Hope for a new Lockerbie trial emerges as an investigator challenges perceptions of convicted bomber Megrahi’s politeness.
Stuart Cossar leads the Scottish inquiry team. The terror attack involved Pan Am Flight 103. It exploded over Lockerbie in 1988. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in the bombing.
He was a Libyan intelligence officer. Abu Agila Masud Al-Marimi will face trial. He is charged with making the bomb. The trial will be in Washington DC. The plane was headed to New York, carrying 259 people aboard, all of whom died.
Eleven people in Lockerbie also died. It remains the UK’s deadliest terror attack. Cossar began policing in Lockerbie in 1989. He joined the investigation in 1999.
He has close ties with victims’ families. He keeps working to bring those culpable to justice. Megrahi was tried in the Netherlands, under Scottish law. In 2009, the SNP freed him on compassionate grounds.
They said he had terminal cancer. He lived three more years. He died in Libya with family. Cossar received an MBE for his work. He supports the bereaved families, too. He didn’t rule out more people facing justice.
He admitted it would be hard. Witnesses are older, he explained. Some have died, making it harder. Forensics have greatly improved over time, he said. DNA analysis wasn’t used initially because it was still new then.
The costs to test massive amounts of evidence were too great. DNA offers new chances, even now. Flight 103 flew from Frankfurt to New York. It stopped at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Baggage transferred to “Clipper Maid of the Seas.” This luggage held the bomb. The flight departed London at 6:25 p.m. Contact was lost shortly after 7 p.m. Libya accepted liability in 2003.
They paid $1 billion in compensation. Megrahi was convicted two years prior. Conspiracy theories persist despite the admission. Some think another Middle Eastern group did it. Megrahi’s supporters think he was framed.
The TV show “Lockerbie: A Search for Truth” raised the topic again. The show follows Jim Swire’s search for truth. His daughter Flora died on the flight. Some families criticized the show’s accuracy. They felt it favored Megrahi unfairly.
Cossar watched the show but won’t comment more. He met Megrahi once, finding him courteous. This politeness makes some think he’s innocent. Cossar said to look beyond the man.
Focus on the evidence of his guilt, he urged. A timer fragment links to the bomb suitcase. Some think it came from a field. It was found in charred IED clothing, said Cossar.
Cossar criticized Megrahi’s release by the SNP. It strained relations with American families. He thought it was wrong, unfair to families. He had to explain the police weren’t involved.
The government alone made the decision. Families still struggle to understand this. He hopes Al-Marimi’s trial helps families recover. Lockerbie forever changed lives, Cossar stated.
The U.S. trial shows they haven’t stopped seeking justice. Families feel both nervous and hopeful now. Thirty-six years have passed and they desire justice. Closure won’t come, but this may aid healing.
Optimism exists, especially among U.S. families. Perhaps they feel relief it is in America.