newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Libyan politician and former justice minister Mustapha Abdel Jalil has come forward with a claim that Muammar Gaddafi ordered the December 1988 bombing of flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack was carried out by Libyan national Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi.

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London Heathrow Airport bound for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Experts said the detonation of the bomb caused the Boeing 747-100 to explode and disintegrate rapidly. All 243 passengers and 16 crewmembers were killed, including 11 people on the ground in the town of Lockerbie, who were hit by falling fuselage, bringing the death toll to 270.

According to ABC News 24, during a nearly hour-long interview, Jalil told Swedish evening tabloid newspaper the Daily Expressen that Gaddafi ordered the bombing and then labored for al-Megrahi’s release in order to conceal his involvement. The proof Jalil claims to have remains unknown, but he says that Gaddafi did everything in his power to get Scotland to exculpate al-Megrahi in order to mask his involvement.

The U.S. Attorney and the Scottish Lord Advocate indicted al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in November 1991. In April 1999, over ten years after the tragic bombing, media outlets announced the arrest of al-Megrahi at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

According to the Associated Press, a Scottish High Court of Justiciary convicted al-Megrahi in January 2001, and he was setenced to 27 years in jail.

Fox News reported that in a May 2009 application for release, the Libyan government requested that Scotland release al-Megrahi under its United Kingdom prison transfer agreement. Looking to be returned to Libya under the same United Kingdom Prisoner Transfer Scheme, al-Megrahi dropped his second appeal since a transfer under the PTA scheme cannot occur while legal proceedings are ongoing. However, he would not have to drop his second appeal if he requested a compassionate release for health reasons.

Al-Megrahi made a July 2009 request for a compassionate release. On August 4, 2009, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in Scotland, Kenny MacAskill, visited Greenock Prison to hear al-Megrahi's request for a prisoner transfer to Libya. Instead, days later it MacAskill announced he would grant al-Megrahi, who was given three months to live, a compassionate release due to his terminal prostate cancer diagnosis.

In October 2009, The Daily Record reported the release of al-Megrahi, and MacAskill's defense in granting the Libyan national a compassionate release.

"I have received numerous, comprehensive medical reports including the opinions of consultants who have been treating him [al-Megrahi]. It is quite clear to the medical experts he has a terminal illness and indeed that there recently has been a significant deterioration in his health," said MacAskill.

"It is the opinion of the Scottish Prison Service doctors who have dealt with him prior to, during and following the diagnosis of prostate cancer and having seen him during each of these stages, that his clinical condition has declined significantly. My decision is in accordance with all the advice given to me."

While Libya accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, paying out millions of dollars in compensation to the families of victims, in addition to handing over suspects including al-Megrahi for prosecution, there has never been confirmation that Gaddafi personally assumed any responsibility for the bombing.

Fox News also reported that Defense counsel for al-Megrahi, attempting to clear his name, claimed the bombing was the doing of the Palestinians, financed by the Iranians.