27 Years After Lockerbie Bombing, 2 New Suspects IDed

Scotland, US want to interview Libyans they say worked with al-Megrahi
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2015 12:19 PM CDT
27 Years After Lockerbie Bombing, 2 New Suspects IDed
In this Dec. 21, 1988, file photo, a police officer walks by the nose of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field near the town of Lockerbie, Scotland.   (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver, File)

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the sole suspect convicted for the 1988 bombing that brought down Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people, died in 2012—but now Scotland and the US say they've set their sights on two other Libyans they want to question in the attack, the BBC reports. Scottish prosecutors have sent a letter to Libyan authorities on their behalf and that of US AG Loretta Lynch requesting permission for Scottish police and the FBI to interview the unnamed suspects in Tripoli, Reuters reports. While not many details are yet available on the suspects, they're believed to have worked with Megrahi in carrying out the attack, per a Scottish Crown Office spokesman. Megrahi claimed innocence until his 2012 death from cancer, three year after he was released on compassionate grounds from a Scottish jail due to his illness, per Reuters.

Last December, Scotland's head prosecutor noted that while there wasn't any new evidence to vindicate Megrahi, it had been difficult to track down any new suspects due to ongoing turmoil in Libya after the 2011 death of leader Moammar Gadhafi, the news agency notes. But even some of the Lockerbie victims' families believed Megrahi and supported him as he tried to appeal his case, which is leading to some skepticism about these two new suspects, the AP reports. "Many in this country simply don't believe Megrahi was involved and that this was a miscarriage of justice," the father of one of the victims tells the BBC. "To try and bolt two more names on top of that is a very difficult situation. It will need to be supported by better evidence than was produced to achieve the conviction of Megrahi." (An Iranian spy says his country was actually behind the bombing, not Libya.)

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