BinZiad
23-08-2002, 18:02
Ex-Aide: Abu Nidal Behind Lockerbie
Fri Aug 23, 6:50 AM ET
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Abu Nidal, the terrorist mastermind found dead in
Iraq this week, was responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight
103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, a one-time aide to the terrorist claimed.
In a series of interviews published in the Arabic Al Hayat newspaper
this week, Atef Abu Bakr claimed that Abu Nidal told a meeting that
his radical Fatah ( news - web sites)-Revolutionary Council was
behind the bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
Abu Bakr is a former spokesman for the group and one of Abu Nidal's
closest aides between 1985 and 1989, when he split with him over
management of the organization. Abu Bakr's whereabouts were not
known.
The attack has been blamed on Libya, and in March this year, a
Scottish appeals court upheld the murder conviction of former Libyan
intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for the blast.
Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of
parole for 20 years. A second Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was
acquitted.
No comment was available late Thursday from the office of the
Scottish prosecutors in the case against al-Meghrahi.
"Abu Nidal told a ... meeting of the Revolutionary Council
leadership: I have very important and serious things to say. The
reports that attribute Lockerbie to others are lies. We are behind
it," Abu Bakr was quoted as saying in the interview to be published
in the paper's Friday edition. The paper provided the AP with a copy
of the article.
Abu Bakr did not say when the alleged meeting took place. The
gathering was attended by five members of the council, including Abu
Bakr and Abu Nidal.
'"If any one of you lets this (word) out, I will kill him even if he
was in his wife's arms,'" Abu Bakr quoting Abu Nidal as saying.
The spokesman for Abu Nidal's group in Beirut, Ghanem Saleh, could
not be immediately reached for comment.
Ghassan Sharbal, al-Hayat's assistant editor who conducted the
interview, said he spoke to Abu Bakr before Abu Nidal's death was
announced this week. He refused to provide other details.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi intelligence chief said in Baghdad the 65-
year-old Abu Nidal ended his own life rather than face an Iraqi court
for allegedly communicating with a foreign country.
The al-Hayat interviews began publishing on Tuesday.
Fri Aug 23, 6:50 AM ET
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Abu Nidal, the terrorist mastermind found dead in
Iraq this week, was responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight
103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, a one-time aide to the terrorist claimed.
In a series of interviews published in the Arabic Al Hayat newspaper
this week, Atef Abu Bakr claimed that Abu Nidal told a meeting that
his radical Fatah ( news - web sites)-Revolutionary Council was
behind the bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
Abu Bakr is a former spokesman for the group and one of Abu Nidal's
closest aides between 1985 and 1989, when he split with him over
management of the organization. Abu Bakr's whereabouts were not
known.
The attack has been blamed on Libya, and in March this year, a
Scottish appeals court upheld the murder conviction of former Libyan
intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for the blast.
Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of
parole for 20 years. A second Libyan, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was
acquitted.
No comment was available late Thursday from the office of the
Scottish prosecutors in the case against al-Meghrahi.
"Abu Nidal told a ... meeting of the Revolutionary Council
leadership: I have very important and serious things to say. The
reports that attribute Lockerbie to others are lies. We are behind
it," Abu Bakr was quoted as saying in the interview to be published
in the paper's Friday edition. The paper provided the AP with a copy
of the article.
Abu Bakr did not say when the alleged meeting took place. The
gathering was attended by five members of the council, including Abu
Bakr and Abu Nidal.
'"If any one of you lets this (word) out, I will kill him even if he
was in his wife's arms,'" Abu Bakr quoting Abu Nidal as saying.
The spokesman for Abu Nidal's group in Beirut, Ghanem Saleh, could
not be immediately reached for comment.
Ghassan Sharbal, al-Hayat's assistant editor who conducted the
interview, said he spoke to Abu Bakr before Abu Nidal's death was
announced this week. He refused to provide other details.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi intelligence chief said in Baghdad the 65-
year-old Abu Nidal ended his own life rather than face an Iraqi court
for allegedly communicating with a foreign country.
The al-Hayat interviews began publishing on Tuesday.