The murder conviction of the Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on January 31, 2001 at the end of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial failed to convince many observers, including victims' relatives, that the case had in fact been solved or that justice had been done. An international observer appointed by the United Nations, Dr. Hans Koechler, had called the verdict a "spectacular miscarriage of justice". (BBC News) With the rejection of Megrahi's appeal on March 14, 2002 the unconvinced wanted their search for truth and justice in relation to the Lockerbie bombing to continue either through an independent public inquiry or by means of another appeal. Such a reopening of the now firmly shut case would be an extremely unwelcome prospect to both the US and British governments. This is because, in the eleven years leading up to the trial, a number of alternative theories as to who might have had a motive for ordering the bombing, and who actually carried it out, were advanced in the media. Most of these apparently disparate theories started from the premise that key evidence (eg timer fragment, parts from a specific radio cassette model, clothing bought in Malta, bomb suitcase originating at Luqa Airport) would have been fabricated by the US and Britain for the "political" purpose of incriminating Libya for the crime.[2] Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi (born April 1, 1952) is a former Libyan intelligence officer, head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, and director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Tripoli. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The trial began on May 3, 2000 The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on May 3, 2000, which was 11 years, four months and 13 days after the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ... Hans Köchler (born October 18, 1948 in Schwaz, Tyrol, in Austria) is Full Professor of Philosophy and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. ... March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The old passenger terminal at Luqa Airport was converted into an air cargo terminal when the completely re-furbished Malta International Airportbecame fully operational in March 1992 The re-furbished Malta International Airport Still referred to by the locals as Luqa Airport, the completely re-furbished Malta International Airport in...

Reopening the case

In Britain, the Conservative administrations under Margaret Thatcher and John Major refused even to countenance the idea of an independent public inquiry into PA 103. The Labour party in opposition had promised such an inquiry, but in government since May 1997 and having brought the case to trial, prime minister Tony Blair appeared to believe there was no need for any further inquiry. Labour MP, Russell Brown, whose Dumfries constituency includes the town of Lockerbie, formally called for a public inquiry in March 2002. But foreign secretary, Jack Straw, in a written statement to parliament on December 18, 2002, said the government had "decided not to initiate any further form of review on Lockerbie." Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... Sir John Major, KG, CH (born 29 March 1943) is an English politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997. ... Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the UK Labour Party, and Member of the UK Parliament for the constituency of Sedgefield in North East England. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... John Whitaker Jack Straw M.P. (born August 3, 1946, Buckhurst Hill) is a British Labour Party politician. ... In the Gregorian Calendar, December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years), at which point there will be 13 days remaining to the end of the year. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

However, the case would be reopened if the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) were to review the case and decide to refer it back to the High Court for a fresh appeal. Lawyers for Megrahi therefore applied to the SCCRC on September 23, 2003 asking that the case be reviewed. Just over two years later, something seemed to be happening: The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is a non-departmental public body in Scotland and was established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997. ... September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• On October 10, 2005 Megrahi's lawyers said they believed that material derived from test explosions in America in 1989 had mistakenly been produced at the trial as primary evidence to convict their client.[3]
• On October 12, 2005 The Herald newspaper in Scotland reported that British, US and Libyan officials had been covertly meeting in London and Geneva to discuss moving Megrahi to a prison in Libya or a neighbouring African country, and thereafter quietly dropping his application to the SCCRC. Megrahi's transfer from Greenock jail in Scotland would undoubtedly infuriate some of the US victims' families, as well as those who believe Megrahi is innocent and demand that he should have a fresh appeal.[4]
• On October 13, 2005 Dr Jim Swire, spokesman for UK Families-Flight 103 (UKF103), wrote to The Herald:

"If Megrahi were to be transferred to Libya he would be something of a hero and might lose his keenness for further appeal. Should that happen, as one of the many deeply involved parties, I will not be alone in demanding of the SCCRC that they continue their decision-making process. It remains our right both to know why our loved ones were not protected and to see the Scottish judicial process completed without governmental interference of any kind."[5]

• On October 23, 2005 The Sunday Times reported that the former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who issued the arrest warrant for Megrahi, had cast doubt on the reliability of the main witness at the trial. Fraser described Tony Gauci, whose testimony convicted Megrahi, as "not quite the full shilling" and "an apple short of a picnic." Fraser argued that Megrahi could be transferred to Libya and need not serve the whole of his 27-year sentence in Scotland.[6]
• On October 28, 2005 the then Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, called upon his predecessor, Lord Fraser, to clarify those remarks about Gauci by making a public statement.[7]
• The controversy came amid mounting speculation that the SCCRC is to rule that Megrahi suffered an apparent miscarriage of justice and should be granted leave to appeal.[8]
• In an interview with The Scotsman newspaper of November 1, 2005 the architect of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial held in a neutral venue under Scots law, Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University, vowed to ensure Megrahi's case is brought back to court for a further appeal. The law professor said it was "the most disgraceful miscarriage of justice in Scotland for 100 years." "I won't let it go," he added.[9]
• The Scotsman of November 18, 2005 reported that Dr Jim Swire of UKF103 went to meet Megrahi for the first time on Wednesday, November 15. The purpose of the meeting in Greenock Prison was to ask Megrahi whether he would still press for the SCCRC to continue its review of his case if rumours of his repatriation proved to be correct.

"Megrahi was happy for me to make it known that he is determined to pursue a review of the case, no matter what might evolve concerning his future detention," said Dr Swire. He added: "It is very important to the members of UKF103 campaign group that there be a full review of the entire Lockerbie scenario through an appropriately empowered and independent inquiry, but absence of a further review of the court case would also damage our search for truth and justice."

