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Scottish prosecutors turn their sights on acquitted Lockerbie suspect bomber Fhimah
Scottish prosecutors re-open investigation via Malta inquiry on role of acquitted suspect bomber Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah
21 October 2012, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
2 min read
Acquitted Lockerbie bombing suspect Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah pictured ina Tripoli Mosque shortly after his return to Libya from Camp Zeist in 2001.
Prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing are examining evidence that could implicate Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the Libyan national acquitted of the atrocity, documents obtained by Scottish paper 'Scotland on Sunday' suggested.
The Scottish Crown Office has always maintained that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 bombing, did not act alone. Last month, prosecutors requested new hearings to be held in private in Malta. Scotland on Sunday said today that the basis of the Malta hearings related to the actions of Megrahi, Fhimah and others in the Libyan intelligence services.
The investigation is reportedly focused on the explosive package placed on Air Malta flight KM180, which was allegedly transferred onto Pan Am flight 103, and exploded above the town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people.
Fhimah, a former station manager for Libyan Arab Airlines in Malta, stood trial alongside Megrahi at Camp Zeist. He was acquitted in 2001 by the presiding judge, Lord Sutherland, and returned home to a hero's welcome in Libya.
He could face a new prosecution under double jeopardy legislation passed by the Scottish Government last year.
Yesterday, Scotland's Crown Office refused to say whether Fhimah is one of the people being looked at by the cold case unit as a double jeopardy candidate.
However, documents sent along with a "commission rogatoire" - a formal request for judicial assistance - by the Crown Office to the Attorney General in Malta, reveal he is still in their sights.
The Crown Office declined to disclose details of the letter, following a Freedom of Information request. However, it did include a "summary of facts". In it the Crown said: "The circumstances giving rise to this request are that it is alleged that the said Megrahi and Fhimah, acting in concert with others and with the Libyan intelligence services... caused an improvised explosive device to be placed among clothing and an umbrella, which had been purchased in Malta, within a suitcase which had been tagged so as to enable it to be carried on Air Malta flight KM180 to Frankfurt on 21 December, 1988."
A Crown Office spokesman said: "the court accepted that Megrahi acted in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services in an act of state sponsored terrorism and did not act alone. It would not be appropriate to offer further comment."
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There are a number of worrying issues about this case, not least of all that it is to be held behind closed doors. These are not the actions of an open and democratic society. They are the methods and manners of a tyranny. Megrahi was convicted on the testimony of Gauci. Gauci in turn was paid some 1.5 million US dollars for said testimony. That alone (without the coaching) should have rendered his testimony inadmissible. Hell, give me 1.5 million (inflation adjusted) and I'll tell you that Gauci planted the bomb! This is a shocking travesty of justice. We should all be ashamed of ourselves that we believe the crap we are fed by those who seek to hold power over the masses. Come the revolution.
