Jim Swire and Robert Black in Egypt to discuss Lockerbie trial
TRIPOLI, June 24 (AFP) - A Libyan airliner flew to the capital of Chad, Ndjamena, from Tripoli and back on Tuesday, violating the UN air embargo imposed on Libya in 1992, a Libyan source said Wednesday.
The plane left the Libyan capital in the morning and returned later in the day with a number of senior Chad officials, the source said.
An air embargo was imposed on Libya by the United Nations six years ago for its refusal to hand over two Libyans suspected of carrying out the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
15 June 1998: A TOP international lawyer involved in the Lockerbie bombing case foiled an armed man's apparent attempt to break into his Stellenbosch lodgings. Lawyer Robert Black - best known for his efforts in seeking a solution to the diplomatic impasse between the US and Libya over the Lockerbie bombers.
"I heard someone trying the door handle, so I contacted the police on my cellphone," Black said. "They were there quickly. There was shooting outside, but I stayed under the bed." Stellenbosch police spokesman Anton de Kock said police came across a man outside the building. The man fired at them and fled. (News taken from Sunday Times)
6/11/98 Secretary-General of the Arab League Esmat Abdul Meguid will leave on Sunday for a five-day official visit to Britain. The AL chief will hold talks with UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and with Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Derek Fatchett on issues of mutual concern. Well-informed sources said the question of Lockerbie will be among the issues Abdul Meguid will discuss with British officials, following talks with James Swire, official spokesman for families of Lockerbie victims, at the AL and in Libya.
WASHINGTON, June 11 - The United States has denounced as a direct attack on the United Nations the decision by the Organisation of African Unity to ignore some sanctions imposed on Libya. The State Department called on African countries to disregard the decision announced on Tuesday at an OAU summit in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The OAU said African leaders decided to ask member states to ignore sanctions with humanitarian or religious implications and those relating to official OAU business. The decision was hailed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. State Department spokesman James Rubin said: ``We are extremely disturbed by this short-sighted action, which constitutes a direct assault on the authority of the Security Council...it is thus an attack on the U.N. system itself.''
Rubin said U.N. sanctions had been essential to resolving African conflicts in Mozambique, Angola and South Africa. ``For sanctions to remain an effective tool in resolving disputes everywhere, countries cannot pick and choose which sanctions they will observe,'' Rubin said in a statement dated on Wednesday. He said the U.N. sanctions against Libya, which include an air embargo, already contained provisions for approving ``appropriate'' humanitarian and religious flights.
Rubin said the OAU decision made it less likely that the issue would be resolved ``because it may lead Gaddafi to conclude mistakenly that he no longer has to comply with Security Council resolutions.'' ``We call upon OAU members...to disregard this action by the OAU,'' he said. ``We also call upon the OAU to rescind this irresponsible resolution.''
Read the official US statement and Rubin's commen tin full HERE
But the British government says the resolution does not alter the fact that Security Council resolutions are binding on all members of the United Nations. British officials said they would not support a lifting of the sanctions until Libya complied with Security Council resolutions requiring it to co-operate with British and American judicial authorities.
It was important for the authority of council resolutions to be upheld, they said, while declining to comment on possible action against countries which ignored them. The BBC Diplomatic Correspondent says that while the OAU does not have the right to lift UN sanctions, the resolution is a further erosion of the hardline American and British position against Libya.
Jun 10, 1998 - Libya´s Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday praised an announcement by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to ignore certain sanctions imposed on Libya for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie. In a statement at the end of an OAU summit in Burkina Faso on Tuesday, OAU heads of state asked member states to ignore sanctions with humanitarian or religious implications and those relating to official OAU business.
``This decision expresses Africa's respect for itself,'' the official Libyan news agency JANA quoted Gaddafi as saying at a meeting with Maghreb politicians.
Jun 10, 1998 Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim said a decision by African leaders to defy certain U.N. sanctions imposed on Libya was not a challenge but an expression of frustration.
