LONDON: Britain and the US will hold memorial services on Friday to remember the 270 people killed when a US airliner exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie 30 years ago, in Britain’s worst ever attack.
Pan Am Flight 103 blew up on December 21, 1988 on its way from London to New York. All 259 people on board — most of them Americans heading home for the holidays — were killed as well as 11 people on the ground.
Wreaths were laid in the town’s memorial garden and a message from Queen Elizabeth II was read out.
“I send my prayers and good wishes to all those who will be marking this solemn anniversary,” the message said.
Of the victims, 35 were from Syracuse University in New York State, where a memorial will be held later Friday.
Other US services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery and FBI headquarters.
The plane exploded after a bomb stored in a suitcase in the hold was detonated.
Only one person has ever been convicted over the bombing — Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi, who died in 2012 still protesting his innocence.
His lawyer Aamer Anwar issued a statement on Thursday claiming there had been a miscarriage of justice, saying the “finger of blame has long been pointed in the direction of Iran” for ordering the attack.
Local MP David Mundell said victims had still not received full justice.
“It has not been easy, nor have we been able to achieve the closure we would have wanted, even after 30 years,” he said.
“However, throughout, the people in Lockerbie have retained their dignity and stoicism, and offered friendship and support to those who lost loved ones.”
Libya admitted responsibility for the bombing in 2003 and the regime of slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi eventually paid $2.7 billion in compensation to victims’ families as part of a raft of measures aimed at a rapprochement with the West.
Since the fall of Qaddafi in 2011, British and US detectives have traveled to Libya to investigate whether other perpetrators could be identified.
A Scottish commission responsible for investigating miscarriages of justice said earlier this year that it would review Megrahi’s conviction.
He abandoned his appeal in 2009 when he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds following a diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer, but his family asked for the case to be reviewed.
Britain, US mark 30 years since Lockerbie bombing
Britain, US mark 30 years since Lockerbie bombing
- Only one person has ever been convicted over the bombing — Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi, who died in 2012 still protesting his innocence
- The plane exploded after a bomb stored in a suitcase in the hold was detonated
Philippine lawmakers start VP Duterte impeachment hearings
- The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee began impeachment hearings Monday that could dash Vice President Sara Duterte’s run for the country’s top job.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who recently announced her candidacy for the 2028 presidential election, was impeached by the country’s House of Representatives last year only to see the Supreme Court toss the case out over procedural issues.
The revived impeachment bid leans heavily on allegations that the younger Duterte misused public funds while in office and will see the House justice committee debate three such complaints.
A fourth case was dropped by complainants who hoped to speed up the process.
Duterte also stands accused of making a death threat against her former ally and current President Ferdinand Marcos, with whom she is engaged in an explosive political feud.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a Senate trial. A guilty verdict would result in Duterte being barred from politics and sidelined from the 2028 presidential race.
The latest impeachment bid faces a changed environment with the vice president ahead in recent polls, analysts told AFP.
“The political context will be very different, especially now that Sara declared her candidacy,” University of the Philippines political science professor Jean Franco said.
“It’s definitely going to weigh on the minds of the members of the House of Representatives,” Franco said, adding that a vote for impeachment would effectively see a lawmaker’s career “marked for death.”
Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University agreed saying: “It is ultimately a question of whether the patronage of the current administration outweighs their fear of Duterte’s condemnation.”
The same committee hearing the case against Duterte last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
Michael Wesley Poa, spokesman for Duterte’s defense team, told AFP they were closely monitoring deliberations and trusted “the same standards” used in the Marcos hearing would be applied.
