A Libyan man suspected in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing is now in U.S. custody. Al Jalil's commentary to the Expressen came during widespread political unrest and protests in Libya calling for the removal of Ghaddafi from power. Although it is sadly symbolic that the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 occurred on that day, it is perhaps more meaningful to consider that the responses to the tragedythe kindnesses shown, the friendships made, the positive changes to aviation security, and law enforcements care for victimscontinue to cast a very bright light into the world all these years later. We want to make sure we dont forget them, she said, and that we live the way they livedgoing after things, not being afraidalways looking forward and making the world a better place.. The bomb, constructed with the odourless plastic explosive Semtex, was hidden in a cassette player that was stored in a suitcase. Those who knew and loved these people will never forget the moment they discovered the nearly unbearable truth. He had worked a day shift and was at home when a newsflash on the television announced that an airplane had crashed. Back then, these wreckage-littered fields six miles outside the Scottish town bore witness to the horrifying bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 in the skies above. November 1991: Libyans Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah accused. [citation needed] The bombing is also compared with the death of actor Brandon Lee on the track Gold off of hip-hop artist GZAs 1995 album Liquid Swords, in the lyric, "Snake got smoked on the set like Brandon Lee, blown out the frame like Pan Am Flight 103. [20]:4 Investigators determined that both wings had landed in the Sherwood Crescent crater, saying, "the total absence of debris from the wing primary structure found remote from the crater confirmed the initial impression that the complete wing box structure had been present at the main impact. [134] The Libyan government then proceeded to pay compensation to each family of US$8million (from which legal fees of about US$2.5million were deducted) and, as a result, the UN cancelled the sanctions that had been suspended four years earlier, and US trade sanctions were lifted. [67], On 11 December 2022, the United States advised they had Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi in custody. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. "[86], On 25 July 2009, Megrahi applied to be released from jail on compassionate grounds. There are memorials in Lockerbie and Moffat Roman Catholic churches, where plaques list the names of all 270 victims. I remember families saying they were in these vans with Scottish police officers driving 100 miles an hour down the autobahn trying to get them to the court, Turman said. Thirty-five students studying abroad with Syracuse University were struck down from the sky on Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, along with 224 other passengers and eleven Lockerbie residents, victims of a terrorist bombing. Listen to article. He also said there was no evidence to link Libya with the April 1984 shooting of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy in London. Ive watched many Pan Am 103 families from the vantage point of almost 30 years, being able to see how they've managed, how they've coped, how they've suffered, but also how they've been able to bring meaning to a meaningless, senseless tragedy. Kathryn Turman, assistant director of the FBIs Victim Services Division, at the time headed the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice and was asked to create an assistance plan for families of the victims during the trial. In August 2009, he was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. After a three-year investigation in which the FBI and Scottish authorities worked hand in hand, the British and American governments in November 1991 announced indictments and warrants for the arrests of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. I think the bigger message is that this was an act of terrorism. He had visited the property store in Lockerbie where the victims personal effects were cared for. Theres no other place we feel as connected to him as on the farm. We anticipate that, as often happens, many groups will seek to claim credit. Fragments of a Samsonite suitcase believed to have contained the bomb were recovered, together with parts and pieces of circuit board identified as components of a Toshiba 'Bombeat' RT-SF16, radio cassette player, similar to that used to conceal a Semtex bomb seized by West German police from the Palestinian militant group PLO-GC two months earlier. It then sheared off, up, and backwards to starboard, striking off the number-three engine and landing some distance outside the town, on a hill in Tundergarth. Colin Dorrance was on duty outside the town hall when a farmer drove down from the hills in a pick-up truck with debris from Pan Am 103 and, placed in the front seat, the body of a young girl. This is a place that offers us comfort and such a special bond with the couple who found