Abu Agila Masud, the Libyan national charged with making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, is due to go on trial in the US next year. Former Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said he had “always believed” Masud was the Lockerbie bomber. The attack claimed the lives of all 259 people on board and 11 residents in the Dumfries and Galloway town. Masud has been in custody for two years and denies the charges against him.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the murders of 270 people by the introduction of an explosive device onto a civilian aircraft. MacAskill controversially released Megrahi on compassionate grounds in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Prosecutors maintained that he acted with others in carrying out the attack. However, MacAskill defended his decision and said that he followed the rules for compassionate release which existed in Scotland.
Scotland’s most senior law officer, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, hopes the forthcoming trial in Washington against Masud will renew public confidence in the justice process. She described the Lockerbie bombing as “the darkest of days”, but believes the trial will enable the circumstances of what happened to be “fully understood”. The original trial at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands considered Crown evidence from 227 witnesses over 72 days before Megrahi was convicted, and that decision has been upheld twice on appeal.
Next year, two television dramas and a play will be released, which will rekindle public interest in Lockerbie. A new drama called Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth, is due to air on Sky Atlantic on January 2. It will be followed later in the year by a six-part BBC series, and in the autumn, a new stage production about the town of Lockerbie’s response to the Pan Am disaster is scheduled to reopen the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said the anniversary was a time for reflection, and that his thoughts were with the families and friends of the 270 people who perished, and all those in the town who saw such devastation rain down on them. Earlier this month, Scotland’s prosecution service said parts of the wreckage of the downed plane were being transferred to the US as evidence ahead of the trial
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