LIBYA: LIBYAN LEADER MUAMMAR GADDAFI INSISTS ON INNOCENCE OF CONVICTED LOCKERBIE BOMBER.

Record ID: 648772

  • Title: LIBYA: LIBYAN LEADER MUAMMAR GADDAFI INSISTS ON INNOCENCE OF CONVICTED LOCKERBIE BOMBER.
  • Date: 5th February 2001
  • Summary: BAL-AL-AZIZIYAH BARRACKS, OUTSIDE TRIPOLI, LIBYA (FEBRUARY 5, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN: LIBYAN LEADER COLONEL MUAMMAR GADDAFI APPROACHES PODIUM IN FRONT OF THE BAL-AL-AZIZIYAH BARRACKS AND SITS DOWN AT DESK 0.31 2. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LIBYAN LEADER COLONEL MUAMMAR GADDAFI SPEAKING ABOUT THE LOCKERBIE TRIAL FINDINGS: "If Libya were found not guilty, that would put America in a crisis situtation. America, in the first degree, and Britain, have options. If they (the accused Megrahi and Fahima ) were found guilty, that is a disaster on the western judicial system (Gaddafi does not explain why this would be a disaster). If they were found innocent, what should we do with the sanctions - (meaning how could the West have justified the sanctions against Libya for so long if the accused were found not guilty?) - and the lies, and the bombarding of the Libyan houses, they killed my kids (gestures to the Bal-Al-Aziziyah barracks behind him), and the kids of Tripoli and Bengazhi. So what happens if they're (the accused) found innocent? What will they (the west) say to all the parents of these kids?... and how can they compensate them? (Again gestures to the barracks behind him) Show all these pictures to the world. If you think you are impartial, press, don't film me on camera and not show the pictures behind me." 2.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAL-AL-AZIZIYAH BARRACKS, OUTSIDE TRIPOLI, LIBYA
  • Country: Libya
  • Reuters ID: LVAA1S1HGZ8ZAFDQMMR3A3QS1Z35
  • Story Text: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has charged that the
    world had been misled over the Libyan role in the Lockerbie
    airliner bombing.

    Speaking live on television in Libya, Gaddafi repeated his
    denials that the Libyan state, or Libyan secret agent Abdel
    Basset al-Megrahi who was convicted last week of the 1988
    bombing, bore any guilt for the attack which killed 270 people
    over the Scottish town.

    Gaddafi said that the Scottish judges hearing the Lockerbie
    case had to return at least one guilty conviction because,
    otherwise, the West's sanctions against Libya would not have
    been justified.



    Gaddafi, meeting Megrahi's acquitted co-accused on his
    homecoming on Thursday (February 1), had announced he would
    produce evidence showing Megrahi's innocence.

    In the early passages of a lengthy speech to journalists
    in Tripoli on Monday (February 5) he quoted media commentators
    and analysts who have expressed scepticism over the results of
    the Lockerbie trial, held under Scottish law in the
    Netherlands.

    Gaddafi basically said that Libya had been the target of
    U.S. and British aggression, and that the two countries were
    determined to blame Libya for the Lockerbie bombing.

    "If they (the accused) were found innocent, what should we
    do with the sanctions - (meaning how could the West have
    justified the sanctions against Libya if the accused were
    found not guilty?) - and the lies, and the bombarding of the
    Libyan houses, they killed my kids (gestures to the
    Bal-Al-Aziziyah barracks behind him, which were bombed in a
    U.S. -British raid in 1986) and the kids of Tripoli and
    Bengazhi. So, what happens if they're (the accused) found
    innocent? What will they (the West) say to all the parents of
    these kids and how can they compensate them?" Gaddafi asked.

    He was referring to the 1986 Anglo-American bombing raid on
    Libya which killed several people, including Gaddafi's
    daughter.

    He said Libya had to be accused, otherwise America and
    Britain would be embarrassed in front of the whole world and
    would face huge compensation bills from the Libyan people.

    He said U.S. and British investigators had manipulated the
    evidence put before the Lockerbie trial, and that Megrahi's
    co-accused Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima had been deliberately
    acquitted of the Lockerbie bombing as part of a political
    scheme.

    Gaddafi poured scorn on the verdict against Megrahi, but
    he made no immediate announcement of fresh evidence.

    The United States and Britain insist Libya must admit some
    responsibility for the bombing and pay compensation to
    relatives of victims before sanctions against Tripoli can be
    fully lifted.


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