him, says tragic banker Frank Ciullas daughter Laurie Ciulla, mum of three of his grandchildren. [141] On 14 August 2008, a US-Libya compensation deal was signed in Tripoli by US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch and Libya's Foreign Ministry head of America affairs, Ahmed al-Fatroui. Following a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in November 1991. The rear fuselage and landing gear crashed into the Rosebank Crescent neighborhood in the center of town. Just a minute later, according to a video . [99][100], According to The New York Times, Mas'ud was born in Tunisia in 1951, before he became a citizen of Libya as a child after he moved to Tripoli, Libya. The next stage will see the group cycling 600 miles from the Lockerbie memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to Syracuse University, which lost 35 students in the bombing. In October 2015, Scottish officials announced that two additional Libyans had been identified as suspects in the bombing. [28] James Fuller, an American automotive executive who worked for Volkswagen, was returning home from a meeting with Volkswagen executives in Germany. Anything recovered was meticulously cataloged. Today, present and former scholars number more than 1,000. ", "Libyan Parliament calls for urgent investigation into Masud's extradition to US", "Libya Admits Culpability In Crash of Pan Am Plane", Security Council lifts sanctions imposed on Libya after terrorist bombings of Pan Am 103 and UTA 772, Statement by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Speakes on the Gulf of Sidra Incident, "NBC's Mitchell Regurgitates Gaddafi Lies", "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 N54629 Tnr desert", "The best tribute to the 270 victims of Lockerbie is to find out the truth", "Petition to set up public inquiry into Lockerbie", "Petition to UN General Assembly to open Pan Am 103 inquiry", "Malta asked to support demands for UN inquiry on Lockerbie", "Lockerbie families lobby Gordon Brown for public inquiry", "Lockerbie inquiry ruled out by Gordon Brown", "Khadaffi gav order om Lockerbie-attentatet", "Gaddafi accused of ordering Lockerbie bombing", "Qaddafi's Son Is Alive. In December 1988, Franks family were wracked by grief as it became clear he had perished along with 258 other passengers and crew in the explosion on his way home to the US for Christmas on the night of the 21st. "It was a young child under the age of five. 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Megrahi's appeal against his conviction was refused on 14 March 2002, and his application to the European Court of Human Rights was declared inadmissible in July 2003. A leading rights group has urged the U.S. and Libya to clarify the legality of a surprise extradition of a suspect in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland CAIRO -- A . The clear inference which we draw from this evidence is that the conception, planning and execution of the plot which led to the planting of the explosive device was of Libyan origin. It was like a battlefield. Act as a Spokesperson In case of an emergency, one person should take primary responsibility to speak on behalf of the entire organization to eliminate conflicting messages and to prevent the spread of misinformation. After a three-year joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the US FBI, during which 15,000 witness statements were taken, indictments for murder were issued on 13 November 1991 against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. Al-Megrahi was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Transcript of the proceedings of the Scottish court in the Netherlands 2001, day 86. On December 21, 1988, the State of Libya bombed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 innocent civilians. [46], On the day of the bombing, the French Directorate-General for External Security was informed by their British counterpart that the UK suspected the Libyans to be behind the bombing.[47]. A 2012 Libyan interrogation report claiming he admitted to making the Lockerbie bomb had made its way to US authorities, and in 2020, the FBI traveled to Tunisia to interview the former Libyan official who had taken Masuds statement. 2. Air Crash Investigationss. First Officer Raymond R. Wagner (52), a pilot with Pan Am since 1966 with almost 5,500 hours in the 747 and a total of nearly 12,000 hours, had previously served eight years in the New Jersey National Guard. "[144], In an interview shown in BBC Two's The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie[145] on 31 August 2008, Saif Gaddafi said that Libya had admitted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing simply to get trade sanctions removed. This had never been done in a Scottish court, said Tom McCulloch, who was a police officer with the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary when the Lockerbie air disaster occurred. [156][157] The "Remembrance Scholarships" are among the highest honors a Syracuse undergraduate can receive. Syracuse University Remembrance Scholars took their seats on the Quad at noon for 35 minutes, honoring the 35 students killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 was concealed in a cassette recorder and packed inside a suitcase that was loaded onto a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany, with no accompanying passenger. [20] The property was completely destroyed and its two occupants were killed. The Boeing 747, known as the Clipper Maid of the Seas, left London Heathrow with 243 passengers and 16 crew members, including 189 Americans. Written to Lord Fraser of Carmyllie Scotlands senior law officer it copied in PM Margaret Thatcher and raised concerns at families joining together to seek the truth. 