Lockerbie Bombing Defendant on Hunger Strike Against VerdictAbdel Basset al-Megrahi, a Libyan sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly involvement in the bombing of an airliner, has started a hunger strike to protest against the "unfair and unjust ruling."Megrahi's lawyer was quoted by the official Libyan News Agency as saying on Thursday that the hunger strike "came in protest against the unfair and unjust ruling made by the Scottish court under the U.S. and British pressure." The Scottish court set up in the Netherlands sentenced Megrahi, 49, to life imprisonment on January 31 for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, but acquitted Lameen Khalifa Fhimah, another Libyan. The pair were accused of planting a suitcase bomb onto the New York-bound flight, which blew up mid-air over Lockerbie, killing 259 people on board and 11 others on the ground. The United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya in March 1992 and the sanctions were suspended in April 1999 after Libya handed over the two for trial, which began on May 3, 2000. On Tuesday, thousands Libyans marched to the British Embassy and the U.N. building in Libyan capital of Tripoli to protest against the Lockerbie bombing verdict. Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi Monday also accused the Scottish court of wrongfully convicting Megrahi under pressure from the U.S. and Britain which took the lead in demanding Libya to hand over the two suspects for trial in a special court set up in the Netherlands. |
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