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Bringing Terrorists to Justice
Posted January 31, 2001

The trial of two Libyans accused of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 has come to a close with a split verdict.

A special court of Scottish judges found one of the accused, Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, guilty of murder.

Judges sentenced al-Megrahi to life imprisonment and recommended he serve a minimum of 20 years. Scotland doesn't have a death penalty.

But the other accused man was found innocent.

The decision brings a mixed sense of justice for the families of the 270 people who were killed, many of them Americans.

It has been pretty tricky bringing the suspected terrorists to justice. Especially when they live in a country that doesn't want to cooperate -- the "rogue state" of Libya.

What is a Rogue State?

"Rogue" (which means "a scoundrel" or "dishonest person") has become a popular way for American politicians to describe nations that let terrorists live and practice there. Rogue states also threaten their neighbors or try to get weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Iran have all been called rogue states.

Once a country earns this label, the United States treats it as an outcast by breaking off relations, forbidding U.S. citizens to visit or do business there and banning trade.

Other countries often follow the lead of the U.S. -- but not always.

A Plane Goes Down in 1988

The Lockerbie trial is about an American plane that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 and killed 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. The plane was on the way from London to New York when a bomb went off, breaking the plane into thousands of pieces. Two-thirds of the people who died were American citizens, 44 were British and the others came from more than 20 different countries.

Investigators think the bomb was hidden in a suitcase that was placed on the plane in Malta, a small island off the coast of Libya.

The U.S. and British governments believe Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah are the terrorists who blew up the jet on orders from Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi (pronounced kah-DAH-fee). The two men are charged with murder and conspiracy. American investigators claim they are professional Libyan spies.

Many believed the trial would last up to two years. Click here for a timeline of the case.

The British and American governments spent the last decade investigating the crash in 20 countries and gathered quite a bit of information. In 85 days of hearings, the court heard 235 witnesses.

The Libyan defense called three witnesses. They tried to suggest that the culprit was Iran or a Syrian-based group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but lacked evidence.

The U.S. and Libya: Bitter Enemies

The U.S. and Libya have been enemies for a long time.

During the 1980s they took turns attacking each other, and the U.S. accused Gadhafi of promoting terrorism around the world.

In April 1986, President Reagan ordered the bombing of two cities in Libya, including the country's capital, Tripoli. Dozens of civilians were killed, including Gadhafi's two-year-old adopted daughter. Two of his sons were injured although Gadhafi was unhurt. Some people thought the real goal of the U.S. was to kill Gadhafi himself.

The American attack on Libya was a direct response to the bombing of a disco in West Germany a few weeks earlier that killed two American servicemen.

Since then, the United States has accused Libya of providing money and training facilities for terrorist groups. Libyan terrorists, including Gadhafi's brother-in-law, are thought to be responsible for blowing up a French plane in 1989 and killing 170 people.

The United Nations placed arms sanctions on Libya in 1992.

Some countries and organizations have relations with Libya. The European Union carries on political and economic business with the country, which is rich in oil and gas.

Some countries are warming up to Libya because that country has taken responsiblity for some past crimes. Libya recently offered France $31 million for the plane bombing. Libyan leaders also took responsibility for the fatal shooting of a British policewoman outside the Libyan Embassy in London in 1984.

The Trial

Although the U.S. and Britain identified the two men way back in 1991, it took nine years to convince Gadhafi to hand them over for trial. With help from the United Nations, they finally struck a deal in 1999. The two suspects were held in a Scottish prison for over a year as they awaited trial.

Since American and British feelings about the crash are so strong, Gadhafi would only agree to hold the trial in a neutral country. Scotland, a part of Great Britain and the location of the crash, set up a court in the Netherlands just for this case. Also, Gadhafi didn't trust a British jury to judge al-Megrahi and Fhimah fairly, so Scotland agreed that a panel of three Scottish judges would decide the verdict.

The trial began in May, in a specially built $18 million courtroom with bulletproof glass. The trial itself cost about $80, mostly paid by Britain.

An interesting thing about Scottish law is that it has three possible verdicts: guilty, not guilty, and not proven. To get a guilty verdict, British lawyers had to make extra sure they could prove without a doubt that the Libyans planted a bomb on the plane.

A Mixed Verdict

President Bush called the verdict "a victory for an international effort," but said the United States will maintain a hard line against Libya.

The White House says sanctions against Libya won't end simply because it turned over the two suspects. Libya must meet other requirements, the statement says, including compensating victims' families and accepting the responsibility for the terrorist attack.

Why Now?

What made Libya finally agree to hand over the two men?

Libya has been hurt since 1992 by the United Nations embargo. The embargo, or ban, prevented air travel to Libya, sales of spare parts for planes, weapons, and important oil drilling equipment. Libyan leaders estimate the embargo has cost them $33 billion over the last eight years.

As part of the deal to hand over the suspects for trial, the United Nations agreed to end the embargo last year.

What do the Families Think?

This verdict will help heal many of the wounds caused by the deaths of family members, friends and loved ones on Pan Am Flight 103.

Daniel Cohen, who lost his 20-year-old daughter, said he was happier than he thought he would be. "Both would have been better, but the important thing is that the Libyan government has been indicted in this thing," he said.

But to others, it seems like two men are taking the rap for Libyan leader Gadhafi, who may have ordered the bombing.

All agree, at least, that this trial was long overdue and is a first step towards justice.

What do you think? Is the trial and the justice process fair? If Colonel Gadhafi gave the order, should he be on trial? How should we deal with countries who allow terrorists to live freely?