Dr Swire said even if Megrahi did not continue with his appeal bid, the campaign group would press the SCCRC to complete its review of the case, as interested parties.[10]

• In March 2006, Dr Swire met Iain McKie – the father of policewoman Shirley McKie, who was wrongly accused by Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) fingerprint experts of leaving her thumb print at a murder scene in 1997. Mr McKie is lobbying for a judicial inquiry to be held into his daughter's case, which allegedly has links with the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial. Dr Swire and Mr McKie are keen for such an inquiry to investigate not only these links but also a number of other questions such as the role of Harry Bell, the former head of the SCRO and a key person in the investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Dr Swire said he, the McKie family and observers all over the world needed the answers to these questions:

"The reputation of our country and its criminal justice system will depend upon how these cases are sorted out."[11]

• On May 4, 2006 the Scottish Executive announced that a panel of five Judges sitting in Edinburgh were to hear Megrahi's appeal against his 27-year minimum jail sentence on July 11, 2006, when Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd, was expected to argue that the sentence imposed on Megrahi was too lenient. However, defence lawyers and others, including PA 103 relatives, expressed concerns about the timing of this appeal against sentence, and were keen for any appeal against conviction (that the SCCRC might decide upon) to be heard at the same time. Addressing these concerns, a court spokesman said:

"There might be a referral from the commission [SCCRC], but there might not be."[12]

• Lawyers for Megrahi later insisted that both appeals (against sentence and conviction) ought to take place at the special Scottish Court in the Netherlands – where his trial and first appeal against conviction were held – rather than in Edinburgh. The Crown disputed the move on security and cost grounds but, on June 8, 2006, the Scottish Court of Criminal Appeal decided to postpone the July appeal against sentence until October 2006. The three-month delay thus allows time to settle both the venue issue and whether the SCCRC is to grant Megrahi a second appeal against conviction.[13]

• On November 1, 2006 Megrahi was reported to have dropped his insistence that the new appeal should be heard at Camp Zeist, Netherlands.[14]

October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 12 is the 285th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (286th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Charles Mackintoshs Glasgow Herald building, now The Lighthouse The Herald is a national broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland, with an audited circulation of 71,000, making it the best-selling national Scottish broadsheet newspaper. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). ... October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dr Jim Swire was born in 1936 at Windsor in Berkshire. ... October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... Peter Lovat Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, PC, QC (b. ... Tony Gauci is a former proprietor of a clothes-shop in Malta. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby PC QC (born June 7, 1953) was appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland on February 24, 2000. ... A miscarriage of justice is primarily the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime that they did not commit. ... The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish newspaper published in Edinburgh. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The trial began on May 3, 2000 The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on May 3, 2000, which was 11 years, four months and 13 days after the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ... Scots law (or Scottish law) is the law of Scotland. ... Professor Robert Black QC, FRSA, FRSE, FFCS, ILTM is Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh. ... November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shirley McKie Shirley McKie is a former Scottish policewoman. ... Until 2001 the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) directly controlled the local forensic fingerprint provision for the eight Scottish police forces: Central Scotland Police Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary Fife Constabulary Grampian Police Lothian & Borders Police Northern Constabulary Strathclyde Police Tayside Police Set up by the SCRO in 2001, the Scottish Fingerprint... The trial began on May 3, 2000 The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on May 3, 2000, which was 11 years, four months and 13 days after the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ... The investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 began at 19:03 on December 21, 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 crashed at Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ... May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Executives logo, shown with English and Scottish Gaelic caption The term Scottish Executive is used in two different, but closely-related senses: to denote the executive arm of Scotlands national legislature (i. ... Edinburgh (pronounced ; Dùn Èideann () in Scottish Gaelic) is the capital of Scotland and its second-largest city. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Scottish Court in the Netherlands is the name given to the special court set up under Scots Law to try two Libyan agents charged with planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over the town of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Court of Criminal Appeal was an English appellate court for criminal cases established by the Judicature Act 1873. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zeist is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands, located east of the city of Utrecht. ...

Framing of Libya

In an address to a conference of law officers in August 2001 (seven months after the PA 103 verdict) the Scottish Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd, denied that this was a politically-driven prosecution: Her Majestys Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (Morair Tagraidh in Scottish Gaelic) is the chief legal adviser to the Scottish Executive and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament. ...

• "Conspiracy theorists have alleged that the investigators' move away from an interest in the PFLP-GC was prompted by political interference following a re-alignment of interests in the Middle East. Specifically it is said that it suited Britain and the United States to exonerate Syria and others such as Iran who might be associated with her and to blame Libya, a country which we know trained the IRA. Accordingly, evidence was 'found' which implicated Libya. This is best answered by looking at the evidence."[15]

The Lord Advocate then effectively confirmed that Libya had been framed, by citing the following evidence which had been 'discovered' by government forensic experts: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command is a left-wing Palestinian nationalist organization. ... A Republican mural in Belfast depicting the hunger strikes of 1981. ...

• regarding the fragment of Toshiba radio cassette: "As if in confirmation of Libya's involvement, during the preparation for trial, evidence was obtained from Toshiba (by DERA's Alan Feraday) which showed that during October 1988 20,000 black Toshiba RT-SF 16 radio cassettes, the type used in the Pan Am bomb, were shipped to Libya. Of the total world-wide sales of that model 76% were sold to the General Electric Company's subsidiary in Libya";

• regarding the timer fragment: "In June 1990, with the assistance ultimately of the CIA and FBI (Thomas Thurman), Alan Feraday of DERA's forensic explosives laboratory was able to identify the fragment as identical to circuitry from an MST-13 timer. It was already known to the CIA from an example seized in Togo in 1986 and...took investigators to the firm of Mebo in Zürich." [which US authorities already knew had supplied Libya with MST-13 timers]; and,

• regarding the clothing material: "It was examined [at the same forensic laboratory at Fort Halstead in Kent] on May 12, 1989 by Dr Thomas Hayes. The cloth was found to be a part of a grey slalom shirt—one of a number of items that linked back to the little shop, Mary's House in Malta, and the shopkeeper, Tony Gauci." [Malta has always had very close links with Libya, and Gauci—as a primary witness for the prosecution—was allegedly given hospitality by the Scottish police on a number of occasions in the run-up to the trial.]

Warning against over-reliance upon forensic science to secure convictions, Britain's foremost criminal lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC, in the BBC Frontline Scotland TV program Silence over Lockerbie, broadcast on October 14, 1997, said he wanted to make just one point: The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (normally known as DERA), then Britains largest science and technology organisation, was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence until July 2, 2001. ... Alan Feraday used to work for the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) at Fort Halstead in Kent. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... JamesThomas Thurman was described as an explosives forensic expert at the FBI laboratory. ... Dr Thomas Hayes was employed at the Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment (RARDE), later subsumed into the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). ... Tony Gauci is a former proprietor of a clothes-shop in Malta. ... Michael Mansfield QC is a well-known British lawyer. ... Cherie Booth QC wearing her ceremonial robes (including full-bottomed wig) as Queens Counsel at the Bar of England and Wales. ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"Forensic science is not immutable. They're not written in tablets of stone, and the biggest mistake that anyone can make—public, expert or anyone else alike—is to believe that forensic science is somehow beyond reproach: it is not! The biggest miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom, many of them emanate from cases in which forensic science has been shown to be wrong. And the moment a forensic scientist or anyone else says: 'I am sure this marries up with that' I get worried."

