The Scottish government’s decision to release the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 was made because the United Kingdom is busy trying to secure oil deposits in Libya, several UK newspapers reported Sunday.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland earlier this month on grounds of compassion. The former Libyan agent is dying of pancreatic cancer. He arrived in Libya to a hero’s welcome after his release, raising the ire of the American families of the Pan Am bombing’s victims.
The UK’s Sunday Observer says it has obtained documents showing “ministers and senior civil servants met [with British-Dutch oil giant] Shell to discuss the company’s oil interests in Libya on at least 11 occasions and perhaps as many as 26 times in less than four years.”
The revelations “lend weight to claims that commercial interest lay behind last week’s decision to release the Lockerbie bomber,” the paper writes.
The Observer quotes Mika Minio-Paluello, an activist with the human rights group Platform, who says: “These documents show the deep and long-term foreign policy backing provided by the British government to Shell in its efforts to break into Libya. Corporate executives have easy access to the highest level of Whitehall, while democracy advocates and social movements remain shut out on the street.”
SHELL … OR BRITISH PETROLEUM?
Meanwhile, the Times of London says it has obtained British governmental correspondence that states it is “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to return the Pan Am bomber to Libya.
“[British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and [British oil concern] BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties,” the Times reports. “These were resolved soon afterwards.”
Initially, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had wanted al-Megrahi excluded from a British-Libyan agreement that would allow the countries to exchange prisoners so that citizens of the two countries can carry out their sentences in their home country.
But, the Times states, Straw changed his mind when Libya decided to use al-Megrahi as a bargaining chip in the negotiation of a $30-billion oil deal between Libya and BP.
The Times quotes the words of Saif Qaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muamar Qaddafi, to back up its claim.
“The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.
“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.
“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”
Meanwhile, the UK’s Independent on Sunday reports that the US government had allegedly offered “millions” of dollars to the Scottish government to keep al-Megrahi behind bars.
US officials “made it clear that the US would be willing to contribute millions of dollars to a complicated house arrest operation that would have demanded round-the-clock security to keep the prisoner under guard and protect him from attack,” the paper reported.
–Agencies