NETHERLANDS: HEATHROW AIRPORT SECURITY ISSUE IS RAISED AT THE SUMMING UP OF THE LOCKERBIE BOMBING TRIAL

Record ID: 648588

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: HEATHROW AIRPORT SECURITY ISSUE IS RAISED AT THE SUMMING UP OF THE LOCKERBIE BOMBING TRIAL
  • Date: 17th January 2001
  • Summary: CAMP ZEIST, NETHERLANDS (JANUARY 16, 2001) (REUTERS) 1. SLV POLICE WITH DOGS OUTSIDE COURT; SLV / MV EXTERIOR OF COURT (4 SHOTS) 0.26 2. SLV PAN VAN WITH SUSPECTS ARRIVING 0.34 3. MV ZOOM OUT DEFENCE LAWYER RICHARD KEENE ARRIVING 0.46 4. MV COURT OFFICIAL WITH FAMILY MEMBER ARRIVING 1.02 5. SCU DR JIM SWIRE, FATHER OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS OF THE LOCKERBIE BOMBING 1.08 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR SWIRE "I thought that the prosecution summary last week was excellent, the first part of Mr Taylor's summary on behalf of Megrahi was also extremely well done, and I'm anticipating a very interesting day at which we will hear about the state of security at Heathrow airport amongst other things, which I think you gentlemen will find absorbing." 1.30 7. SLV/MV LIBYAN FAMILY MEMBERS ARRIVING (2 SHOTS) 2.00 8. SCU COURT SKETCHES (3 SHOTS) 2.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ZEIST, NETHERLANDS
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Reuters ID: LVA10VVOCL4Z423V196A9UKJ3F7D
  • Story Text: A leading campaigner in the search for justice for
    Lockerbie victims has said he expects security at London's
    Heathrow airport to be raised in testimony at the Netherlands
    trial on Tuesday.

    William Taylor, lawyer acting for Libyan suspect Abdel
    Basset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, on Tuesday (January 16)
    continued his final day of a mammoth summing up, following
    nearly 70 days of evidence.

    Last week lawyers for the two Libyans accused of mass
    murder for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing criticised security
    practices at Frankfurt airport.

    On Friday, the second day of his summing-up, Taylor,
    counsel for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, highlighted errors and
    omissions in baggage security at Frankfurt airport to support
    his argument that Palestinian extremists could have been the
    true bombers.

    The indictment says Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima
    engineered the placing of an unaccompanied suitcase at Malta's
    Luqa airport onto flight KM180 to Frankfurt, where it was
    loaded on to doomed Pan Am flight 103, bound for New York via
    London.

    Where the bomb bag began its journey is crucial. If the
    defence can persuade the three-judge panel that the suitcase
    did not originate in Malta, or could have been introduced in
    Frankfurt, a central plank of the prosecution's case will
    crumble.

    Dr Jim Swire, a representative for the Lockerbie victims
    who lost his daughter in the tragedy, told reporters that he
    was anticipating a "very interesting day" at the trial, which
    has lasted for eight months.

    He said: "I thought that the prosecution summary last week
    was excellent, the first part of Mr Taylor's summary on behalf
    of Megrahi was also extremely well done, and I'm anticipating
    a very interesting day at which we will hear about the state
    of security at Heathrow airport amongst other things, which I
    think you gentlemen (the media) will find absorbing."
    If found guilty of murdering the 270 victims of the blast,
    the accused face mandatory life imprisonment under the
    Scottish law.

    The defence says a German cell of the Syrian-backed
    Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command
    (PFLP-GC) had the means and motive to attack Pan Am flight
    103, which blew up over the Scottish town on December 21, 1988.


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