Various news media also investigated the bombing and the various theories that were put forward to explain it. In some cases, there were accusations of disinformation, including attempts to steer the investigation toward Libya. Pierre Salinger fired one member of his investigative team, because of suspicion that she was attempting to manipulate its inquiry. [[16] Disinformation, in the context of espionage, military intelligence, and propaganda, is the spreading of deliberately false information to mislead an enemy as to ones position or course of action. ... Pierre Salinger. ...

Seven alternative theories

CIA in Lockerbie

Within days of the December 21, 1988 bombing, Lockerbie was awash with rumors: heroin and money had been found, and the CIA had arrived in the town. None of these rumours was ever officially confirmed. December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lockerbie (Gd: Logarbaidh) is a town located in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

Two teenagers claimed to have found travellers cheques worth $547,000 and an envelope upon which that figure had been marked. Several polythene bags containing white powder were found, according to Edinburgh's Radio Forth reporter David Johnstone (Johnstone 1989). No evidence of these finds was presented in court.

Another rumour was that a mountain-rescue leader walking east of Tundergarth was approached by a police officer and told he could proceed no further into a particular field where he could see a large red or orange tarpaulin. Other witnesses allegedly confirmed they had seen it too, and that there was a white helicopter hovering overhead with a marksman waving away anyone who came close to the tent. One witness told journalist Paul Foot that underneath the tarpaulin was a container, which was too large to be the flight recorder (Ashton and Ferguson 2001). Paul Foot addressing a miners rally, June 1984 Paul Mackintosh Foot (November 8, 1937 – July 18, 2004) was a British radical investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ...

Whatever the tarpaulin was covering, most of the apparent intelligence activity in Lockerbie seems to have surrounded PA 103 victim Major Charles McKee or, more particularly, the contents of his suitcase. McKee was believed to be the leader of a Special Forces team that was about to attempt the rescue of American hostages held by Hezbollah in the Lebanon. His heavily censored public file, available through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, reveals that he was a career spy, highly thought of and that he undertook dangerous missions. [17]American intelligence sources told journalists that McKee's suitcase contained details of his latest assignment, including the layout of buildings where the hostages were believed to be located. The suitcase was found by a dog-handler a few days before Christmas on Carruthers Farm, near Waterbeck. Two Americans, who said they worked for Pan Am, quickly came to remove it. They brought the suitcase back to the same spot later, minus much of its contents. On Christmas Eve, a group of Scottish police officers were asked to accompany the two Americans to find the suitcase. Before they arrived at the site the officers, realizing they were being duped and were expected to log it in as if for the first time, made their excuses and left. Two British Transport Police dog-handlers allegedly found the case for the Americans later on that day (John Ashton and Ian Ferguson 2001). This article is becoming very long. ... Nearly sixty countries around the world have implemented some form of freedom of information legislation, which sets rules on governmental secrecy. ... Motto: (Eng: No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by... The British Transport Police (BTP) is a non-Home Office national police service responsible for policing the railway system throughout Great Britain. ...

No evidence has emerged to support these allegations but, since so many journalists were told about them, it is widely assumed there is some truth in them. Lawyers for the two accused Libyans were concerned that if, as the stories indicated, the CIA was in fact removing evidence from the hills around Lockerbie, the integrity of the chain of evidence, crucial to a fair trial, may have been disturbed. Such concerns led to claims that the CIA not only removed evidence but planted it, too, in order to pin the blame for the PA 103 attack on Libya. In 2005, a retired senior Scottish police chief gave defence lawyers a signed statement, which confirmed the claims made in 2003 by a former CIA agent that his CIA bosses actually wrote the script to incriminate Libya. [18]

Iran, the PFLP-GC, and operation Autumn Leaves

A number of journalists considered that the Iranian revenge motive (retaliation for the shooting down of the Iran Air Airbus by USS Vincennes) was prematurely dismissed by investigators. They drew attention to a comment by former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her 1993 memoirs, where she seemed to discount the Libya revenge motive (for the 1986 bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi by the United States air force): Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air that flew from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai. ... The fourth USS Vincennes (CG-49) is a U.S. Navy Ticonderoga class AEGIS guided missile cruiser. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... Operation El Dorado Canyon was the name of the joint United States Air Force and Navy air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. ...

"It turned out to be a more decisive blow against Libyan-sponsored terrorism than I could ever have imagined. ...There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I bitterly regretted. But the much-vaunted Libyan counter attack did not and could not take place... There was a marked decline in Libyan-sponsored terrorism in succeeding years" (Thatcher 1993, pp448-9).

For many months after the bombing, the prime suspects were the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), a Damascus-based rejectionist group led by former Syrian army captain Ahmed Jibril. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين - القيادة العامة) is a left-wing Palestinian nationalist organization, backed by Syria. ... The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command is a left-wing Palestinian nationalist organization. ... Ahmed Jibril Ahmed Jibril (born 1928) is the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), part of the left-wing, secular Palestinian rejectionist front, so-called because they reject proposals for a peaceful settlement with Israel. ...

Ahmed Jibril

In a February 1986 press conference, Jibril warned:"There will be no safety for any traveler on an Israeli or U.S. airliner" (Cox and Foster 1991, p28). Secret intercepts are believed to have recorded the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) in Baalbeck, Lebanon making contact with the PFLP-GC immediately after the downing of the Airbus. Jibril is understood to have received $11 million from Iran (although a banking audit trail to confirm the payment has never been presented). The CIA allegedly intercepted a telephone call made two days after PA 103 by the Interior minister in Tehran to the Iranian embassy in Beirut, instructing the embassy to hand over the funds to Jibril and congratulating them on a successful operation. Image File history File links PAAhmedJibril. ...