``This was not an easy decision. This was not a decision that was taken lightly. No-one desires a confrontation, especially a confrontation with the more powerful countries,'' Salim told Reuters Television in an interview on Wednesday. ``At the same time, this is an African problem. Libya is an African country... so my hope is that a solution somehow can be found,'' he added after the closure of the 34th OAU summit in Burkina Faso.
The summit asked OAU members to ignore sanctions blocking emergency humanitarian aid, performance of religious duties -- the Moslem pilgrimage to Mecca -- or official OAU business. ``For moral and religious reasons and with immediate effect the OAU and its member states will henceforth no longer respect sanctions imposed on Libya which prevent the observance of religious obligations, the supply of emergency humanitarian aid and the respect of statutory OAU obligations,'' host President and new OAU Chairman Blaise Compaore told the closing session of the summit.
He said that the OAU was asking the U.N. Security Council to lift all the sanctions without delay following a ruling by the International Court of Justice in the Hague that it was competent to hear the case against the two Libyans. The Council is due to reconsider the issue in July. Salim said that the OAU condemned the bombing. ``Throughout the crisis we have always believed that there is a need to do justice. We want to see justice to be done,'' he said.
Salim rejected suggestions that the African leaders were bluffing and said that it was in the interests of everyone to allow the trial to go ahead in a neutral country, adding that some families of those killed in the blast now accepted this. ``There is a genuine frustration. There is a feeling of hopelessness that everything has been done, every effort has been made,'' he said, noting that the sanctions were hurting the Libyan people. ``The African leaders came to the conclusion that it was about time to say enough is enough,'' he said.
Salim stressed that the African leaders were not seeking confrontation on the issue. ``I think the world should interpret the African leaders' decision not as a challenge... but clearly as a desire to ask them to reconsider the sanctions resolution which is of no benefit to anyone,'' he added. South Africa's Nelson Mandela, who bade a pre-retirement farewell to the OAU, said before leaving that the summit fully backed Libya's current stance in its dispute with Britain and the United States over the Lockerbie bombing. ``The sanctions are hitting the masses. Our brother leader Muammar Gaddafi has made it clear that he is prepared to deliver suspects for trial to a neutral country,'' he told journalists.
``We are in full agreement with Libya on this matter and we see no reason why these sanctions should be supported any longer,'' he said.
June 8-9, 1998 A special Organisation of African Unity (OAU) committee has called on the UN Security Council to suspend sanctions immediately against Libya and it has warned that the OAU could pass a resolution ending compliance with UN sanctions.
The call came at a meeting of the OAU's council of ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, yesterday, a source at the meeting said. The issue was expected to be discussed at a meeting of OAU heads of state which begins today, to be attended by President Nelson Mandela.
The committee, set up to address Libya's dispute with the US and UK over the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, also recommended that the OAU and its member states not enforce certain sanctions with immediate effect. These included sanctions pertaining to observation of religious beliefs, actions in response to humanitarian emergencies and official OAU business. The source said there was "an overwhelming call" by the council of ministers, after a briefing by the committee, for the OAU to look into "the matter of sanctions against Libya". The committee welcomed a ruling by the International Court of Justice earlier this year that it was competent to deal with the Lockerbie case and called on the UN to suspend sanctions until the court had "delivered its final ruling". The committee said "the OAU reserves the right to adopt resolutions that would put an end to compliance with the sanctions against Libya in view of the harsh economic … effects".
The dispute was "not a political issue but a legal issue that must be addressed through legal channels". Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo, who was at yesterday's council meeting, has previously called for an end to UN sanctions against Libya. He said ahead of an official visit to Libya by Mandela last year that a Libyan guarantee that the suspects in the bombing would stand trial in a neutral country should be sufficient for UN sanctions to be dismantled.
The Organisation of African Unity announced then on Tuesday that it would ignore certain sanctions imposed on Libya, effectively clearing the way for Muammar Gaddafi to defy an air embargo to join its annual summit. OAU spokesman and Assistant Secretary-General Pascal Gayama told a news conference that the leaders had decided on Monday to request that member states ignore sanctions with humanitarian or religious implications and those relating to official OAU business.
