/ 18 March 1999

LIBYANS BREAK AIR SANCTIONS

A LIBYAN Airlines plane carrying 125 pilgrims for the hajj to Mecca left Tripoli on Thursday for Saudi Arabia, once again in violation of a United Nation flight embargo. The aircraft, dubbed the “Plane of Defiance” by the Libyan authorities, took off from Tripoli airport.Libya has been under UN sanctions since 1992 for its refusal to hand over for trial two Libyans accused of orchestrating the December 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.Libya has defied the UN flight ban for several years and sent pilgrims to Mecca last year.