A verifiable fact is that Jibril's right hand man, Hafez Dalkamoni, set up a PFLP-GC cell which was active in the Frankfurt and Neuss areas of West Germany in October 1988, two months before PA 103. During what Germany's internal security service, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), called Operation Herbstlaub (Operation autumn leaves), the BfV kept cell members under strict surveillance. The plotters prepared a number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hidden inside household electronic equipment. They discussed a planned operation in coded calls to Cyprus and Damascus: oranges and apples stood for detonating devices; medicine and pasta for Semtex explosive; and, auntie for the bomb carrier. One operative had been recorded as saying: "auntie should get off, but should leave the suitcase on the bus" (Duffy and Emerson 1990). The PFLP-GC cell had an experienced bomb-maker a Jordanian, Marwan Khreesat, to assist them. Khreesat made at least one IED inside a single-speaker Toshiba Bombeat 453 radio cassette recorder, similar to the twin speaker model RT-SF 16 Bombeat that was used to blow up PA 103. However, unlike the Lockerbie bomb with its sophisticated timer, Khreesat's IEDs contained a barometric pressure device that triggers a simple timer with a range of up to 45 minutes before detonation. IED is also an abbreviation for Intelligent Electronic Device IED is also an abbreviation for Intermittent explosive disorder A large cache of munitions found in Afghanistan in 2004. ... DJ Semtex is also a BBC hip-hop disc jockey and producer from the UK. Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive. ... Toshiba Corporations headquarters in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation sales by division for year ending March, 31 2005 Toshiba Corporation ) (TYO: 6502 ) is a Japanese high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. ... Schematic drawing of a simple mercury barometer with vertical mercury column and reservoir at base A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. ...

Unbeknown to the PFLP-GC cell, its bomb-maker Khreesat was a Jordanian intelligence service (GID) agent and reported on the cell's activities to the GID, who relayed the information to Western intelligence and to the BfV. The Jordanians encouraged Khreesat to make the bombs but instructed him to ensure they were ineffective and would not explode. (A German police technician would however be killed, in April 1989, when trying to disarm one of Khreesat's IEDs). Through Khreesat and the GID, the Germans learned that the cell was surveying a number of targets, including Iberia Flight 888 from Madrid to Tel Aviv via Barcelona, chosen because the bomb-courier could disembark without baggage at Barcelona leaving the barometric trigger to activate the IED on the next leg of the journey. The date chosen, Khreesat reportedly told his handlers, was October 30, 1988. He also told them that two members of the cell had been to Frankfurt airport to pick up Pan Am timetables. October 30 is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 62 days remaining. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Frankfurt International Airport (German: Flughafen Frankfurt am Main) is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ...

Acting upon this intelligence, the German secret police moved in to arrest the PFLP-GC cell on October 26, raiding 14 apartments and arresting 17 men, fearing that to keep them under surveillance much longer was to risk losing control of the situation. Two cell members are known to have escaped arrest including Abu Elias, a resident of Sweden who, according to Prime Time Live (ABC News November 1989), was an expert in bombs sent to Germany to check on Khreesat's devices because of suspicions raised by Ahmed Jibril. Four IEDs were recovered but Khreesat revealed later that a fifth device had been taken away by Dalkamoni before the raid, and was never recovered. The link to PA 103 was further strengthened when Khreesat told investigators that, before joining the cell in Germany, he had bought five Toshiba Bombeat cassette radios from a smugglers' village in Syria close to the border with Lebanon, and made practice IEDs out of them in Jibril's training camp 20km (12 miles) away. The bombs were inspected by Abu Elias, who declared them to be good work. What became of these devices is not known.

Some journalists and PA 103 relatives believe that it is too stark a coincidence for a Toshiba cassette radio IED to have downed PA 103 just eight weeks after the arrest of the PFLP-GC cell in Frankfurt. Indeed, Scottish police actually wrote up an arrest warrant for Marwan Khreesat in the spring of 1989 but were persuaded by the FBI not to issue it because of his value as an intelligence source. In the following spring, the late King Hussein of Jordan arranged for Khreesat to be interviewed by FBI agent, Edward Marshman, and the former head of the FBI's forensic lab, Thomas Thurman, to whom he described in detail the bombs he had built. Some investigators and journalists have even speculated that Libyan and Iranian-paid agents may have worked on the bombing together; or, that one group handed the job over to a second group upon the arrest of the PFLP-GC cell members. The former CIA head of counter-terrorism, Vincent Cannistraro, who previously worked on the PA 103 investigation, told reporters he believed the PFLP-GC planned the attack at the behest of the Iranian government, then sub-contracted it to Libyan intelligence after October 1988 because the arrests in Germany meant the PFLP-GC was unable to complete the operation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Hussein bin Talal (Arabic: حسين بن طلال) (November 14, 1935 - February 7, 1999) was the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 1952 to 1999. ... JamesThomas Thurman was described as an explosives forensic expert at the FBI laboratory. ... Vincent Cannistraro was Director of NSC Intelligence from November 1984 to January 1987 [1]. He was Special Assistant for Intelligence in the office of the Secretary of Defense (January 1987-October 1988). ...

Other theorists believe that whoever paid for the bombing arranged two parallel operations intended to ensure that at least one would succeed; or, that Jibril's cell in Germany was a red herring designed to attract the attention of the intelligence services, while the real bombers worked quietly elsewhere.

Iran and the London angle

Towards the end of the bombing trial, lawyers for Megrahi argued that the PA 103 bomb could have started its journey at Heathrow, rather than at Luqa Airport in Malta. The Boeing 747 that was destined to carry the 259 passengers and crew on the London-New York leg had arrived from San Francisco at noon on December 21, 1988, and stood unguarded on the tarmac for much of the period before PA 103's passengers began to board the aircraft after 17:00 (scheduled departure 18:00). The Iran Air terminal in Heathrow was adjacent to the Pan Am terminal, and the two airlines shared tarmac space. The lawyers invoked the 1990 Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry and the evidence it heard that the baggage container AVE 4041, into which the bomb suitcase had been loaded, was left unsupervised at Heathrow for about forty minutes that afternoon. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi (born April 1, 1952) is a former Libyan intelligence officer, head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, and director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Tripoli. ... London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ... The old passenger terminal at Luqa Airport was converted into an air cargo terminal when the completely re-furbished Malta International Airportbecame fully operational in March 1992 The re-furbished Malta International Airport Still referred to by the locals as Luqa Airport, the completely re-furbished Malta International Airport in... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Libya and Abu Nidal

Abu Nidal in the early 1980s

Abu Nidal was widely regarded as the most ruthless international terrorist until that mantle was assumed by Osama bin Laden. Nidal (aka Sabri al-Banna) was reported to have died in a shoot-out in Baghdad on August 16, 2002. A former senior member of his group, Atef Abu Bakr, told journalists that shortly before his death Abu Nidal had confided to Bakr that he had orchestrated the PA 103 bombing on behalf of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. Image File history File links AbuNidal. ... Image File history File links AbuNidal. ... Abu Nidal in 1976 in a photograph released by the Israeli army, one of only a handful of photographs of him known to exist. ... Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: ‎; born March 10, 1957 [1]), most commonly known as Osama bin Laden is a militant Islamist and one of the founders of al-Qaeda. ... August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Muammar al-Gaddafi visits Brussels in 2004 (photo courtesy of the EC). ...