Asked if Gaddafi could now fly to the summit with the full support of his fellow heads of state, Gayama replied: ``That for us would be fully legal,'' he said. It was not clear whether Gaddafi planned to arrive before the three-day summit closes on Wednesday. The leaders appealed to the U.N. Security Council to suspend all the sanctions, which were imposed to force Libya to surrender two of its nationals for trial in Britain or the United States for the 1998 bombing of an airliner over Scotland.
Gayama said that the suspension should last until the International Court of Justice had been able to try the case against the two men. The OAU says that Libya has shown flexibility over the case, which has not been reciprocated.
4 June 1998: The Arab League's Council on Arab Economic Unity has called for an end to the international sanctions against Iraq and Libya. The eleven-member council says that an end to the sanctions would facilitate an Arab common market and alleviate the suffering of the Libyan and Iraqi peoples. According to the Arab League, sanctions cost the Libyan economy more than twenty-three billion dollars between 1992 and 1996.
OUAGADOUGOU, June 4/1998 - Africa's leaders hold their annual summit in Burkina Faso next week as border fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia provides a fresh test of their ability to make peace on the continent.
Other issues on the agenda of the three-day summit will include U.N. sanctions imposed on Libya in 1992 to force it to hand over two Libyans for trial in Britain or the United States for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Scotland.
Africa favours a lifting of sanctions and a Libyan compromise -- trial in a third country in Europe. Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been enjoying something of comeback in Africa. Gaddafi, should he turn up, will be attending his first OAU summit in over 15 years.
June 1st/1998 The Organisation of African Unity has joined efforts to resolve the deadlock over the trial of two Libyans accused of involvement in blowing up an American airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. The Zimbabwean foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, whose country holds the OAU presidency, has held talks in London with his British counterpart, Robin Cook.
Mr Mudenge is backing an Arab League proposal that Scottish lawyers try the case in a neutral country. The proposal has been rejected by Britain and the United States. A group representing the families of the Lockerbie victims has welcomed the OAU initiative.
14/05/1998 Ian Black on a mother's search for truth behind PanAm tragedy.... The mother of a British victim of the Lockerbie disaster is going to the High Court after failing to force an inquest to reveal more about the case. Nearly 10 years after PanAm flight 103 exploded, killing 270 people, Elizabeth Wright, a London psychiatrist, is seeking judicial review of the decision of a Sussex coroner that he could not conduct an inquest on her son Andrew.
Andrew Gillies-Wright, then 24, was flying to New York for Christmas when he died on December 21, 1988. He was cremated and his ashes interred in South Lancing, West Sussex. Dr Wright, like other Lockerbie relatives seeking movement after years of impasse, agreed to act as a test case, but was told "the lawfully cremated remains of a person (that is that person's ashes) do not constitute 'a body' for the purpose of... jurisdiction."
The British families want an inquest to raise questions which were not answered in the Scottish fatal accident inquiry in Dumfries.Those include events on the ground after the incident, whether intelligence agencies had warned of an attack, and how it was that initial suspicions that Iran, Syria or Palestinians were responsible gave way to charges against Libya.
Gareth Pierce, Dr Wright's solicitor, said: "There is potentially clear and compelling evidence setting out a scenario so different from the one that has been officially presented that it's a continuing national and international disgrace that it remains hidden, and that it falls to the families of the victims to unravel it."
Behind the legal arguments being prepared by Ms Pierce and Michael Mansfield, QC, lies the pain of bereaved families whose hope of seeing justice is diminishing almost a decade after the crime. "It shows what sort of position we find ourselves in when we have to discuss whether a cremated human being is a body," said Pam Dix, spokesperson for UK Families Flight 103.
