Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah. Megrahi was convicted of murdering the 270 victims and died in Tripoli in 2012 after being freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government. Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, his co-accused in the trial at the Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands, was found not guilty. Scottish and US prosecutors first named Masud as a suspect in the case in 2015 following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in Libya. He was charged five years later by then-US attorney general William Barr with the destruction of an aircraft resulting in death. Masud was taken into US custody in 2022 after being removed from his home by an armed militia.
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
The Bombing of Pan Am 103 review – this kind, cheesy Lockerbie show just doesn't work as TV
T he bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988 was an event so large, so complex and so significant that for a long time it was hard for anyone to take a clear view on it. Many elements remain murky to this day, despite – or perhaps because of – it being an act of terror that was unprecedented in its effect on Britain and the US. The plane exploded over the small town of Lockerbie in Scotland, having taken off from London on its way to New York and Detroit, completing a journey that began in Frankfurt. The hunt for the perpetrators soon focused on the Middle East and north Africa. With half the world demanding answers, the families of the 270 people killed found it difficult to be heard. The hidden human cost of the post-crash chaos is where The Bombing of Pan Am 103, a six-part fictionalisation, initially tries to find its dramatic impetus: the series argues that the dignity of the victims and the sensitivities of their loved ones were trampled. More care should have been taken to respect the dead, it says. But it struggles to turn this admirable sentiment into drama. First we have the disaster itself, and the fateful scenes before it of passengers boarding, and Lockerbie residents going about their innocent pre-Christmas business. For shows about infamous atrocities, these introductory passages are always hard. How long do you linger on these people who are doomed? Lead writer Jonathan Lee employs quick vignettes with mixed results. A girl clutching her teddy bear, a beloved toy that we come across later in a charred field, can't help but feel cheesy, despite its roots in reality; but the Lockerbie boy who survives the destruction of his family home because he is out organising his sister's big present is a piercing happenstance. The series does a stout job of portraying the scale and violence of what befell Lockerbie. The force of the blazing debris landing is startling, as is an impressive tableau of a whole street on fire. The sight of luggage scattered on a winding country road, picked out by the weaving headlights of a police car, shows what a horribly macabre scene the early responders encountered. Among the first police to arrive are DS Ed McCusker (Connor Swindells) of Glasgow CID and senior investigating officer DCS John Orr (Peter Mullan). Before long, McCusker is having to tell FBI man Dick Marquise (Patrick J Adams) to give the shocked people of Lockerbie some time before he charges in to interview them; Orr, meanwhile, is dealing with Americans who assume they are the most important person in any room, and a UK government envoy who smugly tries to assert the authority of Britain over Scotland. A squabble over jurisdiction hampering the quest for truth is one thing, but the series seems genuinely exercised by the importance of Orr being in charge, in and of itself. 'Scottish soil! Scottish evidence! Scottish procedure!' he barks at someone who doubts his authority, in a way that surely isn't intended to make him seem parochial and pompous, but does. The drama's other main focus is the way the bombing brought out the best in compassionate, resourceful people and communities, and here there is no doubt that it has right on its side. Lockerbie locals insisted on staying with bodies that had ended up on their land, not wanting the dead to be left alone; the town's women volunteered to clean and sort the passengers' bloodied clothing. Touching gestures of course, but the scenes portraying them don't have any conflict or stakes – they're not so much drama as reporting. Read More MPs consider naming Chinese 'spy' linked to Prince Andrew And on occasion, the show's desire to pay service to the victims tips into sentimentality. Lead volunteer Moira Shearer (Phyllis Logan) bemoans what she sees as an unacceptable delay in returning a Bible found among the wreckage to the owner's loved ones, for which she blames Orr's skewed priorities; the FBI's top man Marquise dismisses his wife's emotional paean to the people lost, then relents when he sees a wrapped gift among the effects of one of the deceased. The message is that the investigators ought to have been more mindful of the victims as individuals who mattered – we might value that attitude now, but was that really the case at the time, for senior investigators tasked with solving the mystery of a major international terror attack? Surely they were right to have their eye on the bigger picture. The show's viewpoint should sharpen in the remaining episodes, which build up a picture of new relationships formed and further inspiring kindnesses exchanged. For now, though, this is a drama that knows its subject matter is important, but isn't sure why.