After settling in Tripoli in 1985, Nidal and Gaddafi allegedly became close, Gaddafi sharing what The Sunday Times called "Abu Nidal's dangerous combination of an inferiority complex mixed with the belief that he was a man of destiny."[19]

According to Atef Abu Bakr, Gaddafi asked Nidal to coordinate with the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, an attack on the U.S. in retaliation for the 1986 bombing of Benghazi and Tripoli. Nidal then organized the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi on September 5, 1986 killing 22 passengers and wounding dozens of others. In August 1987, Abu Nidal allegedly tried again, this time using an unwitting bomb mule to carry a device on board a flight from Belgrade (airline unknown), but the bomb failed to explode. For PA 103, Senussi allegedly told Nidal to supply the bomb, and Libyan intelligence would arrange for it to be put on a flight. No evidence has been produced in support of this theory. Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on September 5, 1986, by four armed men of the Abu Nidal organization. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

CIA-protected suitcase theory

Oliver North testifying before Congress

A theory for which no evidence has been produced suggests that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had set up a protected drug route from Europe to the United States—allegedly called Operation Corea—which allowed Syrian drug dealers, led by Monzer al-Kassar (who was involved with Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal) to ship heroin to the U.S. using Pan Am flights, in exchange for intelligence on Palestinian groups based in Syria. This work is copyrighted. ... The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Government. ... The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Lt-Col. ...

The CIA allegedly protected the suitcases containing the drugs and made sure they were not searched. On the day of the bombing, as the theory goes, terrorists exchanged suitcases: one with drugs for one with a bomb.

Another version of this theory is that the CIA knew in advance this exchange would take place but let it happen anyway, because the protected drugs route was a rogue operation, and the American intelligence officers on PA 103 – Matthew Gannon and Maj. Charles McKee – had found out about it, and were on their way to Washington to tell their superiors.

The former version of the protected-suitcase theory was suggested in October 1989 by Yuval Aviv, the owner of Interfor Inc., a private investigation company based on Madison Avenue, New York. Aviv was a former Mossad officer who led the "wrath of god" team that assassinated a number of Palestinians who were believed to have been responsible for a massacre in 1972, when 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were killed by the Black September Palestinian group in Munich (see Munich massacre). Aviv sold his story to Canadian journalist George Jonas, who published it in 1984 as Vengeance, later made into a movie entitled The Sword of Gideon and in 2005 used as the basis for Steven Spielberg's movie Munich. Yuval Aviv was the source of the book by George Jonas, on which Spielbergs film is based Yuval Aviv is a New York-based private investigator who was the source of the 1984 book, Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, by George Jonas, on which... For the Haganah branch responsible for clandestine Jewish immigration into the British Mandate of Palestine, see Mossad Lealiyah Bet   (Hebrew: המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations) is the Israeli intelligence agency, often referred to as Mossad (in English: The Institute). ... One of the Black September terrorists on the balcony of the Israeli team quarters at the Olympic village The Munich massacre occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September, a group... George Jonas (1935–) is a Hungarian-born conservative Canadian writer, poet and journalist, a self-described classical liberal. ... Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (born December 18, 1946) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and producer. ... Munich is a 2005 Academy Award-nominated film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. ...

After PA 103, Aviv was employed by Pan Am as their lead investigator for the bombing. He submitted a report (the Interfor report) in October 1989, blaming the bombing on a CIA-protected drugs route (Barrons December 17, 1989). This scenario provided Pan Am with a credible defense against claims for compensation by relatives of victims, since, if the U.S. government had helped the bomb bypass Pan Am's security, the airline could hardly have been held liable. The Interfor report alleged inter alia that Khalid Jafaar, a Lebanese-American passenger with links to Hezbollah, had unwittingly brought the bomb on board thinking he was carrying drugs on behalf of Syrian drug dealers he supposedly worked for. However, the New York court, which heard the civil case lodged by the U.S. relatives, rejected the Interfor allegations for lack of evidence. Aviv was never interviewed by either the Scottish police or the FBI in connection with PA 103. December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page lists direct English translations of common Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

In 1990 the protected-suitcase theory was given a new lease of life by Lester Coleman in his book Trail of the Octopus. [20]. Coleman by his own admission was a self-proclaimed former freelance journalist-turned-informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Cyprus. Coleman claimed to have seen Khalid Jafaar in the DEA office in Nicosia, Cyprus once again implying that Jafaar was a drugs mule, but this time for the DEA instead of Syrian drug dealers. Despite no evidence being advanced to support Coleman's claims, the theory gained some credence when British journalist Paul Foot wrote a glowing review of Coleman's book for the London Review of Books. [21] But on March 31, 2004—four months before his death—Foot reverted to the orthodox Iran/PFLP-GC theory in an article he wrote for The Guardian entitled "Lockerbie's dirty secret."[22] Since 1973, the DEA has enforced the drug laws in the United States. ... The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, is a major producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense. ... Paul Foot addressing a miners rally, June 1984 Paul Mackintosh Foot (November 8, 1937 – July 18, 2004) was a British radical investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...

A 1994 documentary film The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie, which included interviews with Lester Coleman and Yuval Aviv, seemed to favour a hybrid version embracing both the CIA-protected suitcase and the drugs mule versions of the theory. Shortly after the film was broadcast by Channel 4 television on May 11, 1995 Aviv was indicted on fraud charges. Aviv was quick to claim that these were trumped-up charges, and in due course they were dropped. The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie is a documentary film on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ... Channel 4 is a public-service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Radio detonation

According to conspiracy theorist and self-styled private investigator Joe Vialls, who died in July 2005, the bomb on PA 103 was triggered not by a sophisticated timing device but by the technique of radio detonation.[23] Joe Vialls (1944-2005), born Otho Jewell Vialls, was an internet journalist, conspiracy theorist, and a private investigator. ...

