This page has some of the more important news concerning the Lockerbie-incident. Here is a short summary of just what has happened lately in the criminal, technical or political investigations and the concern for UN-sanctions against Libya.
December the 18th 1997 - Marchr, the 2nd 1998
March 2, 1998 - Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi urged the United Nations Security Council on Monday to suspend sanctions imposed on Libya over the Lockerbie bombing, after the Internationsal Court of Justice made a favourable ruling for Libya. ``The U.N. Security Council must now issue a decision suspending the sanctions until the two suspects stand before a court,'' Gaddafi said in a speech broadcast by Libyan television today. ``The Lockerbie issue is a civil and legal affair and... the Security Council has no jurisdiction to handle it,'' Gaddafi said. ``If the United states and Britain do not abide by the Court of Justice ruling, it means they don't... respect international law,'' he added. ``The international community must reject what the U.S. and Britain impose on the Security Council,'' Gaddafi said.
DUBAI, March 1 The head of the world's largest Moslem body
on Sunday welcomed a ruling by the International Court of Justice on the
Lockerbie airliner bombing and urged the United Nations to lift sanctions
on Libya.
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said in a statement
that its secretary-general, Azeddine Laraki, welcomed ``with
great satisfaction'' the decision by the court based in The Hague that
it had jurisdiction in Libya's dispute with Britain and the United
States over the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people.
``(Laraki) launched an appeal to the Security Council and to the
international community for the prompt implementation of ending the embargo
against the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya pending the final decision of the International
Court of Justice,'' the statement said.
``Shara expressed Syria's satisfaction over the ruling and said the decision was an important step on the way to lifting sanctions imposed against the brotherly people of Libya,'' one official said. ``The Libyan minister expressed his country's appreciation over Syria's principled stands towards this case and other Arab causes,'' he added.
"It is our interest and that of the families of the bombing victims that there be a trial .That's why we support a neutral venue.'' he said. ``We had rejected to hand over the two suspects to the United States or Britain because it was unlawful and also we were certain that they wouldn't get a fair trial there. We know that a trial in Libya would also be suspect. The reasonable solution is a trial in a neutral country,'' he said.
Amr Moussa told reporters that the procedural move was an "important
step.''
The Libyan foreign minister, Umar Mustafa al Muntassir, held
talks in Cairo on Sunday with Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel
Meguid to discuss what action to take within the United Nations Security
Council on the Lockerbie crisis after the International Court of Justice
judgment that it could decide where the two Lockerbie suspects should be
tried, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported.
Meguid said the meeting would be followed "by intensive consultations
and meetings until the type of future action towards the settlement of
this international crisis is defined" .
"Legally speaking, the ICJ ruling pronouncing its jurisdiction
to hear Libyan complaints against Britain is a major development,"
Meguid was quoted as saying. "It means that the Libyan request was honoured,
while the British and US rejection was turned down." Al Muntasir said
the meeting was aimed at coordinating the Arab League-Libya stand over
recent developments.
"A comprehensive Libyan plan was amended to conform to these
developments," he said, adding that he had discussed the amendments
with the secretary general. He expressed the hope that Libya's coordination
with the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC) would help achieve a unified international
stand against "the injustices Libya was suffering within the UN Security
Council as well as outside it" .
Libya now goes for removal of UN sanctions
United Nations 28/02/1998
In New York, Libya's U.N. ambassador, Abuzed Dorda, said Friday that the ruling at the ICJ in Haag ``is not merely a victory for Libya and its people, it is a victory for justice, a victory for righteousness, for international law and accords.''
Dorda told U.N. correspondents in New York Friday that with this ruling by the highest court of the U.N., lifting these sanctions is the minimal possible action required from the security council. He also reiterated Libya's position that the legal basis for dealing with the case is the Montreal Convention while ICJ is the sole place to handle the case and not the security council.
He said the responsiblity for any delay in the conclusion of this case lies with the governments of British and the U.S. The Libyan people are as much victims as the victims of the Lockerbie accident itself, he said in reference to the U.S reprisal bombing of Tripoli and the continuing toll of sanctions on the Libyan population. Dorda said in material terms, the sanctions have cost Libya about 25 billion U.S. dollars.
He finally said he planned to go to the Security Council next week with a case to drop the sanctions.