Scotsman
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Inside new BBC drama that will bring 'closure to Lockerbie' 37 years on, says Scottish director
The series will focus on the aftermath of the tragedy Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The director of a new BBC drama charting the impact of Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over the town of Lockerbie, has said he hopes the series will bring 'closure' to residents more than 35 years on. Michael Keillor, from Dundee, who has worked on series including Line of Duty and EastEnders, said he had found that for some people in Lockerbie, the tragedy still 'feels so immediate'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He warned the town 'does not want to be defined' by the incident, which killed 270 people from 21 countries, including 11 local residents. The six-part series, The Bombing of Pan Am 103, examines the investigation into the attacks on both sides of the Atlantic and looks at the impact on people living in Lockerbie, including policemen and women who were first to the scene. A joint Scottish-US investigation, including the FBI, was launched to find the perpetrators. In 2001, a Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted Abdelbaset al-Megrahi of playing a central role in the bombing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Keillor said: 'I'm hoping there'll be a bit of a closure to it. A BBC drama sometimes rounds off a story which has been around for such a long time. Also, because we celebrate the ladies of Lockerbie, the people themselves in Lockerbie, and what they suffered from the plane crashing there, and the devastation. 'The visceral reality and shock of that is quite credible. We want to remind people that this was a massive thing, this plane exploded on the ground there, and the reverberations are still there. For some of the families, it's like this happened this year. It feels so immediate for them.' The crew opted to film in Lockerbie itself for just two days of the 16-week shoot, aware of the continued personal impact on local residents. Mr Keillor found younger people in the town were less aware of the tragedy, but for the older generations, its impact clearly remains. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He said: 'For them [the younger generation], it's the stained glass window in the town hall. It's something that happened in the past and I didn't feel they were defined by it. But for older people, I don't know how you ever shake it [the connection] off. 'We were mindful of that, especially for the people in Lockerbie itself. They don't want to be defined by this, even though it unfortunately is the case.' Mr Keillor admits many locals were 'nervous' and 'reticent' about another drama focusing on the town. The series, a BBC co-production with Netflix, is being released just a year after Sky's Lockerbie series, starring Colin Firth. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'They had mixed feelings,' he said. 'We went down into the town hall and spoke to locals and asked 'what do you feel about this? Do you want us to be here at all or not?' We didn't want to be somewhere we weren't wanted, and we didn't want to offend people. 'They were supportive, but at the same time, they are reticent of another telling of Lockerbie coming out.' The Bombing of Pan Am 103 will tell the story of the Lockerbie bombing. | CREDIT LINE:BBC/World Productions Areas of Lanarkshire and Livingston doubled as Lockerbie, while US-based scenes were generally shot in Glasgow, as well as Toronto, Canada. Filming of one of the most iconic scenes in the series - the moment the plane crashed into a row of houses - was kept well away from Lockerbie itself. Instead, the film crew utilised a disused shopping centre in Bathgate, where the scene was recreated. Using a gas flame, the row was set alight, creating a powerful image. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Obviously, it's a big part of our show, but also quite a sensitive scene as well, so it was good to have a location that is very controllable,' Mr Keillor said, describing a huge blaze accompanied by hundreds of extras, multiple cameras and cast. When the flame was turned off, crew were forced to don head torches to be able to see. Mr Keillor added: 'When they turn it off, it's completely pitch black and the whole street is covered in the actual debris. It made you realise what it must have been like for the emergency responders. 'A lot of people said this night has sat with them forever. Senior police we spoke to, who were quite young at the time, said it was defining of them as human beings, as police officers, in such a huge, horrific event. Even if they had later been homicide cops in Glasgow, there was nothing like this.' The team was keen to be historically accurate. The production acquired a nose cone of an original 747 plane, after abandoning plans to buy an entire period aircraft. But some buildings which still remained in the same form as they were in 1988 could not be used, due to development in the vicinity. Others, like the high school in Lockerbie, had been rebuilt in recent times, with scenes set there filmed in Hutcheson's Grammar in Glasgow. Ensuring accuracy was not always easy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It was 37 years ago and people remember things differently,' Mr Keillor said. 