She added: "We were not satisfied with the fatal accident inquiry, and we see the inquest as one way to further our quest to find out exactly what happened... We want information, not blame. "We know intelligence won't be openly discussed in any court, but we would like to see how far we could go in getting these matters aired."
Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, died in the bombing, returned from Libya last month with "strong assurances" that the suspects would be handed over for trial in a neutral country. He accused the Government of "following slavishly in America's slipstream", despite the comment by Nelson Mandela that no nation should be "complainant, prosecutor and judge".
Roger Stone, the West Sussex coroner, wrote after refusing an inquest on Mr Gillies-Wright: "I hope, given time, that Dr Wright and other members of the family will find it possible to come to terms with their son's tragic death and take comfort from the loving memories they no doubt hold of him."
TUNIS, May 13 1998 - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli on Wednesday and called for lifting sanctions imposed on Libya over the Lockerbie affair, state-run Libyan radio said.
Libyan radio said Mugabe arrived in the Libyan capital on Tuesday and that the meeting was attended by the two countries' foreign affairs ministers. It did not elaborate. ``It is time for us to say the sanctions must stop,' ' Mugabe said in a taped statement on Tuesday night at a ceremony where he received Libya's highest decoration, the medal of the ``Great al-Fateh'' for his struggle against colonialism.
``The sanctions have no justification,' ' he added.
A press release from a tribe of American natives has been sent to the offices of United Nations. The press release follows a resolution adopted by the Indigenous Chiefs at Oglala College in South Dakota by members of the Sioux-tribes. The resolution condemns the use of sanctions by the UN and the American government against Libya, following the downing of Pan Am 103 ten years earlier:
May 8, 1998
URGENT DIPLOMATIC DISPATCH
----------------------------------
Official Business
TO:
United Nations - Geneva, Working Group on Indigenous People
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization - Hague
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - Tripoli
US Senate - Washington, DC
The following is a RESOLUTION adopted unanimously and signed by 51
Indigenous Chiefs and authorized Ambassadors and Spokesmen, May 7,
1998, at Oglala Lakota College, South Dakota
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING LIBYAN ARAB PEOPLES JAMAHIRIYA
----------------------------------------------------
CONDEMNING GENOCIDAL UN SANCTIONS
-----------------------------------
May 7,1998, International War Crimes Tribunal, Lakota Nation (USA)
(Lakota hosts, guests Tlingit Nation, Huron, Azteca, Mexica, Zapoteca,
Aleut, Cherokee, Shuswap, Stoney, Cheyenne - official Delegates to UN
Committee on Human Rights Abuses - Rudy James, Chairman)
Whereas,
The peaceful and sovereign Nation of Libya, known as the
Libyan Arab Peoples Jamahiriya, is suffering GENOCIDAL destruction and
death at the hands of the United States-backed UNITED NATIONS,
Essential medical supplies and Food are being denied to
the innocent and peaceful People of Libya, in North Africa, denying
them basic Human Rights according to the Genocide Convention,
Necessary air transportation is being denied to the
Libyan People in and out of their country, as reported by many
international human rights organizations, and the Arab League,
Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of African Unity, and the Islamic
Conferences, and many other confederations and member nations of the
UN and UNPO, threatening further direct loss of life to critical
patients and medical supplies (see attached 5-page fact sheet on the
Impact of the UN Sanctions, including documentation from the UN's own
Report of the Secretary-General on the Humanitarian consequences -
Health and Social Welfare; Economic consequences - Agricultural and
Animal Husbandry, Transport and Communications, Industry and mining,
Finance and trade, and Energy - Petroleum and Electricty) [attachment
provided upon request to Oglala@hotmail.com],
A minimum of $20 billion of necessary life-sustaining income
has been denied to the Libyan People since 1992, when sanctions were
imposed,
The United States, United Kingdom, and UNITED NATIONS have
imposed these genocidal and arbitrary, illegal measures on Libya
knowing full well who the true perpetrators are of the tragic bombing
in 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which has been
used as a political and religious pretext to punish the sovereign and
independent Libyan People,
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands
ruled on February 27, 1998 that the US and the UK have no legal right
to impose sanctions on Libya,
These sanctions are the same as the ongoing Genocide of 506
years against the sovereign Indigenous Nations of the American
hemisphere - known worldwide among the non-aligned and indigenous
nations as THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST,
Therefore,
Let it be RESOLVED that the undersigned Delegates and
Heads of State of many Indigenous Nations support the Civil Rights of
the Libyan People to worship ALLAH in their own way, and to manage
their own sovereignty and resources with freedom and dignity,
That a Delegation of 10 Chiefs will go to Geneva and
Tripoli, with several news crews, to investigate and document the
grievances submitted by Libya regarding Security Council resolutions
748 (1992) and 883 (1993),
And that if proven true, we will Condemn the murderous
Sanctions killing many Libyan People, who are our brothers and sisters.
