U.S., Britain Play Roles in Lockerbie Verdict: Ghaddafi

Libyan leader Omar Muammar Ghaddafi Monday accused U.S. and British intelligence services of " playing a pivotal part" in the verdict of two Libyans in the Lockerbie bombing trial.

During a more-than-two-hour speech to the Libyan public, Ghaddafi said Ali al-Megrahi is "innocent" and the verdict is a " political" one, which is "influenced by the U.S. government, by pressures from the U.S. government.

Megrahi "could not be called a convict or a prisoner", but a " kidnapped hostage" in the eyes of international history, he said.กก

In a ruling on January 31, the Scottish Court in Camp Zeist, Netherlands, sentenced the 48-year-old Ali al-Megrahi to life imprisonment and acquitted his co-defendant Lamen Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima.กก The two suspects were accused of planting a bomb onto the New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103 which was flying from Frankfurt via London in 1988. The mid-air explosion killed 259 people in the plane and 11 others on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.






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