|
Libya Denies Offering Compensation to Lockerbie Victims
 |
|
Lockerbie crash site |
TRIPOLI,
May 29 (IslamOnline & News agencies) - Libya denied Wednesday that
it made any offer of compensation to families of those killed in the
Lockerbie airliner bombing.
"Libya
has nothing to do with this so-called agreement and is not a party to
it," an official statement said, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
A
New York law firm claimed Tuesday that Libya was ready to offer
victims' families a total of 2.7 billion dollars in compensation, or
$10 million for each of those killed when Pan Am Flight 103 from
London to New York blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in
December 1988.
Last
year, a Scottish court convicted Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset
Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi of murder for planting the device on board.
The
Libyan statement added, "According to our information, Libyan
businessmen and lawyers have had talks with the lawyer of the families
of the victims, but have not informed us officially of the results of
these meetings."
It
said that "the contacts made with the families of the victims
only concern the group of lawyers who volunteered to defend
Megrahi".
In
London, meanwhile, the alleged Libyan offer was met with cautious
reactions from the victims, as one British official asserts it is a
sign that Libya is willing to adhere to United Nations resolutions
that could lead to the lifting of sanctions.
The
Libyan compensation deal was said on Wednesday to be up for discussion
at a forthcoming meeting in London, the Foreign Office said.
"We
are planning such a meeting in June," a Foreign Office spokesman
told AFP, although he would not confirm the June 6 date that has been
penciled in by Tripoli.
David
Ben-Aryeah, a spokesman for some of the families, said he was deeply
suspicious of the offer, revealed by a New York law firm, and would
remain so until it had been confirmed from Tripoli in writing.
The
British government said that if it was a genuine offer, it was a sign
that Libya wished to respond to the requirements of United Nations
resolutions.
Compensating
relatives of the 270 Lockerbie victims is one of several steps -
including acceptance of responsibility for the bombing and
renunciation of terrorism - which Libya must satisfy before U.N.
sanctions can be lifted.
In January 2001, a Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted Libyan
intelligence agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, of murder for
planting the device on board. He was sentenced to life in prison.
After an appeal, the verdict was upheld in March 2001 by another
Scottish court in the Netherlands.
His
co-defendant, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, was acquitted and set free.
Libya denied that it had any role in the bombing.
James
Kreindler, of the New York law firm Kreindler and Kreindler, said he
was "optimistic" about the progress of diplomatic
negotiations.
"From
what I have heard, there has been progress, and we could see Libya
accepting responsibility in the near future, perhaps in a couple of
weeks," he told BBC radio.
"If
that occurs and if the compensation is promptly paid, as it should be
under the settlement agreement, then we could see U.N. sanctions being
lifted."
|