[Signatures and Seals affixed, and notarized, LAKOTA NATION]
Submitted by Secretary, David Seals
01/05/1998 An Italian parliamentary source said on Thursday that a 43-member group representing various parties in the Italian Senate on Wednesday signed a memorandum calling on the government to resume relations with Libya and end the UN embargo imposed on it.
The memorandum also demanded full restoration of Libyan relations with the international community, especially with the European Union. The undersigned parties noted the recent decision by the International Court of Justice that it has jurisdiction to hear the Libyan complaint concerning two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing, saying that this new development should lead to a revision of the embargo imposed on Libya.
Among those who signed the memorandum were the chairman of the senate bloc of the Democratic Leftist Party and the chairman of the New Communist Party.
29/04/1998 Labour Member of Parliament Tam Dalyell asked the government to break the deadlock over the Lockerbie disaster and respond to willingness by Libya to send the two suspects for trial in Europe. But Foreign Office minister Derek Fatchett told the House of Commons it would set a bad precedent if individuals or countries accused of terrorist crimes could be tried in the place of their choice.
``The most appropriate place is a Scottish court and the Scottish legal system,'' he said. He also turned down Dalyell's suggestion of an official inquiry into the disaster, saying the publication of evidence would make any subsequent trial impossible. Wednesday's half-hour debate in the House of Commons followed a visit to Libya by Jim Swire.
Swire won Libya's agreement to his proposal for a trial in the Netherlands or another neutral country under Scottish law with an international panel of judges. Dalyell said the Lockerbie case had gone on for nearly 10 years and it was time to be more flexible. ``How long do we let it go on?'' he asked. But Fatchett indicated the British and United States government position was unchanged. He said U.N. experts had certified that the two men would get a fair trial in Scotland.
24/4/1998 Bishop Giovanni Martili, the representative of the Catholic Church in Libya, has called for the lifting of UN sanctions againt Libya because these procedures do not rely on any just basis, he said.
24/4/1998 Dr. Swire returned to Egypt Thursday the 23rd of April and he said the United States and Britain should accept Libya's agreement to have two Libyans tried in a neutral country for the airline bombing which killed 270 people. Swire said the United States and Britain were not doing enough and that he believed the two suspects would not be found guilty if they were given a fair criminal trial.
He was speaking to Reuters in Cairo after talks with Organisation of African Unity (OAU) chief, Salim Ahmed Salim, and Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid on his efforts to have the suspects tried in a neutral country. ``I emerge from this believing the offer from the Libyan government is a genuine offer and I think this is the best option,'' he said. `The problem is my government is not seeking a proposal. What is the point of standing on the touchlines?''
``I believe the Libyan offer is genuine but it cannot come to anything unless the west makes a move,'' Swire said. He said the Libyans had ``seemed positive'' about a proposal to have the United Nations secretary general appoint the judges. ``(British Foreign Secretary) Robin Cook did say at our last meeting that no avenues were closed, and he would consider any reasonable proposal,'' Swire said. ``I think that gives me the go-ahead to explain to him that I believe the Libyan offer is genuine.
