OWN CORRESPONDENT, Washington | Monday 8.00pm.
BRITAIN and the United States on Monday agreed that the two Libyans accused of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, should be tried under Scottish law, with a panel of Scottish judges, in the Netherlands.
Announcing the agreement US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on Libya to hand over the suspects and said the agreement marked a “take it or leave it” offer which is not negotiable.
Both Albright and British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who made announced the agreement in London to coincide with Albright’s Washington address, urged Libya to cooperate “quickly and without equivocation,” and asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to inform Libya of the agreement and seek arrangements for the transfer of the two men accused.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi’s government has long sought a compromise location and an international panel of judges Gadaffi has said the men would not receive a fair trial in the United States or Britain. “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.
The midair Pan Am Flight bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed all 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground, and was later described as “a Libyan government operation from start to finish.”