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I shall reveal proof of bomber's innocence, Gaddafi announces
By David Graves
The Libyan leader claimed that on Monday he would reveal evidence that would
prove the innocence of one of his intelligence officers jailed for mass
murder. Always one for the grand gesture, Col Gaddafi stood in front of his
former house, devastated by American bombers in 1986.He warmly embraced Al
Amin Khalifa Fhimah shortly after he was flown from Holland in a Royal
Netherlands Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft. He then presented him with two
camels, one for immediate ritual slaughter.As the men hugged and walked hand
in hand around the heavily guarded compound, surrounded by jostling
television crews, Col Gaddafi insisted that the convicted Libyan, Abdelbaset
Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, was also innocent. He vowed to disclose the evidence
on Monday.The sudden announcement appeared to take his officials completely
by surprise and they were left to wonder how their maverick leader would
deliver the vital information. On Wednesday, Libyan officials had said they
"respected" the court verdict.Dressed in a brown robe and wearing a yellow
and red shirt, Col Gaddafi announced that after revealing his information the
three Scottish judges who convicted Megrahi on Wednesday would be faced with
three choices: they could resign, tell the truth or commit suicide."I have
proven evidence that he is innocent," said Col Gaddafi, as a camel was
slaughtered in a ritual gesture of homecoming for Fhimah, who spent nearly
two years in Camp Zeist, Holland. As the two men stood in front of colour
photographs of victims of the US bombing, the colonel claimed the judges had
been "influenced by the US government, by pressure from the US government".He
insisted that UN economic sanctions, suspended after the surrender of the two
men, had to be lifted immediately "or we will be in a situation of racist
aggression". The Libyan leader declined to answer whether his country would
pay compensation to relatives of the Lockerbie victims, as demanded by
Britain and America.He claimed that Libya should be compensated by the West
for the "years of sanctions suffered in the Nineties". The US bombing of
Tripoli and Benghazi in February, 1986, was in retaliation for an attack on a
Berlin nightclub in which Americans died. Referring to the attack, Col
Gaddafi said: "We must not forget the victims of the 1986 massacre."What do
countries have to say about these victims? What do the UN and America have to
say about them? Are these victims human beings or cattle?" Fhimah, who seemed
bemused by his reception, continually gave the V for victory sign.Asked by
Col Gaddafi about his morale, the former station manager of Libyan Arab
Airlines in Malta, replied: "It's good, thank God." Behind the two men was
the ruined shell of Col Gaddafi's former home and military headquarters, left
untouched since the US bombing. The colonel's adopted daughter, Hana, was
killed by an American missile.As the colonel was driven away from the
compound in a Toyota Land Cruiser, Fhimah left with his family in a white
Japanese saloon car and a camel in the back of a pick-up truck, both gifts
from his leader.The Libyan had flown into the Maitgah military air base, a
former US airfield on the outskirts of Tripoli, following his acquittal by
the Scottish court in Holland. The welcome from his family and supporters was
ecstatic and often chaotic.As the Hercules, chartered by the UN, came to a
halt a large crowd of relatives and TV crews surged to a side door narrowly
missing being hit by the aircraft's propellers. Two bemused UN security
officers, who had accompanied the Libyan, watched, shaking their heads. "I've
never seen anything like it," said one.Meanwhile, Megrahi's family spent the
day at their home next to the Kuwaiti embassy in Tripoli with relatives. The
convicted bomber has four children. His wife declined to speak to The
Telegraph.