``I am sure that if he had looked he would have seen as soon as he took office that the sanctions have no chance of success,'' Swire said. ``One has to come back to the question - why are they so determined to take a position which they must know by now is not going to lead to trial? ``For what it's worth I believe that a prosecution would fail. But I think there is much more to it than that,'' he said.`I have seen material which gives the evidence that would destroy a prosecution case in the first two days of a trial.'' ``But of course it needs to be subjected to the interrogation of a fair criminal court. It's for a court to judge.''
Swire said he had a letter from the German chancellor saying ``his men have no knowledge of the passage of the bomb through Frankfurt airport.'' Asked if he thought the two men accused were guilty, Swire said: ``My strong personal opinion is that if tried they could not be found guilty, but I do need a court to prove this...It must all be examined by a proper criminal court.''
For updated news from dr. Swire - check out the full coverage of dr. Swires trip to Egypt/Libya.
23/4/1998 Dr. Robert Black, the law professor who joined dr. Jim Swire on his journey to Egypt and Libya last week, issued a personal press release at his return to campus in South Africa.
Read the press release from dr. Robert Black
Jim Swire held talks in Libya on Saturday with the justice minister about the trial for two suspects in the attack, Libya's official news agency reported. James Swire, and victims' legal adviser Robert Black met Justice Minister Mohammed Belgasim al-Zuwiy after arriving in Tripoli.
They also met Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a bid to gain support for a trial plan formulated by Black. The most important meeting was held with the Libyan lawyer for Fhima and megrahi in Tripoli, dr. Ibrahim Legwell. Ibrahim Legwell said he told Scottish lawyer Robert Black and Jim Swire, that his two Libyan clients were ready to stand trial under Scottish law in a neutral country.
However, American families of Pan Am 103's victims are less than thrilled about the results of dr. Swire. L. Kreindler, lawyer for some of the US-families is dismissing Swire's achivements and refuses acceptance of Libyan offer. Read more below:
For updated news from dr. Swire - check out the full coverage of dr. Swires trip to Egypt/Libya.
4/20/98 The secretary-general of the Arab League, Esmat Abdul Meguid, will fly to Morocco on April 29 to meet with Moroccan monarch King Hassan II, Prime Minister Abdel Rahman El-Yousefi, and foreign minister Abdel Latif El-Filali.
The Moroccan ambassador in Cairo, Abdel Latif Melin said that Abdul Meguid and King Hassan will discuss the latest developments in the Middle East and the Israeli obstinacy toward the peace process. He also said that Abdul Meguid and Filali will discuss the issue of Arab joint work, and methods of supporting and enhancing it. Abdul Meguid will inform the Moroccan officials on the results of his meeting with a European delegation related with Lockerbie crisis, and on his meeting with the official spokesman for the victims' families, as well as informing them on the latest positions in Somalia.
19th April 1998 - JANA Jim Swire held talks in Libya on Saturday with the Libyan justice minister about the trial for two suspects in the attack, Libya's official news agency reported on the 19th April. James Swire, and victims' legal adviser Robert Black met Justice Minister Mohammed Belgasim al-Zuwiy after arriving in Tripoli.
They discussed suggestions by Swire and Black ``concerning reaching ... a fair and just trial of the two suspects in a neutral country,'' Libya's official news agency, JANA, reported. Swire and Black drove 215 miles from Tunisia to the Libyan capital Saturday, Swire's spokesman, David Ben-Ariyeh, said in London. Swire told Ben-Ariyeh he was grateful for the ``efficient and warm welcome'' they received.
For more news - check out the full coverage of dr. Swires trip to Egypt/Libya.
16/03/1998 Jim Swire has announced he will leave Egypt today to go to Libya for further talks with Libyan officials regarding the breaking of the deadlock over the Lockerbie Crisis. Because of international sanctions on travel to Libya, Dr Swire will fly from Cairo to Rome. He will then fly to Tunis and then on to Djerba, a small airport on the Libyan border, from where he will drive to Tripoli.