270 people were killed in the air and on the ground when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in 1988 (Image: Daily Record) Two police officers at nose cone of aeroplane that crashed in Lockerbie [150], In 1992, a US federal court found Pan Am guilty of willful misconduct due to lax security screening caused by not implementing baggage reconciliation, a new security program mandated by the FAA prior to the incident, which requires unaccompanied luggage to be searched by hand and to ensure passengers board flights onto which they have checked baggage; Pan Am relied more on the less-effective method of x-ray screening. When, however, the evidence regarding the clothing, the purchaser, and the timer is taken with the evidence that an unaccompanied bag was taken from KM180 to PA103A, the inference that that was the primary suitcase becomes, in our view, irresistible. He claims he was visited by two journalists who were security agents. It looked as though they were asleep, it wasn't obviously injured, and it was just a shock to realise it was a passenger from Pan Am 103. The flight was in route from Heathrow Airport London to New York City. As a result, the United States and the United Nations Security Council imposed economic sanctions against Libya. The fuselage of the aircraft was reconstructed by air accident investigators, revealing a 20-inch (510mm) hole consistent with an explosion in the forward cargo hold. Five radar echoes fanning out appeared, instead of one. The child was the first victim to arrive at what became a makeshift mortuary, but the young constable never discovered who she was, until a chance meeting with the farmer's son finally solved the mystery. My children are now laying the groundwork as to how they want to approach this with their children, said Mary Kay Stratis, whose husband died on Pan Am Flight 103. In many ways, the reverberations are still being felt today. About 7:00 pm on December 21, Pan Am flight 103, a Boeing 747 en route to New York City from London, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Thirty years after the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, the FBI and its partners are still actively seeking justice for the 270 victims and their families. Four days before Christmas in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded 31,000 feet above Scotland. The FBI has worked tirelessly through the years., Weipz spoke in public recently about Pan Am Flight 103, and there were people in the audience who were shocked when they learned the FBI investigation was still open. A flood of warnings immediately preceding the disaster had included one that read: 'team of Palestinians not associated with PLO intends to attack US targets in Europe. The blast broke the plane into thousands of pieces that landed in an area covering roughly 850 square miles (2,200 square km). [83], On 15 October 2008, five Scottish judges decided unanimously to reject a submission by the Crown Office, which sought to limit the scope of Megrahi's second appeal to the specific grounds of appeal that were identified by the SCCRC in June 2007. In September 2009, a third petition which was addressed to the President of the United Nations General Assembly demanded that the UN should "institute a full public inquiry" into the Lockerbie disaster. In total, 4 million pieces of wreckage were collected and registered on computer files. Others sought the comfort of the peaceful memorials erected to honor the victims. The nose cone was briefly held on by a band of metal, but facing aft, like the lid of a can. The cockpit crew was based at JFK.[20]. PA103 was bookable as either a single FrankfurtNew York or a FrankfurtDetroit itinerary, though a scheduled change of aircraft took place in London's Heathrow Airport. In 2009, with al-Megrahi suffering from prostate cancer and believed to be near death, the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Justice issued what became a controversial ruling: They released him, allowing him to return to Libya to die. Investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the British Department for Transport concluded that the nose of the aircraft was blown off and separated from the main fuselage within three seconds of the explosion. Nineteen other nationalities were represented, with four or fewer passengers per country. Malta was brought into the case because the prosecution argued that the two accused Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, had placed the bomb on an Air Malta aircraft before