Libya’s ex-FM: Lockerbie bombing case was settled long ago

Libya’s ex-Foreign Minister, Mohammed Sayala, said the Lockerbie bombing case was settled by Libya with the US and UK years ago with the knowledge of the UN Security Council.

Sayala told reporters that any attempts to revive the case would open “hell of a door of compensation calls” on Libya.

These remarks came after the statement of current Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush, who said the Government of National Unity would cooperate with US and extradite Lockerbie-wanted Libyan national, Abu Ajila Massoud, adding in an interview with the BBC that there are positive results in this regard as the government understands and pain and grief of the families of the victims but needs to respect the laws.

US officials say Massoud, who was an intelligence officer and had been jailed in Libya for cases not related to Lockerbie, helped make the bomb that blasted the plane over Lockerbie. He was accused in the US of crimes related to terrorism.

Pam Am Flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 en route from London to New York, carrying mostly Americans on their way home for Christmas.

Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was jailed for life in 2001 after being found guilty of the murder of 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie.

In 2003, then-Muammar Gaddafi accepted his country’s responsibility for the bombing and paid compensation to the victims’ families, but he did not admit personally ordering the attack.

Megrahi’s family and some relatives of the Scottish victims have always doubted his guilt.