Explosion occurs shortly after Maid of the Seas passes Dean Cross navigational radio beacon

The Vialls theory relies on the fact that each navigational beacon has its own unique radio frequency, which is usually in the range 108.0 to 117.95 megahertz (MHz) VHF. The Dean Cross beacon, shown at the bottom left of the map, marked the start of PA 103's final track on December 21, 1988. Maid of the Seas would then have been flying at about 500 mph between Dean Cross beacon and where it crashed on the town of Lockerbie, an overall distance of thirty two miles representing a point-to-point flight time of barely four minutes. As PA 103 passed overhead the Dean Cross beacon, a light would have flashed on in the cockpit alerting the pilots to change frequency in order to obtain permission for the Atlantic crossing from Shanwick Oceanic Control at Prestwick, Scotland. Using standard reaction times, according to Vialls, it would have taken between three and five minutes for the crew to be ready to communicate on the new frequency. In its PA 103 report, the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated: Image File history File links Lockerbie4a. ... Image File history File links Lockerbie4a. ... In Norse Mythology Vor is a goddess of the Aesir. ... Rough plot of Earths atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including radio waves. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ... Lockerbie (Gd: Logarbaidh) is a town located in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. ... Shanwick Oceanic Control Area Shanwick is the Air Traffic Control (ATC) name given to the area of International Airspace which lies above the northeast part of the North Atlantic. ... Prestwick Prestwick is a town located in South Ayrshire on the central west coast of Scotland, approximately 30 miles to the south-west of Glasgow. ... The Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigates air accidents in the United Kingdom. ...

"At 18.58 hrs the aircraft established two-way radio contact with Shanwick Oceanic Area Control on frequency 123.95 MHz. At 19.02:44 hrs the clearance delivery officer at Shanwick transmitted to the aircraft its oceanic route clearance. The aircraft did not acknowledge this message and made no subsequent transmission." The AAIB report continued: "The cockpit voice recorder tape was listened to for its full duration and there was no indication of anything abnormal with the aircraft, or unusual crew behaviour. The tape record ended, at 19.02:50 hrs ± 1 second, with a sudden loud sound on the cockpit area microphone channel followed almost immediately by the cessation of recording whilst the crew were copying their transatlantic clearance from Shanwick ATC."[24]

The Vialls radio detonation theory can work in one of two different ways:

• A command radio signal is simply sent to the target from the ground (or from another aircraft); or,
• The command radio signal is generated within the target itself at a specific time based on known frequencies and flight routing.

Vialls cited the following example of how the Israelis used the technique of radio detonation:

In the late 1980s, Israeli intelligence managed to slip a new cellular phone to a Hamas leader. The phone had already been booby-trapped with Semtex explosive and a radio trigger. By carefully listening to the telephone frequencies, the Israelis were able to monitor the times when the Hamas leader actually had the cellular phone pressed to his ear. As soon as they were sure they had the right man, an Israeli pilot in an F15 Eagle sent a coded radio "squawk" to the cellular phone, which blew the Hamas leader's head off. Either of the two radio triggering techniques could have achieved the same result with this cellular phone bomb.

The inside of a Boeing 747 is like a "Faraday cage" which would ensure that secondary emissions—from the captain's radio message to Shanwick Oceanic Control, for example—would be sufficient to activate the radio trigger of the bomb. Thus the PA 103 bomb could have been triggered by an internally-generated command radio signal transmitted to or received from Shanwick. However, Vialls believed that the extent of the damage caused to the aircraft meant that the bomb was probably positioned close to the fuselage, rather than—as the prosecution maintained at the trial—being wrapped in clothing, packed in a suitcase and loaded inside a baggage container. [25]The location of the bomb and its type have also been called into question by explosives engineer, John H. Parkes, who shortly after the crash was present at the scene. Parkes was not called as a witness at the trial but has recently commented: Hamas (Arabic: ‎; acronym: Arabic: ‎, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement; the Arabic acronym means zeal) is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist organization that currently forms the majority party of the Palestinian National Authority. ... John H. Parkes is an explosives expert. ... The trial began on May 3, 2000 The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial finally began on May 3, 2000, which was 11 years, four months and 13 days after the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ...

"Every munitions or explosives device has its own characteristic signature. The signature I saw was not consistent with the device they maintained was used."

Parkes believes that there might have been a cargo of munitions in the hold of the aircraft, and these could have been detonated by specific radio frequencies.[26]

The radio detonation theory would probably rule out Libya from responsibility for the PA 103 bombing (although the Swiss firm Mebo – which was proven at the trial to have supplied sophisticated timing devices to Libya – actually fitted briefcases with the electronic equipment required to radio-detonate IEDs). Similarly, Syria and Iran – the other "usual suspects" and/or their sponsored terrorist groups – would have been unlikely to have had either the expertise or the technology to carry out a radio detonation. This leaves Israel, which originally developed the technique, and whose intelligence service, Mossad, Vialls himself blamed for the PA 103 bombing. But Israel had no plausible motive for sabotaging PA 103. However, Israel's fellow pariah state, apartheid South Africa, did have a motive and this is examined below in the South-West Africa (Namibia) theory. Lockerbie bombing suspect Edwin Bollier Edwin Bollier and his partner, Erwin Meister, founded the Meister/Bollier (Mebo) electronics firm in Zürich, Switzerland. ... IED is a three-letter abbreviation which may refer to: Improvised explosive device, an explosive devices often used in unconventional warfare. ... For the Haganah branch responsible for clandestine Jewish immigration into the British Mandate of Palestine, see Mossad Lealiyah Bet   (Hebrew: המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations) is the Israeli intelligence agency, often referred to as Mossad (in English: The Institute). ... Pariah, originally the name of the Pariah people in India, has gained widespread use as an analogy, especially in the phrase social pariah, as a term for anyone despised or rejected by others. ...

South-West Africa (Namibia)

Map of South-West Africa (Namibia)

According to the South-West Africa (Namibia) theory, apartheid South Africa was responsible for the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103. map of namibia (CIA) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... map of namibia (CIA) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For the legal definition of apartheid see crime of apartheid. ... Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from Londons Heathrow International Airport to New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. ...

