Gadhafi says convicted Lockerbie bomber innocent
Last Updated: Thursday, February 1, 2001 | 6:19 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Libyan secret agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted by a special Scottish court of planting the bomb and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
- FROM JAN. 31, 2001: One guilty, one acquitted in Lockerbie trial
Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, while en route from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York.
Bombing suspects
All 259 people on board and 11 more on the ground were killed. Two Canadians were among the dead.
Gadhafi made his comments after greeting Megrahi's co-accused, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, who was acquitted and flew home from the Netherlands.
Megrahi's lawyers have two weeks to file an appeal.
Relatives demand justice
In the wake of the ruling Libya had indicated it would consider compensating the families. But officials said they want to wait for the outcome of the appeal first.
The verdict has brought little closure to many of the families of the Lockerbie victims.
At a press conference in London Thursday, British relatives called for a public inquiry into many unanswered questions.
Moammar Gadhafi
"For many of us it would help to know the identity and motives of those who ordered the murder of our loved ones. How they did it and why they weren't prevented from doing so," said Jim Swire who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing.
Swire says he's also troubled by evidence about the electronic timing device used to trigger the bomb.
He says it's possible another type of device was used – one which could implicate a Palestinian extremist.
Few believe Megrahi acted alone and they blame Gadhafi.
American relatives of Lockerbie victims are pushing ahead with a $10 billion civil suit against the Libyan government.
They believe that's the best way of holding Libya to account for what they say is a blatant case of state-sponsored terrorism.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- The family of a Toronto woman who lost her life in pursuit of her lifelong dream to climb Mount Everest is asking the Canadian government to help pay the cost of bringing her body back to Canada. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Foreign investment review threshold rising to $1 billion
- The federal government is raising to $1 billion the amount of foreign money that can go into a Canadian company before the investment is reviewed. more »
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- Organ donation advocate Hèlène Campbell of Ottawa made her second appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, but her first since undergoing a double-lung transplant. more »
Latest World News Headlines
- Man faces murder charge in 33-year-old missing boy case
- A former New York City convenience store clerk is now accused of murdering one of the first missing children to ever appear on a milk carton. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Neil Macdonald: How compromise became a dirty word in Washington
- As brinkmanship becomes the norm in this U.S. election year, some policy analysts, and even some long-serving Republicans, are calling out today's GOP for practising 'the new politics of extremism.' more »
- Tsunami motorcycle heading to Harley museum in Milwaukee
- The Harley-Davidson motorcycle that drifted across the Pacific Ocean after the tsunami last year will be put on display at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company announced Friday. more »
Dispatches »
- Foreign slaves serving the U.S. military machine May. 24, 2012 3:33 PM How does a hairdresser recruited for work in Dubai, wind up slaving for the U.S. military in a war zone in Iraq? There are tens of thousands serving in what's come to be known as America's "Invisible Army."
Connect Newsroom Blog
Etan Patz Arrest, Helene Campbell & Facebook Flop May. 24, 2012 8:54 PM Three decades after a U.S. child Etan Patz disappeared, an arrest has finally been made.
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- SpaceX capsule captured by Canadarm2
- Coffee prices get jolt in jittery economy
- Gatineau police to question man in multiple homicides




