Eben Harrell: Will a Fresh Look at the Lockerbie Case Find New Evidence?
[Eben Harrell is London correspondent for TIME magazine.]
It was a moment of revulsion for some of the family members of those who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan-Am flight 103: the only person convicted in the attack, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, being set free and receiving a hero's welcome on the tarmac in his native Libya. Now, two months after al-Megrahi's controversial release, Scottish police are diving back into the two-decade-old investigation in hopes of identifying the former Libyan intelligence officer's suspected accomplices — and providing some peace of mind to relatives of the 270 people killed in the attack.
Police confirmed on Sunday that they would take a fresh look at the evidence in the bombing case after a British newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph, reported that family members had received an e-mail from the Crown Office, Scotland's prosecuting authority, saying police were looking into several possible new leads. The paper said authorities decided to look into the case again after al-Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, dropped his final appeal before the Scottish government released him in August.
Stuart Henderson, the former detective chief superintendent who led the original Lockerbie investigation, tells TIME that the new review will likely focus on eight suspects in the bombing who were never interviewed during the original inquiry. Henderson intimated that the men were all Libyans and that police had been prevented from questioning them in their initial investigation by Libya's leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. "We identified other people who we wished to interview at the time but we never got the chance because of you know who," he says.
Pat Shearer, the chief constable of the Dumfries and Galloway police, issued a statement Monday saying that Libya would continue to be at the center of the investigation. He said investigators were basing their work on the premise established during al-Megrahi's trial that he "acted in furtherance of the Libyan Intelligence Service and did not act alone."
Police are keeping quiet on whether there is any new evidence in the case or whether the FBI will be involved, as it was in the original investigation. But in the e-mail that the Crown Office sent to family members in September, Lindsey Miller, a senior prosecutor, suggested that investigators had been examining forensic evidence and that several leads showed promise. "Please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open' case," she wrote.
It's unclear whether Libya will cooperate with any further inquiries. In 2003, the country formally accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, paying $2.7 billion in compensation to the relatives of those who died. Since then, however, Libyan officials have denied culpability and suggested that the payout was made as part of its recent efforts to normalize relations with the West...
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It was a moment of revulsion for some of the family members of those who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan-Am flight 103: the only person convicted in the attack, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, being set free and receiving a hero's welcome on the tarmac in his native Libya. Now, two months after al-Megrahi's controversial release, Scottish police are diving back into the two-decade-old investigation in hopes of identifying the former Libyan intelligence officer's suspected accomplices — and providing some peace of mind to relatives of the 270 people killed in the attack.
Police confirmed on Sunday that they would take a fresh look at the evidence in the bombing case after a British newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph, reported that family members had received an e-mail from the Crown Office, Scotland's prosecuting authority, saying police were looking into several possible new leads. The paper said authorities decided to look into the case again after al-Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, dropped his final appeal before the Scottish government released him in August.
Stuart Henderson, the former detective chief superintendent who led the original Lockerbie investigation, tells TIME that the new review will likely focus on eight suspects in the bombing who were never interviewed during the original inquiry. Henderson intimated that the men were all Libyans and that police had been prevented from questioning them in their initial investigation by Libya's leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. "We identified other people who we wished to interview at the time but we never got the chance because of you know who," he says.
Pat Shearer, the chief constable of the Dumfries and Galloway police, issued a statement Monday saying that Libya would continue to be at the center of the investigation. He said investigators were basing their work on the premise established during al-Megrahi's trial that he "acted in furtherance of the Libyan Intelligence Service and did not act alone."
Police are keeping quiet on whether there is any new evidence in the case or whether the FBI will be involved, as it was in the original investigation. But in the e-mail that the Crown Office sent to family members in September, Lindsey Miller, a senior prosecutor, suggested that investigators had been examining forensic evidence and that several leads showed promise. "Please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open' case," she wrote.
It's unclear whether Libya will cooperate with any further inquiries. In 2003, the country formally accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing, paying $2.7 billion in compensation to the relatives of those who died. Since then, however, Libyan officials have denied culpability and suggested that the payout was made as part of its recent efforts to normalize relations with the West...