The theory is founded on three apparently unconnected pieces of circumstantial evidence:

• Signing of the Namibia independence agreement on December 22, 1988 (the day after the Lockerbie bombing) at UN headquarters in New York.
• Cancellation at short notice of a booking on PA 103 by a 23-strong South African delegation, headed by foreign minister, Pik Botha.
• The last minute change of travel plan by UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson. Instead of flying direct from Brussels to New York, Carlsson was persuaded to stopover in London and join the PA 103 transatlantic flight.

The theory's chief proponent is former British diplomat, Patrick Haseldine, who was sacked on August 2, 1989 for inter alia having accused the apartheid regime of responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing. A possible link with the previous radio detonation theory is also explored below. December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The cockpit landed in a farmers field near a tiny church in Tundergarth, Scotland Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan Ams daily Frankfurt-London-New York-Detroit evening flight. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... Pik Botha in 1984, with (right to left) State President P W Botha, and President Samora Machel of Mozambique and Mrs Graça Machel, at the signing of the Nkomati Accord. ... Bernt Carlsson Bernt Wilmar Carlsson was born in 1938 in Stockholm, Sweden, and died in the Lockerbie bombing on December 21, 1988. ... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 797 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989 Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ... Patrick Haseldine at N°10 Downing Street in July 1994 Patrick Haseldine (born July 11, 1942 in Leytonstone) attended St Ignatius College (1953–58), a grammar school in north London. ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This page lists direct English translations of common Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. ...

Namibia independence agreement

At the Reagan/Gorbachev summit of September 29, 1988, it was decided that Cuban troops would leave Angola and Soviet military aid to Angola would cease as soon as South Africa withdrew from Namibia. Agreements to give effect to these decisions were drawn up for signature by Cuba, Angola and South Africa on December 22, 1988.[27] Famous people with the family name Reagan include: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of The United States Nancy Reagan, the wife of Ronald Reagan and influential First Lady Ron Reagan, President Reagans son and liberal journalist Michael Reagan, President Reagans son and conservative talk show host John Henninger Reagan... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: ; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

South African delegation

Reuters report confirming the South African booking (cancelled at short notice) on Pan Am Flight 103

A Reuters news report of November 12, 1994 (pictured right) finally confirmed – after an interval of nearly six years – the early rumours that South Africa was closely linked to PA 103. A South African delegation of 23 negotiators – headed by foreign minister, Pik Botha – arrived at Heathrow on December 21, 1988 en route to UN headquarters in New York to sign an agreement relinquishing control of South-West Africa (Namibia) to the United Nations, as demanded by Security Council Resolution 435.[28]The whole delegation including defence minister, General Magnus Malan, and head of military intelligence, General C. J. Van Tonder, were booked for onward travel by flight PA 103. But, according to the Reuters report, their inward South African Airways (SAA) flight from Johannesburg had cut out a stopover in Frankfurt, which was SAA's European hub, and arrived early at Heathrow. The SA embassy in London managed to re-book Botha and six of his party on the 11:00 Pan Am 101 Flight to New York (according to the 1994 documentary film The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie). The remaining 16 negotiators cancelled their booking on PA 103 and returned by SAA to Johannesburg. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1194x2298, 408 KB) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1194x2298, 408 KB) This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. ... Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from Londons Heathrow International Airport to New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. ... Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pron. ... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Pik Botha in 1984, with (right to left) State President P W Botha, and President Samora Machel of Mozambique and Mrs Graça Machel, at the signing of the Nkomati Accord. ... London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... South-West Africa is the former name (1884-1990) of Namibia under German (as German South-West Africa, Deutsch Süd-West Afrika) and (from 1915) South African administration when it was conquered from the Germans during World War I. Following the war, the Treaty of Versailles declared the territory... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... General Magnus Malan (b. ... South African Airways (SAA), using South African on their aircraft livery, is South Africas largest domestic and international airline company. ... City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... Frankfurt International Airport Frankfurt International Airport (IATA: FRA, ICAO: EDDF), known in German as Rhein-Main-Flughafen or Flughafen Frankfurt am Main, is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. ... The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie is a documentary film on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ...

UN Commissioner for Namibia

On December 19, 1988 UN Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, left New York for an official visit to Brussels. After a speaking engagement in the European Parliament, Carlsson was expected to return from Brussels to New York on December 20, 1988. He would have been there in good time for the signing of the Namibia independence agreement at UN headquarters on December 22, but, according to the Swedish newspaper iDAG of March 12, 1990, Carlsson had been pressured to stop off at short notice in London to meet with officials of the De Beers diamond mining and marketing conglomerate. December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sign in the entrance of the European Parliament building in Brussels, written in all the official languages used in the European Union as of July 2006 The European Parliament building in Strasbourg The debating chamber, or hemicycle, in Strasbourg The European Parliament building in Brussels The European Parliament (formerly European... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan-Olof Bengtsson is a Swedish journalist with Kvällsposten in Malmö, Sweden. ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg-based diamond mining and trading corporation. ...

"Stressed And Nervous Before Death Crash"

see English translation [1]

On December 21, 1988 the UN Commissioner for Namibia arrived at Heathrow from Brussels on flight BA 391 at 11:06 with a booking to travel onward to New York by flight PA 103 at 18:00. Carlsson was met at the airport by Bankole Timothy of De Beers and taken by car to London. After the meeting with De Beers, Carlsson was brought back to Heathrow Airport, arriving at about 17:30. Carlsson's already checked-in suitcase would have remained at Heathrow airport for about seven hours, thus providing South African airside-authorized personnel with ample opportunity to substitute it for the bomb suitcase. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1500x2208, 930 KB) Author, Jan-Olof Bengtsson, gave permission on November 23, 1995 for his original work (published in Swedish newspaper iDAG of March 12, 1990) to be used in any way to support alternative theories into the bombing of Pan... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1500x2208, 930 KB) Author, Jan-Olof Bengtsson, gave permission on November 23, 1995 for his original work (published in Swedish newspaper iDAG of March 12, 1990) to be used in any way to support alternative theories into the bombing of Pan... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1476x2208, 835 KB) Author, Jan-Olof Bengtsson, gave permission on November 23, 1995 for his original work (published in Swedish newspaper iDAGon March 12, 1990) to be used in any way to support alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1476x2208, 835 KB) Author, Jan-Olof Bengtsson, gave permission on November 23, 1995 for his original work (published in Swedish newspaper iDAGon March 12, 1990) to be used in any way to support alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bankole Timothy Emmanuel Bankole Timothy (July 3, 1923 – June 20, 1994) was a Sierra Leonean journalist. ...