For more news - check out the full coverage of dr. Swires trip to Egypt/Libya.
Jim Swire and Robert Black in Egypt to discuss Lockerbie trial15/03/1998English victim-activist dr. Jim Swire and Scottish law professor dr. Robert Black have arrived in Egypt today to lobby with the Arab League in their efforts to find a solution to the ongoing Lockerbie crisis. There they held their first press conference before Arab and foreign press. Dr Swire paid tribute to mining and retail tycoon Tiny Rowland and said the meeting could not have taken place without his support.
He said: "It is imperative that there is dialogue at all levels between the world of Islam and the West."The League is known to have made statements about its position and its willingness to try and reach a resolution of the current impasse. Anybody who furthers the search for truth and justice is worth listening to."
Before leaving on the trip Prof Black said the location for the trial was a "very minor consideration". He said the Libyans believed it would be impossible to find 15 people in Scotland who had not been influenced by media coverage of the bombing and its aftermath.
Dr Swire is desperate to break the deadlock which is preventing a criminal trial because of an impending civil case in the United States. American relatives of the dead are planning to sue for compensation - with frozen Libyan assets being used to pay damages - and much of the evidence about the part played by Libya would be made public as a result.
Dr Swire says this will destroy any chance of a criminal trial taking place.
13/03/1998 Relatives of the British victims of the Lockerbie crash are to meet Arab League officials this week to discuss the current deadlock over the trial of two Libyan suspects. A representative for the families, Dr Jim Swire, will travel to Cairo on Tuesday for the meeting. His daughter Flora was among 270 people killed when a bomb blew up Pan Am flight 103 over the village of Lockerbie in December 1988,
He will be joined by Robert Black, a professor of Scottish law at Edinburgh University, who has proposed the two Libyans should be tried in a neutral country under Scottish law. The Arab League is trying to find a compromise solution to the problem of where the trial should be held. But the British Government is adamant the two suspects, Abdel Basset Ali Al Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, stand trial either in Scotland or the United States.
Dr Swire said: "We will go out there to see if there is any way forward as far as achieving a fair criminal trial is concerned. The Arab League have been looking for a solution which meets the needs of the accused, Britain and America, for as long as we have, and they have agreed, like Libya has agreed, that neutral country trial under Scots law is acceptable." Dr Swire said the visit was "extra urgent" because the chances of a criminal trial could be jeopardised by the families of some American victims who are considering suing for civil damages against Libya.
"This is very serious, as we have a rising tide towards a civil case in America which would almost certainly mean a lot of money would be paid to out to relatives, but it would also mean that justice would not be done nor would be seen to be done," he said. A civil action could see million of pounds from frozen Libyan assets paid out to relatives, including British families. It would rely on the release of evidence compiled against the two Libyans by British and American investigators - but will the evidence hold secret for the last 6 years reach the public in such a trial ?
Dr Swire said he had received a letter from the American lawyers who represented the families in their court case against Pan Am, informing him the British relatives could also claim damages. Last year the Crown Office refused a request from two American relatives, Bert Ammerman and Joe Horgan, to publish the evidence built up against the two suspects. Dr Swire said he would be writing to the Lord Advocate to make sure this position has not changed.
Dr Swire, who met British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook last week, said: "We undoubtedly got it through to him that the absence of truth and justice is adding to the suffering to which the whole group are exposed."
Meanwhile in Egypt this week, Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel Meguid will meet the families of the victims of a 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Arab League welcomed the position of those the victims' families who disapprove on the efforts of the US and Britain to force Libya to hand over the suspects to the two concerned countries.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE FCO PRESS RELEASE: WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL 1998
At a meeting with relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie terrorist bombing today, Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary said: "I was very pleased to see the families again, and we had a useful exchange of views. The Government shares the families' need to see justice done for this atrocity, and we discussed how we plan to achieve this aim. We will not cease our efforts until justice has been done. This has been another opportunity to underline our determination."
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