The Libyan government can only gain from a fresh probe into the 1988 Lockerbie disaster, Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella said yesterday, amid developments in the case surrounding the 25th anniversary of the bombing.
“Libya had one of its people convicted for the atrocity, it accepted responsibility and paid for the damages. It paid the full price so it has absolutely nothing to lose with the pursuit of fresh investigations into the case,” Dr Vella said.
He was reacting to a series of statements made last week in the run up of yesterday’s 25th anniversary, among them that of the former FBI chief who said he expects other suspects to be brought to justice in relation to the attack.
I came to the conclusion that Megrahi is innocent on the basis of facts presented in court
The anniversary was marked yesterday with ceremonies in Lockerbie, London and Washington.
Wreaths were laid at Dryfesdale Cemetery in Lockerbie where a memorial stone marks the victims who died when Pan Am 103 exploded mid-air on 21 December 1988 over the sleepy Scottish village, killing all 243 passengers, 16 crew, and a further 11 people in their homes when wreckage hit the ground.
Serious questions have been raised in the past years about the official theory that convicted the only person ever found guilty of the atrocity, former Libyan agent Abdelbaset al Megrahi.
The Malta connection underpins this theory, as Megrahi is meant to have loaded the bomb in a suitcase at Luqa Airport after he wrapped it with clothes bought from Sliema shop Mary’s House.
In a BBC documentary released last week, however, former FBI chief Robert Mueller restated the validity of that thesis, adding that new investigations carried out in Libya following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, he was confident more people would be arraigned.
That statement was quickly followed by an announcement from the Libyan government, that two prosecutors would aid the international investigation.
Commenting on these developments, Dr Vella, who recently declared he believed Megrahi to be wrongfully convicted, said that while he stood by his statements in this regard, this did not mean Col Gaddafi was not behind the bombing.
“I came to the conclusion that Megrahi is innocent, like many others, on the basis of the facts presented in court. It was not proven beyond reasonable doubt that he is guilty. But that does not mean Libya was not implicated,” he said.
Asked if Malta with attempt to follow closely any such fresh probes, Dr Vella remained of the view that Malta had nothing to gain by stoking this issue further but did not exclude pursuing the matter through diplomatic channels.
“I think there is nothing wrong with inquiring about the matter in meetings with our counterparts.
“However, as I have already stated previously, we were lucky as a country that Malta’s tourism sector did not suffer as a consequence of the case after all these years we do not have an interest in asking for a fresh investigation or a review of the case,” Dr Vella said.
Meanwhile, other revelations made last week continued to support the idea that Megrahi was wrongly convicted.
Investigative news website Exaro News revealed the conclusions of a probe that had been carried out by two international investigators which named Egyptian terrorist Mohammed Abu Talb as the “real” Lockerbie bomber.
It also claimed that the bomb was planted at Heathrow Airport and not Malta. Moreover, Megrahi’s family as well as the British relatives of the Lockerbie victims separately announced that they would be launching afresh appeal.
Reflecting on these developments, Dr Vella argued that while in some respects the case is now history and the question of who did it “academic”, “it is a point of justice for the man convicted of this atrocity and the relatives of the victims who are still searching for the truth”.