Akashma Online News

Posted on February 12, 2011

Key People in the Lockerbie Trial

The Maltese Connection

DEFENDANTS: 

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, 48 (left): Security chief for Libyan Arab Airlines. Formerly director of Centre for Strategic Studies in Libya. Allegedly bought clothes contained in suitcase holding bomb from a Maltese boutique in Sliema. Found guilty of masterminding the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, 44 (right): Libyan Arab Airlines station manager in Malta who allegedly had access to Air Malta luggage tags. Allegedly a member of Libyan intelligence service. Has acknowledged worked for airline but says he left the job three months before bombing. He was not found guilty of his involvement in the Lockerbie tragedy.

COURT OFFICERS:

Presiding judge: Lord Sutherland, longest serving member of Scottish High Court. Known to run tight ship, with little room for courtroom grandstanding.

Other judges: Lord Coulsfield, Lord MacLean. 

Chief prosecutor: Colin Boyd, former Scottish solicitor general who took over case after Feb. 15 resignation of Lord Hardie. Previously was No. 2 man in Lockerbie investigation. 

THE MALTESE DEFENSE: 

Godwin Muscat Azzopardi defended the interests of AirMalta, the Maltese national airline. An experienced attorney, he took the place of Edgar Mizzi a few months ago.

Manuel Mallia, one of Malta’s best lawyers specialising in criminal law. He formed a good team with Giannella Caruana Curran, the daughter of another famous Maltese lawyer and currently the President of Malta Prof. Guido de Marco.

WITNESSES: 

Mohammed Abu Talb: Egyptian-born Palestinian serving life sentence in Sweden for terrorist bombings. Abu Talb visited Malta in October 1988 and was linked to Lockerbie case after raid on apartment turned up diary with Dec. 21, 1988, circled. His role is linked the sale of clothes from the Maltese boutique in Sliema.

Edwin Bollier: Owner of Swiss electronics firm MEBO, which made timing device that triggered Lockerbie bomb. Initially told investigators he sold 20 timers to Libya; later recalled also selling some to East German intelligence service, which supplied terrorist groups in Europe. 

Toni Gauci: Owner of the boutique Mary’s House in Sliema, Malta. Claimed al-Megrahi entered his shop on December 7th 1988 and bought an assortment of apparel that investigators say was contained in suitcase that carried the Lockerbie bomb. 

Abdel Majid Jiacha: Name court uses to identify Libyan agent who defected to United States. Claimed to have seen one of defendants put suitcase bomb on conveyor belt at Malta’s airport. Scottish legal sources say he later backtracked under questioning from defence attorneys. 

 
A SPECIAL MENTION:

Professor John Buontempo, (pictured here with Palestian Leader Yasser Arafat) former Ambassador for Malta to several Arab countries and the Arab League, and a doctor by profession. He tried, single-handed and without official backing from Malta, to bring the trial to be held in Malta. Although he did not succeed in his mission, his efforts contributed to commencement of the trial. He died in October 2000, while attending the trial at Camp Zeist as a special guest.

• Malta’s Involvement in the Lockerbie Case
  Pictures and Details on the sites implicated in the trial. 
• How the Bomb Travelled
  The prosecution’s theory on the trail of the bomb which blew up Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. 
• A Timeline of death, grief and suffering
  A chronological outline of key events in the Lockerbie Case. 
• News Items on The Lockerbie Trial
  From the archives of The MaltaMedia Daily Online News Service. 
• What if…?
  Conspiracy theories on the Lockerbie Case. 
• Malta-Libya: close friends caught in the storm
  Malta’s relationship with Libya since the early 1970s.