'I kept asking all the time 'where was this piece of material? Where was it found, what actually happened?' 'It's like a journalistic cross-examination. You had to have multiple sources to confirm things were correct. It's a massive responsibility of a project like this. You want to tell the truth as much as possible.' As a Scot who recalls the tragedy as a child, Mr Keillor was compelled to tell the story. 'There's lots of film production in Scotland, but it isn't often about a big Scottish story like this,' he said. 'As a Scottish director, Lockerbie was a massive part of my childhood. When there's a story to be told about how Scots faced up to that and dealt with it - a part of a story I didn't really know - I felt there was no way I could turn it down.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The series will look behind the scenes at the aftermath of the tragedy. | BBC/World Productions 'I would imagine that it has the same resonance in people of a certain age across the country. And for people younger, there's a bit of 'this happened in Scotland?'. It's incredible that an American 747 crashed in a town in Scotland and there was this huge investigation for years and years. 'It's quite an incredible story. I'm hoping that for a younger generation, there's an engagement of that being part of our national history.' Mr Keillor said he believes, however, the story behind the event will resonate with audiences across the globe, not just in Scotland. 'You don't have to know about Lockerbie,' he said. 'You don't have to know the specifics of this and the residents in Scotland for the story we've told, which is about - how do people deal with the aftermath of such an event, and what does investigation really look like, and why does it take so long, and what do you make sure to get the evidence absolutely right so you get a conviction, and what that does to the people involved? 'And that, hopefully, is interesting as a drama.'
Newsweek
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Maximalism Will Doom Diplomacy With Iran
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States are expected to continue this week, although progress remains elusive. President Trump has insisted that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on his watch, and is demanding that it essentially disband its entire program or else face military repercussions from the United States and Israel. To underline the point, the Trump administration has pressured Iran to shutter its nuclear program by repeatedly issuing threats, moving missile defense systems from Asia to the Middle East, and building up strike forces in the Indian Ocean within bombing range of Iran. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but its progress in uranium enrichment creates the broad potential for it to weaponize. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have pushed for the full elimination of Iran's nuclear program, citing how Libya's Muammar Gaddafi abandoned his country's nuclear efforts in the early 2000s as an example of success. But a "Libya model" deal to fully dismantle the Iranian nuclear program won't work. Why not? Just look at how it went for Libya. Gaddafi agreed to suspend his country's nuclear weapons program in December 2003, following years of clandestine negotiations that began during the Clinton administration and continued under George W. Bush. By then, Libya had endured decades of isolation and crushing sanctions due to its involvement in terrorist activities, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. In exchange for sanctions relief, Gaddafi dismantled his program under U.S. and British supervision and submitted to regular inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. According to his son, Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi knew that abandoning his nuclear proliferation efforts would make him more vulnerable to a Western-sponsored overthrow and pressed hard for a U.S. security guarantee, which he never received. But economic considerations, coupled with misplaced hopes for U.S. military sales and regime support, overrode Gaddafi's qualms about relinquishing a potential nuclear deterrent. This combination of pictures created on April 09, 2025 shows US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff after a meeting with Russian officials at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 18, 2025 (L); and... This combination of pictures created on April 09, 2025 shows US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff after a meeting with Russian officials at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 18, 2025 (L); and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking to AFP during an interview at the Iranian consulate in Jeddah on March 7, 2025. More EVELYN HOCKSTEINAMER HILABI/POOL/AFP/AFP/Getty Images That proved a fatal mistake. When civil war broke out in Libya in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, the U.S. and European countries launched an air war against Libya to prevent Gaddafi from massacring opponents of his government. The result was the overthrow and subsequent murder of Gaddafi, a thug we shouldn't miss but whose fate has nevertheless cast a pall over any future demands for a country to give up its nuclear weapons program. The Libya