Here follows the official judgment:
THE COURT,
(1) (a) by thirteen votes to three, rejects the objection to jurisdiction raised by the United Kingdom on the basis of the alleged absence of a dispute between the Parties concerning the interpretation or application of the Montreal Convention of 23 September 1971;
IN FAVOUR: Vice-President Weeramantry, Acting President; Judges Bedjaoui, Guillaume, Ranjeva, Herczegh, Shi, Fleischhauer, Koroma, Vereshchetin, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans, Rezek; Judge ad hoc El-Kosheri;
AGAINST: President Schwebel; Judge Oda; Judge ad hoc Sir Robert Jennings;
(b) by thirteen votes to three, finds that it has jurisdiction, on the basis of Article 14, paragraph 1, of the Montreal Convention of 23 September 1971, to hear the disputes between Libya and the United Kingdom as to the interpretation or application of the provisions of that Convention;
IN FAVOUR: Vice-President Weeramantry, Acting President; Judges Bedjaoui, Guillaume, Ranjeva, Herczegh, Shi, Fleischhauer, Koroma, Vereshchetin, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans, Rezek; Judge ad hoc El-Kosheri;
AGAINST: President Schwebel; Judge Oda; Judge ad hoc Sir Robert Jennings;
(2) (a) by twelve votes to four, rejects the objection to admissibility derived by the United Kingdom from Security Council resolutions 748 (1992) and 883 (1993);
IN FAVOUR: Vice-President Weeramantry, Acting President; Judges Bedjaoui, Guillaume, Ranjeva, Shi, Fleischhauer, Koroma, Vereshchetin, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans, Rezek; Judge ad hoc El-Kosheri;
AGAINST: President Schwebel; Judges Oda, Herczegh; Judge ad hoc Sir Robert Jennings;
(b) by twelve votes to four, finds that the Application filed by Libya on 3 March 1992 is admissible.
IN FAVOUR: Vice-President Weeramantry, Acting President; Judges Bedjaoui, Guillaume, Ranjeva, Shi, Fleischhauer, Koroma, Vereshchetin, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans, Rezek; Judge ad hoc El-Kosheri;
AGAINST: President Schwebel; Judges Oda, Herczegh; Judge ad hoc Sir Robert Jennings;
(3) by ten votes to six, declares that the objection raised by the United Kingdom according to which Security Council resolutions 748 (1992) and 883 (1993) have rendered the claims of Libya without object does not, in the circumstances of the case, have an exclusively preliminary character.
IN FAVOUR: Vice-President Weeramantry, Acting President; Judges Bedjaoui, Ranjeva, Shi, Koroma, Vereshchetin, Parra-Aranguren, Kooijmans, Rezek; Judge ad hoc El-Kosheri;
AGAINST: President Schwebel; Judges Oda, Guillaume, Herczegh, Fleischhauer; Judge ad hoc Sir Robert Jennings."
The ruling was a boost for some relatives of the victims of Flight 103. But the decision did not settle the judicial deadlock and a trial could still be years away.
Jim Swire is "delighted" to hear the judgment
Read more and view the pics about the verdict at the
updated Haag-page
UPDATED
HAAG PAGE WITH NEW CONTENT HERE (at 11.30 CET 27/02/1998)
The Libyans were included in the preliminary round of the qualifying matches for the next African championship, released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Ouagadougou on Thursday. They had been suspended in accordance with sanctions imposed on the country following the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988. But the CAF have decided to allow the Libyans, who played in last year's Pan-Arab Games in Lebanon, to enter the preliminary round. They have been drawn against Algeria in the two-leg matches in July and August.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The World Court will announce Friday the 27. February whether it has jurisdiction in a row pitting Libya against the United States and Britain. Libya applied to the court, the U.N.'s highest judicial body, in 1992 to have the U.N. sanctions lifted. The United States and the United Kingdom say the World Court has no jurisdiction to do so.
If the court decides it does have jurisdiction, both sides will be ordered to file written submissions backing up their cases and will argue them in court -- a process likely to take years.
For the victims' families the decision cannot come too soon. ``The legal processes of the court can be drawn out. It may well seem they are excessively drawn out, but here the court finds itself in the hands of the parties involved,'' says U.S. judge and ICJ President Stephen Schwebel.
Six years later, the bench of 15 judges is approaching a decision on U.S. and British preliminary objections to Libya's application. London and Washington argue the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the case. Schwebel, who has been with the court for 17 years, measures his words carefully when asked if he ever feels frustrated at the slow pace of progress. ``The essential reason it has taken so long is the reason why courts are generally slow, in that they have other cases. Most cases are very long and complicated and involve enormous pleadings,'' he says.
``If they decide they do not have jurisdiction, it will be the latest slap in the face for our search for truth and justice,'' said Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was aboard the flight. Swire, who represents a group of relatives, hopes a jurisdictional ruling will spur efforts to have the suspects tried. ``We hope that if the court decides it has jurisdiction, it will then examine from the point of view of international law whether the Security Council is exceeding its powers by contradicting an existing treaty,'' Swire said.
If that happens, ``Then maybe Britain and America would have to go cap in hand to ask Libya not to put the suspects on trial there and ask if they can maybe have a trial in a neutral country, which is what we have been asking for far too long,'' he added.
