TWO men named as suspects in the Lockerbie bombing may never face trial in Scotland, well-placed sources said. Last week Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, indicated her support for Abdullah al-Senussi and Mohammed Abouajela Masud to face justice in this country.
But sources close to the Scottish government say Libyan authorities may never hand over the pair who are currently serving prison terms in Tripoli — Senussi facing the death sentence and Masud incarcerated for bomb making.
As The Sunday Times reported four years ago, the Crown Office wants to question Senussi — brother-in-law and former spy chief of the former Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. British and US intelligence indicates that he chaired a fateful meeting in 1988 that then led to the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 and loss of 270 lives.
As head of the Libyan external security service, Senussi was thought to have recruited Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person so far convicted for the Lockerbie bombing, Britain’s worst terrorist attack. Although Senussi was never charged over the atrocity, he was convicted in absentia for his role in a related terrorist attack, the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger in which 170 people were murdered.
Libya has been hit by instability since the overthrow of Gadaffi, with various militias governing different territories and the British and US embassies have withdrawn from Tripoli.
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Given the current conditions, it could be some time before any mission to interrogate the men can be undertaken and sources say Libyan authorities would prefer to try cases in their own domestic courts and could not be expected to hand over men already serving time to a foreign country.
In addition there is frustration among Libyan authorities at those who wish to prosecute what are regarded as crimes of the past.
A source close to the Crown Office said: “Regardless of the conditions in Libya this is a live investigation and the Crown Office would be failing in its duty if it did not try to have these suspects interviewed.”