model of full disarmament has backfired. It now perfectly illustrates why U.S. rivals want nuclear weapons: they provide the best deterrent against attack, by the U.S. or anyone else. It would have been inconceivable for the United States to strike Libya if Gaddafi could threaten nuclear retaliation. No wonder Iran has signaled that abandoning its nuclear program is a complete non-starter. There's no doubt the Iranians studiously watched what happened in Libya, and they weren't the only ones. The last time the "Libya model" was floated for a country—in reference to North Korea by then-national security advisor John Bolton during Trump's first term—it effectively ended negotiations. And there's the rub. The more the United States threatens Iran over its nuclear program, the greater the incentive Iran has to weaponize in hopes of deterring U.S. attack. If negotiations fail and the U.S. or Israel eventually strike Iran's nuclear facilities, it would all but guarantee a nuclear Iran. That's because full destruction of the Iranian program is impossible at this point. Unlike Libya's program, which relied on the infamous A.Q. Khan network to obtain nuclear technology, Iran's program developed indigenously, using Iranian scientists and technical know-how that cannot be unlearned. Even if airstrikes were to completely demolish Iran's hardened facilities—and they may not be able to—the Iranians could quickly rebuild and would no doubt rearm to deter future attacks. Events following the U.S. strikes on Libya should serve as a cautionary tale, too. After Gaddafi was deposed, Libya fell into civil war and currently exists in a state of fragile ceasefire that could be broken at any time. It is yet another reminder of what we might call the Mideast Constant, the near-mathematical certainty that U.S. intervention will make things worse in the region, not better. No one wants Iran to get the bomb, perhaps not even the Iranians themselves. But the Libya model just gives Iran a stronger reason to secure a deterrent. That lesson is one that Washington badly needs to learn. Rosemary Kelanic is Director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Edinburgh US consulate threatened with closure due to Doge cuts
The United States consulate in Edinburgh could be closed due to spending cuts imposed by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).Documents seen by The Washington Post suggest the diplomatic mission – which has had a presence in the city for more than 200 years – is under threat due to a proposed 48% cut in the US State Department's budget under Donald Trump's consulate, which occupies a prestigious address on Edinburgh's Regent Terrace, first opened in Leith in 1798 and provides services and support for American Scottish government said it would do "all it can" to maintain the "social, cultural and economic ties" between Scotland and the US. The Edinburgh consulate is reportedly among almost 30 diplomatic missions and embassies threatened with closure under the Trump administration is proposing slashing the budget of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development by $28bn (£21.4m) per year. Musk has made swingeing cuts to several areas of the US government after the businessman was appointed to head up Doge by President Trump last in France, Germany and South Korea are also said to be under threat of closure, alongside embassies in Malta, Luxembourg and South State Department spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce, did not deny the reports when asked by CNN, but said the "White House and the President were continuing to work on their budget plan".Any move to close the consulate would likely require the support of the US Congress. The former MP Hannah Bardell, who worked at the consulate during Barack Obama's time in office, said closing the consulate would be a "terrible decision and a devastating blow".She said: "The deep ties between Scotland and America transcend any President or administration."Consulates provide vital support to citizens and businesses and more broadly foster important cultural relationships and understanding."The ability for communities in Scotland to engage with the US should not be taken away. I hope Scotland will pull together, as it did before when the US Consulate was threatened with closure." The mission opened in 1798, just over 30 years on from the signing of the US declaration of initially set up close to Leith Links, but settled on Regent Terrace in played a key role in supporting US citizens following the Lockerbie disaster in 1988, after 190 American citizens died when Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over the town in Dumfries and it also faced a previous threat of closure in 1995 during a previous attempt to slash the State Department budget before it won a reprieve following interventions from former presidents George Bush Snr and Jimmy Trump has strong links with Scotland through his mother, Mary, who was born on the Isle of also has business interests through golf resorts in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire.A Scottish government spokesman said: "Scotland and the United States share strong and lasting social, cultural and economic ties, and we will do all we can to ensure those links remain strong and continue to thrive."The US State Department has been contacted for comment.
