Libya Begins Lockerbie Payout

20/08/2003| IslamWeb

Libya has begun to transfer the 2.7 billion US dollars compensation it has agreed to pay to the families of those killed in the Lockerbie airliner bombing, US officials say. "Because it is such a large sum, it will not be deposited all at once. Some will go in tomorrow (Thursday). Some could go in Friday," an unnamed official told Reuters news agency. The cash is being paid into an account at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basle, Switzerland. Last week, Libya accepted responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland and agreed to pay up to 10 million US dollars to each of the families of the victims. The attack claimed the lives of 259 passengers and crew and 11 residents of the Scottish town. UN sanctions were suspended in 1999 after the country handed over two suspects in the Lockerbie crash. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 for his role in the bombing. However in its efforts to get sanctions against it lifted, Libya also faces another hurdle. France has said any deal must include increased compensation for families of 170 people killed when a French airliner was blown up in 1989 - an act for which Libya has been blamed. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi. (AFP/File/Simon Maina)