That SAA were involved in unlawfully switching baggage that day was confirmed by a Pan Am security officer, Michael Jones, at the Lockerbie fatal accident inquiry (FAI) in October 1990. Jones told the FAI a breach of aviation rules had been committed because the suitcase of South African passenger, Miss Nicola Hall, had been put on the earlier Pan Am 101 flight (with Pik Botha's delegation) whereas Miss Hall was booked–and died–on PA 103. This article is about the year. ...

Making a link between theories

The theory of radio detonation can be linked to this theory because the South African government of the time had been accused by Soviet accident investigators of employing a decoy navigational radio beacon to cause the fatal 1986 crash of the Tupolev aircraft in which Samora Machel (then president of neighbouring Mozambique) was killed.[29] Tupolev (Russian: Туполев) is a Russian aerospace and defence company. ... US President Reagan and President Samora Machel of Mozambique Samora Moisés Machel (September 29, 1933 - October 19, 1986) was President of Mozambique from 1975 until he died eleven years later, when his presidential aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain where the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland converge. ...

It has been suggested the SA military intelligence operatives would have installed the bomb on PA 103 once it was confirmed that their target, Bernt Carlsson, was to join the flight at Heathrow. As per the theory of radio detonation, the bomb would have been set to detonate when PA 103 was prompted by the Dean Cross navigational beacon to re-tune to 123.95 MHz, Shanwick Oceanic Control's unique radio frequency.

Aftermath

Within a week of the death of Bernt Carlsson on flight PA 103, his office safe at the United Nations had allegedly been broken into. And his apartment, which had been sealed by the UN's security staff, had also apparently been burgled. Furthermore, neither his girl-friend, Sanya Popovic, nor his sister, Inger Carlsson-Musser, was able to identify 'one single shred of anything in his checked luggage at the property store in Lockerbie'. Sanya Popovic is a professor of political science at Barnard College in New York. ...

"His bag was sitting at Heathrow, in the baggage area, from early that day. There is quite an important question about it, as neither I nor his sister was able to identify the bag. Just didn't seem like his (it was apparently immediately underneath the one containing the bomb, and quite considerably shattered). Not to mention the size was totally off (much too small)," says Sanya Popovic.

"I was quite surprised to find that despite our reactions to that bag, the Crown chose to say there was a definitive identification. Which there certainly wasn't," declared Sanya Popovic.

Substitute administrator The Crown is a term which is used to separate the government authority and property of the state in a kingdom from any personal influence and private assets held by the current Monarch. ...

Because of the death of UN Commissioner Carlsson the day before signature of the Namibia independence agreement, and the likely time it would take the UN to appoint a replacement for him, the South African government proposed its administrator-general, Louis Pienaar, should continue to administer South-West Africa (Namibia) in the run-up to that territory's first universal franchise election to be held in November 1989. Carlsson's role in designing the initial independence constitution of Namibia as well as administering the territory in the run-up to the elections was thus denied.

The main opposition party, SWAPO, swept to power with 57% of the vote – but short of the two-thirds necessary for SWAPO to be able to change the constitution that South Africa imposed on Namibia. The South-West Africa Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) was founded, along with a number of other groups, as a liberation organisation: following the first world war, South-West Africa — formerly a German colony — was turned over to South Africa to rule as a mandate for the British. ...

There is little doubt that apartheid South Africa – at the time a regional superpower armed with nuclear weapons and with technologically-advanced aerospace companies such as Kentron and highly-qualified individuals such as the Coventry Four – would have had the expertise to design an explosive device capable of bringing down an aircraft. Moreover, its so-called dirty tricks division (Directorate of Military Intelligence) – with links to western intelligence – would have been fully aware of the arrest of the PFLP-GC Frankfurt cell; the "Helsinki warning"; and, the motives of both Libya and Iran for revenge against the United States. South Africa developed six or seven gun-type fission nuclear weapons in the 1980s. ... Greek for sting. ... Professor Cloete Four South African military personnel were arrested by HM Customs & Excise officers in Coventry in March 1984 for allegedly conspiring to export arms from Britain to apartheid South Africa in contravention of the mandatory UN Security Council arms embargo. ...

Conclusion

To prove the South-West Africa (Namibia) theory, as well as any of the other six alternative theories, only a further full criminal investigation can feasibly determine the ultimate responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

References

• Emerson, Steven and Duffy, Brian. (1990) The Fall of Pan Am 103: Inside the Lockerbie Investigation, ISBN 0-399-13521-9
• Police investigations of "politically sensitive" or high-profile crimes
• Johnstone, David. (1989) Lockerbie: The True Story
• The Guardian, October 31, 1990 "Rules broken on Lockerbie flight"
• Goddard, Donald and Coleman, Lester. (1993) Trail of the Octopus, ISBN 0-451-18184-0
• The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie (1994), Producer Allan Francovich
• Ashton, John and Ferguson, Ian. (2001) Cover-up of Convenience: The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie, ISBN 1-84018-389-6
• Support for the Juval Aviv/Interfor theory
• Taking the blame by Paul Foot, a review of Lester Coleman's book
• Abu Nidal behind Lockerbie, says aide, CNN, August 23, 2002, retrieved February 27, 2005
• "Setting Up" Libya for the Lockerbie bombing
• "Setting Up" Libya - Part 2
• The bomb trigger on Pan Am 103
• "Fifth man" professor identified in South African weapons ring
• The UN's man: Bernt Carlsson
• Pik Botha avoids Pan Am Flight 103
• Libya offers $2.7 billion Lockerbie settlement by Patrick Rizzo, The Namibian, May 29, 2002
• Thatcher, Margaret. (1993) The Downing Street Years
• Lockerbie Observer Mission of Dr. Hans Koechler
• Fraser: my Lockerbie trial doubts
• Focus: Was justice done?

October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... The Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie is a documentary film on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. ... Allan Francovich was an American film producer and director who made a series of documentaries exposing CIA covert operations. ... Paul Foot addressing a miners rally, June 1984 Paul Mackintosh Foot (November 8, 1937 – July 18, 2004) was a British radical investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

See also

• Pan Am Flight 103
• Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
• Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
• Craig Williamson
• Lord Fraser of Carmyllie