The History of The Lockerbie Bombing

270 people were killed in the terrorist bombing; 11 on the ground in Lockerbie and all 259 on board the Pan Am flight. The Lockerbie bombing claimed not only these lives but brought devastation to the families and friends of the victims, both in Britain and the United States. Investigators from both Britain and America were soon involved looking into the cause of the explosion and working to identify suspects behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.

On 13th November 1991 the US and British investigators identified two Libyans, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalida Fhimah, accusing them of 270 counts of murder, as well as conspiracy to murder and of violating the 1982 Aviation Security Act. Both suspects were in Libya and the governments of US and UK demanded that they were brought to stand trial in Scotland.

The Libyan government, led by Colonel Gaddafi, refused the request to send the accused men to a Scotland court. This prompted the UN to impose sanctions on Libya until it was finally agreed that Megrahi and Fhimah would be stand trial in a neutral country acting under Scottish law. They were taken into custody in the Netherlands on April 5th, 1999 to stand trial in a specially convened Scottish court.

The trial over the Lockerbie bombing began in May 2000. After nearly 9 months, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted on all counts and was sentenced to serve life imprisonment, being told that he must serve a minimum of 20 years. Lamen Khalifa Fhimah was found not guilty and was released,.

Throughout his imprisonment Megrahi has protested his innocence, insisting he had no involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. He has launched several appeals since the time of his conviction.

In June 2007 the UK government struck a prisoner exchange deal with the Libyan government. At the time they insisted that the Lockerbie Bomber was not included in this exchange program and would remain serving his sentence in a Scottish prison.

October 2008 saw lawyers announce that the Lockerbie bomber, Megrahi, was suffering from terminal prostate cancer.  As a result Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released from prison on compassionate grounds, on 20 August 2009, after serving seven years, five months and four days of his life sentence. On his release, Megrahi offered his condolences to the people of Lockerbie and the families of those who had lost their life in the terrorist attack. He continued to protest his innocence in the Lockerbie bombing and expressed regret that his appeal could not continue.

The decision to release Megrahi, the biggest mass murderer in Britain’s history, has been criticised around the world. US president Barak Obama described the decision as “a mistake”. Megrahi returned to Libya to crowds of several thousand people gathered in celebration, waving Libyan and Scottish flags.

The decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds by the Scottish governments has been called into question by senior political figures across the globe. There are claims of a secret oil deal between the Libyan and UK governments or an attempt to improve political relations between Britain and Libya. The UK government has refuted these claims entirely.