it was transferred at Frankfurt airport to a feeder flight destined for London's Heathrow airport, from which Pan Am Flight 103 departed. For the hijacking in Karachi, see, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi. This mother tragically lost her son in the bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103. "There's just a sense of peace, a sense of conclusion to it. 53:52. A total of 270 people were killed when a bomb ripped apart Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Ten of these students were from other universities and colleges (including but not limited to Colgate University and University of Colorado) with collaborative relationships with Syracuse. Also aboard was Irish Olympic sailor Peter Dix[29] and rock musician Paul Jeffreys and his wife. We continue to do that.. "The farmer was there and it was his father who'd brought the child to the town hall. Covers the bombing of the Boeing 747 Pan American Airways flight 103 at Lockerbie, Scotland at 1903 hours on December 21, 1988 that killed 259 passengers and crew and 11 Lockerbie residents. They were only boys.. The cabin crew was based at Heathrow and lived in the London area or commuted from around Europe. Detectives investigating the Lockerbie disaster revealed details yesterday of the painstaking investigation to find those responsible for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103. For almost 30 years, a police officer who witnessed the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing has been haunted by a single incident from a night of horror. [20]:44 Due to the extreme flutter, the vertical stabilizer disintegrated, which in turn produced large yawing movements. No distress call was recorded; a 180-millisecond hissing noise could be heard as the explosion destroyed the aircraft's communications center. Fhimah is cleared. [132], Jim Kreindler of the New York law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, which orchestrated the settlement, said: "These are uncharted waters. It is the first time that any of the states designated as sponsors of terrorism have offered compensation to families of terror victims." August 2009: Cancer victim al-Megrahi freed on compassionate grounds. Instead, the judges announced on January 30 that the verdict would be read the next day at 11 a.m. Turman raced out of the courtroom. Then a loud noise was recorded on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) at 19:02:50. [128][129], On 29 September 1989, President Bush appointed Ann McLaughlin Korologos, former Secretary of Labor, to chair the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) to review and report on aviation security policy in the light of the sabotage of flight PA103. The Guardian, 12 November 1994, page 6, "Cover-up claim as Lockerbie film screening is cancelled". And Government files kept secret until now reveal that security service agents thought the families were getting organised and needed careful watching. [citation needed], At 19:02:44, Alan Topp, the clearance delivery officer at Shanwick, transmitted its oceanic route clearance. Megrahi 'hero's welcome' triggers a diplomatic row, "Brown, BP Cleared of Lobbying Scots to Free Bomber", Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is 'in coma', "Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi dies in Tripoli", "The U.S. has taken custody of the alleged bomb maker in the 1988 Lockerbie attack", "U.S. Unseals Charges Against New Suspect in 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, and who is Mas'ud? It is, as we have said, clear that with one exception, the clothing in the primary suitcase was the clothing purchased in Mr Gauci's shop on 7 December 1988. The New York-bound Boeing 747, named Maid of the Seas, was passing five miles above the . [112], In turn, the US encouraged the Chadian National Armed Forces (FANT) and it also aided them by supplying them with satellite intelligence during the Battle of Maaten al-Sarra. More U.S. civilians died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland than in any other terrorist attack except 9/11. Im quite proud of the Lockerbie people, actually., A month after the Pan Am Flight 103 attack, Syracuse University held a memorial service to honor its dead. Discovery Company. The 259 people on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 are killed, along with . Before they submitted their report, the PCAST members met a group of British PA103 relatives at the US embassy in London on 12 February 1990. The following year, Libya agreed to pay $2.7 billion in compensation to families of those killed paving the way for UN sanctions against the country to be lifted. Masud has been charged in a criminal complaint for allegedly providing the suitcase with the prepared explosive that was later placed on the flight. [142] In October 2008 Libya paid $1.5billion into a fund which will be used to compensate relatives of the, As a result, President Bush signed Executive Order 13477 restoring the Libyan government's immunity from terror-related lawsuits and dismissing all of the pending compensation cases in the US, the White House said.