The Lockerbie Injustice

This is a timeline from the brilliant report by Paul Foot, published in Private Eye, and still available for download from http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

LEST THEY FORGET

Thanks

Pamela Dix, who lost her brother at Lockerbie,
Martin and Rita Cadman who lost their son, Jim and
Jane Swire who lost their daughter, as did John and
Lisa Mosey, have all helped the Eye with this story
over the last twelve years. Others who have helped
with this story include Tam Dalyell MP, Professor
Robert Black, John Ashton, Anthony Sampson and
Margaret Renn. Few if any of these people will agree
with the style or conclusions here, which makes
their help all the more invaluable.

1988 21 December. Pan Am Jumbo jet flight 103 bombed over
Lockerbie. 259 crew and passengers and eleven on the
ground killed.
1989 February. Forensic investigations show that the bomb went
off in a Samsonite suitcase in the hold of the plane. In the
case were clothes bought in a shop in Sliema, Malta.
1989 March. Transport Minister Paul Channon tells journalists
at the Garrick Club that police have found the terrorists
responsible for the bombing and arrests are imminent.
1989 March. President Bush rings Prime Minister Thatcher
with suggestions to “low key” inquiries into Lockerbie.
1989 September. Scottish police interview Maltese shopkeeper
Tony Gauci for the first time. Show him pictures of
Palestinian terrorists.
1989 October. Sunday Times starts long series of articles
identifying the Palestinian PFLP-GC as the organisation
responsible for the bombing.
1989 December. Prime Minister Thatcher turns down demands
for a public inquiry into Lockerbie.
1990 February. American Presidential Commission on
Aviation Security and Terrorism reports. Includes several
references to PFLP-GC.
1990 July. FBI agent Tom Thurman invites Scottish police to
Washington. Shows them MST-13 timers, and suggests
similarities with fragment found from Lockerbie debris.
1990 2 August. Iraq invades Kuwait. UN forces start to gather
in Saudi Arabia in combined operation against Iraq
known as Desert Storm..
1990 September. First reports in western media, notably
L’ Express, naming Libya as possible suspects for
Lockerbie bombing.
1990 October. Fatal accident inquiry into Lockerbie starts in
Scotland. No inquiry or conclusion into who was
responsible for the bombing.
1990 November. Syria removed from US list of countries
harbouring terrorists. Syrian forces join Desert Storm.
Libya first named in British media as possible suspect for
bombing.
1991 January. Desert Storm bombing of Iraq begins.
1991 February. Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci first shown
photograph of Abdelbasset Megrahi, a Libyan
intelligence agent, and half-identifies him as the
purchaser of clothes in his shop.
1991 July. CIA informer, garage mechanic and Libyan airline
manager Majid Giaka, taken off Malta in a US warship
and interviewed by FBI agent.
1991 October. Giaka gives evidence at a US Grand Jury.
1991 November. US indictments name Megrahi and Libyan
airline manager Lamin Fhimah as Lockerbie conspirators
and murderers. Scottish legal authorities follow suit.
1992 January. UN imposes sanctions on Libya until the two
suspects are released.
1992-1998 Stalemate as Libya refuses to release suspects.
1998-early 1999 Negotiations inspired by South African
President Nelson Mandela.
1999 April. Suspects give themselves up for trial under
Scottish law in a special trial in Holland.
2000 May. Trial opens under three Scottish judges (and no
jury) at Camp Zeist in Holland.
2001 January. Megrahi convicted of murder, Fhimah
acquitted.