Libya asks for Lockerbie bomber to be freed [He’s released]

Note: The following text is a quote:

https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=106702

YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report
Warden Message: Libya Anticipates al-Megrahi Demonstrations August 20-21
CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS
Middle East / N. Africa - Libya
20 Aug 2009

U.S. Embassy Tripoli issued the following Warden Message on August 20:

This warden message alerts U.S. citizens to avoid demonstrations and large crowds on August 20 and 21, and to maintain vigilance in daily activities.

It is possible that gatherings related to the August 20 release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi from Scottish prison and his subsequent return to Libya will occur in Tripoli on Thursday and Friday, August 20 and 21. Reliable reports also indicate that a large Youth Rally is planned for Algiers Square and Green Square in downtown Tripoli the evening of August 20. All American citizens are advised to postpone non-essential travel near downtown Tripoli the evening of August 20, and to avoid other demonstrations and large crowds August 20-21.

The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy is located in Serraj neighborhood on the connection road with Krimia neighborhood. The Chinese Ambassador’s residence is on the same road. Our phone numbers are (091) 379-4560 during business hours or (091) 366-2696 (which is also the after-hours number for emergencies involving American citizens).

Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the U.S. Embassy’s website (http://Libya.usembassy.gov) and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs’ website (www.travel.state.gov), where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Warnings, and Travel Alerts can be found. The U.S. Embassy also encourages U.S. citizens to review “A Safe Trip Abroad,” found at http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/safety_1747.html, which includes valuable security information for those both living and traveling abroad. U.S. citizens may also call the Office of Overseas Citizens Services in the United States for the latest travel information. The Office of Overseas Citizens Services can be reached from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Monday through Friday, by calling 1-888-407-4747 from within the United States and Canada, or by calling (202) 501-4444 from other countries.

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http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/macaskill.pdf

August 22, 2009

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/mueller082209.htm

Letter from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, to Scottish Minister Kenny MacAskill

August 21, 2009

The Honorable Kenny MacAskill, MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Scottish Government
St. Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
EH13DG

Dear Mr. Secretary:

Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.

Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of “compassion.”

Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man’s exercise of “compassion.” Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.

Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the breakup of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years—in some cases a full career—to see justice done.

But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification—the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.

You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to “the need for compassion.”

You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a “jubilant welcome” in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?

Sincerely yours,

Robert S. Mueller, III
Director

“A Lockerbie indictment-Who specifically authorized the attack? Who conceived it? Who built the bomb?”
Jerusalem Post ^ | 9-5-09 | DAVID HOROVITZ
Posted on September 5, 2009 6:16:27 PM PDT by SJackson

SNIPPET: “Who specifically authorized the worst terrorist outrage ever perpetrated in Britain? Who conceived it? Who built the bomb? And how is it, amid the new controversy over the release of the only man ever convicted in the blast, that investigators never found answers to these most fundamental of questions, and never charged those responsible?

The Iran of the early 1990s was considerably more circumspect than it is today about its drive for nuclear weaponry. But it was no less ruthless in the pursuit.

And that is why, on August 14, 1993, a very high level group of Iranians, including two cabinet ministers and two military chiefs, sat down together in the city of Mashad to plot their revenge against president Carlos Menem of Argentina, who had had the temerity to scuttle their plans for a rapid march to nuclear self-sufficiency.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211495/No-10-turns-Obama-Clinton-criticising-decision-release-Lockerbie-bomber.html

“No.10 turns on Obama and Clinton for criticising decision to release Lockerbie bomber”
By SIMON WALTERS
Last updated at 3:14 AM on 06th September 2009

SNIPPET: “British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return.

The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.

‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.

‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahi’s return was out of the blue.

‘They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi’s case.’”

SNIPPET - quote:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/07/cancer-specialist-who-gave-lockerbie-bomber-3-months-to-live-last-year-now-says-he-could-live-10-mor.html

Cancer specialist who gave Lockerbie bomber 3 months to live last year now says he could live 10 more years

“Libyan authorities, keen to secure Megrahi’s release, asked several experts to put a three-month estimate on the bomber’s life but Professor Sikora was the only one to agree.”

And “War is Deceit.” “Dying Lockerbie bomber ‘could survive for 10 years or more’,” by Alastair Jamieson for the Telegraph, July 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times it was “embarrassing” the bomber had outlived his three-month prognosis.

Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, which left 270 dead.

The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released him from prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he dying of metastatic prostate cancer.

In Scotland, prisoners are eligible for release on compassionate grounds if they have fewer than three months to live.

A report in the Sunday Times said Libyan authorities, keen to secure Megrahi’s release, asked several experts to put a three-month estimate on the bomber’s life but Professor Sikora was the only one to agree.

Professor Sikora, the dean of medicine at Buckingham University and medical director of CancerPartnersUK in London, was paid for his medical assessment of Megrahi at Greenock prison on July last year.

He told the newspaper: “There was always a chance he could live for 10 years, 20 years ... But it’s very unusual.”

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