On the 36th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, Dr. Jim Swire, father of a victim, urges the UK government to release all documents related to the case, claiming a 36-year delay in transparency is suspicious. His call comes as Abu Agila Masud, accused of building the bomb, prepares for trial in Washington.
The father of one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing has called on the UK Government to release secret documents relating to the atrocity. Saturday marks the 36th anniversary of the terrorist attack, which claimed 270 lives four days before Christmas in 1988. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on the Pan Am plane, says Keir Starmer's government can no longer justify withholding information on the case.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Swire said: “One thing we can do is ask the government of today to release all the documentation about Lockerbie. That would be a tremendous help. Here we are, 36 years down the road, and we know a lot of material has been kept out of public view. Why isn't it in the public interest to release it after 36 years? I think that's something a lot of people would think is pretty fishy.” The call comes as Abu Agila Masud is set to stand trial in Washington in May next year, accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over the Dumfries and Galloway town. Masud is alleged by US authorities to have worked alongside Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, the only individual ever convicted over the bombing. Megrahi was found guilty by a Scottish court in the Netherlands and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, dying of cancer in 2012. Dr Swire, however, has long believed that the real culprits were members of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC), who he claims acted in retaliation for the US Navy’s downing of an Iranian passenger jet earlier in 1988. His theory, he argues, is backed by evidence. Two months before the bombing, German police uncovered a PFLP-GC cell in Frankfurt, seizing explosive devices disguised as radios. The feeder flight for Pan Am 103 originated from Frankfurt. Despite this, investigators shifted focus to Libya, claiming the bomb had been smuggled onto a plane in Malta in an unaccompanied suitcas
Lockerbie Bombing UK Government Secret Documents Abu Agila Masud Dr. Jim Swire
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