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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Points of order
By Salah Bassiouni *
The Lockerbie case has been outside national and international legal norms since the very beginning. Legal practice demands that an accusation be based on evidence and witnesses; in this case, the UK and the US meted out accusation, sentence and punishment -- in the form of sanctions -- simultaneously. International civil aviation conventions attribute the right to judge an individual accused of a terrorist act to his country of nationality; in this case, the UK and the US insisted that the suspects be tried in either of the two countries, which was quite rightfully rejected by Libya.
For the past seven years, Libya has rejected the allegations and insisted on its right to judge the suspects before a Libyan court. It accepted the South African-Saudi Arabian mediation initiative only under the supervision of the UN secretary-general, and demanded that the suspects' safety be guaranteed and that they receive a proper defence. These conditions were accepted.
This is the first time that a foreign court applying its own law has convened in another country with a different law.
The points that remain unclear, however, are: if the two suspects are condemned, will Libya also be condemned? If there is an appeal, will it be heard in the Netherlands, or transferred to Scotland?
These points may be legal technicalities; on such technicalities, however, does the fate of the suspects rest.
*This week's Soapbox speaker is an attorney at law and former ambassador.