He hopes the ruling will galvanise efforts to bring the case to court. At ICJ preliminary hearings last year Dr Swire said: "I think it's about time we had some truth and some justice. I think the hearing here could have been avoided if the politicians had been prepared to accept the concept of a trial in a neutral country."
Stay alert for more detailed news at the ICJ-Lockerbie Case page
Read the official Press Release from the ICJ HERE
Listen to the voice of BBc correspondent Joshua Rozenberg .
At a meeting in Lockerbie town hall, local resident Clive Wilsonham said: "I think we should recognise that there are others involved besides people in the town, but it must remain very personal. "The main fear we have is that it will be taken over by politicians and turned into a media circus. Neither do we want it to be a political circus.
"Prime ministers and presidents must stay away. We should have a remembrance the way we want it." Only residents of the town and other relatives of victims will be invited to attend the service, he said.
The meeting also touched on how to prevent the anniversary from being overwhelmed by media interest. The people of Dunblane had much the same problem and ended up appealing for privacy on the first anniversary of the gun tragedy in a primary school there.
Dryfe councillor Stephen Berry said: "The media will have to be controlled otherwise it will become too intense and out of control. "It is 10 months before the anniversary, yet the interest is already building up." But the meeting of 70 residents unanimously agreed that American families hit by the explosion should be welcome.
Resident Donald Bogie told the group it would be "highly churlish" not to do so. "While it has been a tragic affair, a lot of friendships have been formed. It would be terrible for them to sit in a hotel room on their own on a night like that," he said.
Federal Document Clearing House Saturday, February 7, 1998; Page A10. Following is an extract of the transcript of a news conference yesterday with President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair:
Clinton: On Libya, 10 years later, we haven't forgotten the victims of the bombing of Pan Am 103 in the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland, or their loved ones. We'll not rest until Libya complies with the requirements of the world community and surrenders for trial in the United States or Scotland the two Libyans accused of that brutal crime.
Libya regards air
embargo as worst sanction``It was apparent to the mission that the Libyans consider the sanctions ... as 'illegal' and unjust and want them to be lifted immediately,'' thereport said. ``In their meetings with the mission, the Libyan officials elaborated in some detail on the adverse impact that the air embargo was having on the economy, particularly on the health, social and agricultural sectors.''
The freeze on assets was mentioned by the governor of the central bank, not so much because of its effect on the humanitarian situation as that on the overall economy. ``However, no mention was made of the arms embargo and the reduction and restriction of Libyan diplomatic and consular missions abroad. Similarly, the effect of the sanctions on the oil sector was raised only once by the Libyan officials, and in general terms,'' the report added.
It quoted Libyan officials as saying the air embargo ``had and continues to have a pervasive, adverse impact on the social well-being of the people and the economy of the country.'' ``The mission was told that the most adverse impact of the air embargo was on the health sector,'' the report said, mentioning problems with emergency medical evacuation both within and outside the country; delays in the arrival of urgently needed vaccines and drugs; and difficulties facing medical professionals traveling to and from Libya.
The mission noted that the Security Council's sanctions committee had authorized exceptions in response to humanitarian emergencies but that the Libyan government had not availed itself of them. According to the Libyan government, the country's economic situation had deteriorated during the last five years of sanctions, with a decline in the gross domestic product and foreign direct investment, while unemployment had increased from one percent in 1992 to 12 percent in 1996.
The spokesman added that, during his meeting with US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Cook will ask for the resumption of ordinary trade relations from London. ArabicNews.com attempted to confirm this report with British embassy officials, three days ago, who expressed a lack of awareness of the issue, however a BBC report yesterday confirmed Cook's visit to the US to address US unilateral penalties over foreign trade with Iran, among other topics.
The Council is looking to World Governments to support the Symposium which will have as its theme 'A Generation for Peace'. Speaking after the meeting Councillor Allan T Baldwick the convener of the council said:
"Dumfries and Galloway Council wishes to recognise the forthcoming
anniversary in a sensitive and appropriate way. I have had discussions
with my counterparts in America to ensure that we work together, and in
close liasion with the victims families and their communities. I beleive
the proposal we have agreed is the best way to mark this anniversary and
as it is a suggestion from young people we think it is a positive and helpful
step."
Read more about the project
here.
The town's two councillors, Marjory McQueen and Stephen Berry, spoke out yesterday after it became known that Dumfries and the Galloway Council convener, Allan Baldwick, had held talks with American victims' families and senior political figures about a possible presidential visit. Speaking yesterday, the ninth anniversary of the disaster, Mrs McQueen said: "The people of Lockerbie want the tenth anniversary to be marked with quiet dignity and with no razzmatazz. "
Read all about what they say about Clinton coming to Lockerbie in 1998...
