18 - 24 January 2001
Issue No.517
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 18 - 24 January 2001 Issue No.517 |
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Reasonable doubt
Although all they have to do is cast sufficient doubt, lawyers for the two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, went through the evidence point by point to reveal the holes in the prosecution's case.
Al-Megrahi, right, and Fhimah listen to the prosecution's closing arguments
(photo: AP)
The defence lawyers had to conclude their case without a document that they had hoped to obtain from Syria, allegedly linking the Palestinian militant group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) to the bombing of the Pan Am flight. Syrian officials said the state was not involved in the case, and that any such requests should be made directly to the Damascus-based PFLP-GC. The radical Palestinian group had also denied any link to the bombing in which 270 people were killed.
Even so, defence attorney William Taylor asserted that before the court could find the accused guilty of the bombing, the judges had to be completely sure that the involvement of the PFLP-GC was irrelevant. And, he painted a picture of an organisation which had the means and the motive to plant a bomb aboard an American airliner.
To support his argument about the PFLP-GC's involvement, Taylor cited the arrest of a number of PFLP-GC members in Neuss, Germany who were subsequently discovered to have in their possession a schedule of Pan Am flights and some unused Lufthansa baggage labels. Taylor suggested the labels could have been used to put an unaccompanied bag aboard a Lufthansa flight before it was transferred to the ill-fated plane. The scenario presented by the prosecution puts the beginning of the bag's journey at the Malta Airport, where the two Libyan defendants worked for Libyan Airlines.
Most importantly, members of the PFLP-GC cell arrested in Germany were found to have the same kind of bomb which prosecutors said was later used for the Lockerbie bombing. This bomb was concealed in the same manner: it was encased in a Toshiba cassette recorder which was placed in a Samsonite suitcase.
Taylor suggested that the PFLP-GC certainly had more than one bomb maker and that even though little of the bomb had been recovered, "it is too much of a coincidence that the same material was used two months later. This is relevant information that points away from the accused."
The gaps that Taylor pointed out in the prosecution's case were manifold said jurists watching the trial. For instance the "Malta-link," as it is called by insiders, has not been proven. A few weeks ago the Scottish law professor Robert Black, who during the 1990s was one of those in favour of trying the Libyans in a neutral country under Scottish law, said that no evidence has been submitted that proves the bag carrying the bomb started it's journey at Luqa Airport in Malta.
Just where the bag began its journey is key. The prosecution says Abdel-Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, 48, and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, were Libyan secret agents who used Fhimah's position as a former manager of Arab Libyan Airlines in Malta to introduce the bag in the system at Luqa Airport. It was then sent to London, via Frankfurt, to be placed on Pan Am flight 103. But Taylor made clear in his summation that security at Luqa was tight, with an effective system to count and recount bags. The number of bags on board the flight to Frankfurt matched the passenger check-in record. And he said there is no evidence that Al-Megrahi and Fhimah really were members of the Libyan intelligence services.
Quoting testimony given by an employee at Frankfurt Airport, Taylor reiterated the defence's point that security there was lax. "It cannot be ruled out that a bag could be added to the baggage cart in Frankfurt," the witness had said.
As for the bomb used, Taylor emphasised that much remains unknown. Although semtex was the substance that was probably used, there is no incontrovertible proof that this was used in the bomb. He suggested that a fragment of a timer found among the crash debris had been tampered with before it was sent for forensic examination and showed that notes about its discovery had been added later. "Irregularities and peculiarities attached to this item are such that the court ought to have some hesitation in being satisfied as to the item's provenance," he said.
After the defence closes its arguments, which it is expected to do by the end of this week, the three Scottish judges will adjourn. Jurists at the trial expect they will not take long to come to a decision. Judges will have to choose among three verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not proven.
Observers at the trial say the judges are under a great deal of pressure. If the two accused are acquitted, Libya can sue the world community for damages resulting from eight years of sanctions imposed on Libya due to its alleged involvement in the crime.
If the Libyans are found guilty -- and there are not many observers at Camp Zeist who believe this will happen -- they face the possibility of a life sentence in a Scottish jail. Mohamed Ali Al-Megrahi, the eldest brother of one of the accused, said in an interview with the Dutch daily Trouw that he will move to Scotland if this is the outcome of the trial.
The families of the two Libyans have been watching the trial closely since it began in May 2000, but had not commented on it before. Two of the Megrahi brothers are now living in Holland, visiting Abdel-Basset in jail on a daily basis. The trial has had grave consequences for their family, Mohamed Al-Megrahi said. Their children have been harassed at school, are failing exams, and the families have lost friends blaming Abdel-Basset for the sanctions Libya has had to endure. Al-Megrahi links the death of Fhimah's mother following a heart attack in 1999 to the extradition of her son before the trial. Also the families have had to sell property and land to be able to be present at Camp Zeist.
"It is the waiting that is the worst," said Al-Megrahi. But as bad as the position of the defendants families is, Al-Megrahi said that the families of the 270 crash victims are the most deserving of sympathy. "My brother is in jail, but he is alive. They lost their relatives, and will perhaps never find the truth about how and why this happened.''
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