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World - Europe

U.S., Britain agree to Lockerbie trial in The Hague

wreckage
Wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103  
August 24, 1998
Web posted at: 3:58 p.m. EDT (1958 GMT)

(CNN) -- Britain and the United States on Monday said they had agreed that two Libyans accused of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, should be tried under Scottish law, with Scottish judges, in the Netherlands.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook made the announcement in Washington and London respectively.

They both urged Libya to cooperate "quickly and without equivocation," and asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to inform Libya of the agreement and seek arrangements for the transfer of the two men accused.

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The U.S. position had been that the two Libyans should be turned over to American or British authorities for trial, but Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi refused. His government had long sought a compromise location and an international panel of judges.

Gadhafi has said the men would not receive a fair trial in the United States or Britain.

Scottish court in The Hague

The suspects, Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, described as Libyan intelligence officers, would be tried by a panel of Scottish judges under Scottish law at The Hague.

Cook said the trial would be "a Scottish court administering Scottish law under Scottish procedures and Scottish rules of evidence."

But it would not be a trial by jury as it was not practical to ask 15 ordinary Scottish citizens to spend the many months of the trial in another country.

"For years Libya has promised that it would accept a court without jury meeting in a third country. That way forward is now open to them," Cook said.

Fhimah and Megrahi
Fhimah, left, and Megrahi could be tried at The Hague  

The Pan Am Flight bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground. At the time of the 1991 indictment, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the midair bombing was "a Libyan government operation from start to finish."

Albright called on Lybia to now hand over the suspects and said the agreement marked a "take it or leave it" offer which was not negotiable.

Suspects may not agree

In Britain, Jim Swire, the spokesman for relatives of British victims, welcomed the decision, saying he hoped that lawyers would soon agree on the next steps.

Albright
Albright urged Libya to cooperate in efforts to bring the bombing suspects to trial  

Alister Duff, the defense lawyer of the suspects, said his clients had "not ruled out" the proposal of a trial in The Hague but insisted on further clarification -- such as safe passage to and from the trial, circumstances of detention and visits by legal advisers.

Some of the relatives of the victims voiced their outrage after the trial agreement was announced.

"It's appalling," said Susan Cohen, whose daughter, Theodora, died.

"What does it say about the integrity of the American legal system when a terrorist takes the line that he can't get a fair trial in America and wants it in a neutral country -- and we agree to hold a trial somewhere else?" she said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.



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