22/12/1997
Sean Connery is considering making a film based on the Lockerbie disaster
with himself in the role of the Scottish police chief in charge of the
investigation, it emerged yesterday.
Dr Jim Swire, spokesman for the relatives of victims of the disaster, confirmed that script-writers had contacted him and his wife Jane, and approached people in Lockerbie.
"It shows they have a responsible attitude," said Dr Swire, whose 24-year-old daughter, Flora, died in the explosion. "Although it is classed as a drama documentary, I think it may have a helping hand to play in sorting out the enigmas surrounding Lockerbie."
Connery, 66, was said yesterday to have channelled his idea for the movie through his American-based production company, Fountainbridge Films. Connery is considering playing the role of John Orr, the main Lockerbie detective at the time of the investigation, who has since been appointed Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police.
Dr Swire said: "Basically we feel they are doing it responsibly. I am delighted Sean Connery is backing it. "I have always thought many of the answers about Lockerbie would come through Scotland in some way." Dr Swire said he understood the cost of such a project could be $50-100m (£31m-£61m).Backing for the project by a star of Connery's stature could only help the chances of the film eventually being made, he added.
There are also extremely powerful reasons why the truth must never be allowed to come out now. The fact that the Libyans have offered trial in a neutral country under Scots law as a reasonable compromise which is rejected out of hand every time it's raised by Britain and America, I think, looks increasingly suspicious," he said.
Dr Swire said that a "senior Iranian official who defected to Germany" and a founder of the overseas Iranian intelligence service said that he knew who was responsible for the bombing of Flight 103. "Indeed, I have a page of names of Iranians who I think were responsible," he added.
"If Libya has been framed then it also means the sanctions are totally unjust," he said. "If America and Britain are guilty of having imposed sanctions unreasonably upon Libya purely as a matter of international political convenience, heaven knows what restitution should be made to Libya if the truth should come out."
Press here to listen to dr. Swire
More about the work of dr. Jim Swire
(picture
left:) Flowers in memory of US Lockerbie victim Patricia Mary Coyle, at
Arlington Cemetery in Virginia.
21/12/1997 Nine years after PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Scotland, relatives of those who died have launched a petition demanding that the Government does more to ensure that two Libyan suspects face a trial.
They are urging the Government to offer a trial under Scottish legal procedures, but in a neutral country. Instead of a jury there would be a panel of judges chaired by a Scot. MP Tom Dalyell, who was at the launch of the petition, said the Lord Advocate Lord Hardie should take no role in deciding where the trial should be held.
Mr Dalyell said Lord Hardie should step aside in proceedings because he had been a crown lawyer at the "deeply unsatisfactory" fatal accident inquiry into the bombing.
Left-wing Labor lawmaker Tam Dalyell will present the petition to Parliament next year.
In Edinburgh on Sunday, a minute's silence in memory of the dead preceded a news conference held by the victims' relatives. ``Those who died are the losers in every way. They lost their future -- and the average age of the people who died was 27,'' said Jean Berkley, who lost her son, Alastair.
Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the crash, said the relatives had hoped Britain's new Labor government, which came to power in May, would change the government's position on a trial for the Libyans, ``but we have heard exactly the same phrases coming over again.'' ``Unless the British government change their position, there is not going to be a trial. The Libyans are not going to come to this country for trial, they have said so repeatedly,'' Swire said.
Edinburgh University law professor Robert Black and Dr. David Fieldhouse, a forensic medicine expert, repeated calls for an independent inquiry into the disaster. They said the fatal accident inquiry held under Scottish legal procedures was ``flawed'' because it excluded such areas as intelligence and some aspects of aviation security in Britain.
The family's spokesman, Jim Swire, believes there may never be a fair trial unless the Government is more flexible about its venue. Earlier, he told BBC News 24 that he believed Iran, not Libya, may have been behind the bomb.
As usual the White House in Washington found time to issue a statement regarding the remembrance of the crash of Pan Am 103 as the 21st of December came about once more. Also the Secretary of State in the USA issued a statement.
18th
and 19th December 1997
ABC's news programme NIGHTLINE featured the Lockerbie-crash by airing two special programmes. The series were called THE KEEPERS and were shown on the 18th and the 19th December 1997 at American ABC in the evenings.
Host Ted Koppel talked with the relatives of the victims and citizens of Lockerbie as he remembered the crash of Pan Am 103 and the lives that were lost on that day in 1988. Among his guests was artist and mother of victim, Sue Loewenstein, well known for her elegy sculputures at Syracuse University.
Press here to see more about THE KEEPERS and
get the transcripts from the show
Read the news and notices
from September the 22nd 1997 to December the 18th 1997
Read the news and notices
from between 15.5.1997 to 21.9.1997
Read the news and notices
from before 14.5.1997
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