Hague: We won't force Koussa to talk on Lockerbie

Published on Monday 4 April 2011 19:09

LIBYAN defector and former secret service chief Moussa Koussa will be "encouraged" to speak to Scottish police and prosecutors about the Lockerbie bombing, William Hague has said.

The Crown Office and Dumfries and Galloway Police both want to question Mr Koussa, 73, about the atrocity - the worst mass murder in British history.

They met Foreign and Commonwealth officials yesterday and have been given assurances he will be encouraged to assist them.

However, speaking in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Mr Hague made is clear that Mr Koussa would not be detained or forced by the UK government to talk to investigators against his will.

"Moussa Koussa is not being offered any immunity from British or international justice," he said. "He is not detained by us and has taken part in discussions with officials since his arrival, of his own free will.

"We will encourage Moussa Koussa to co-operate fully with all requests for interviews with law enforcement and investigation authorities, in relation both to Lockerbie, as well as other issues stemming from Libya's past sponsorship of terrorism, and to seek legal representation where appropriate." He went on to say there was "insufficient evidence to produce further prosecutions, but that may change in future".

Dumfries and Galloway Police and the Crown Office were unable to comment last night, as talks were still on going.

The former Libyan foreign secretary is thought to have taken over the ESO, his country's security service, at least two years after the explosion which brought down the Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people, on 21 December, 1988.

However, he was at the heart of Libya's government for decades and is considered well-placed to be able to inform police about "Libya's past sponsorship of terrorism" - if he chooses to.

He also played a key role in Libyan efforts to secure the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted of the atrocity - as did Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, who has spent the last couple of days in talks in Greece and Turkey, trying to find a diplomatic end to the conflict between Gaddafi troops and rebels, which has raged for six weeks.

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Megrahi was released in August 2009, on compassionate grounds, because he had terminal prostate cancer and was believed to have less than three months to live.

On return to Libya he was given a hero's welcome and is still alive more than 18 months later.

Mr Hague said the EU would discuss lifting an assets freeze and travel ban against Mr Koussa, because he is no longer part of the Libyan regime.

"Sanctions are designed to change behaviour and it is therefore right that they are adjusted when new circumstances arise," he said.

However, Labour MP Barry Gardiner warned: "This will mean that a man who has engaged in the most despicable acts, both abroad and in the exploitation of his own people, and who has built up those assets upon that basis would then be able to enjoy the fruits of them."

Mr Hague replied: "When they cease to be a member of that regime, it follows that change in those restrictions should be discussed. Otherwise of course there would be no incentive whatsoever for members of the regime to abandon the regime."

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing victims of the Lockerbie bombing has been in talks with rebel leader and former justice minister to the Gaddafi regime, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, over his claim to have evidence that the dictator ordered the atrocity.

Jason McCue, head of the Libya Victims Initiative, is also seeking "an apology from the Libyan people" for the blowing up of the Pan Am flight in 1988 and the country's supply of explosives used in IRA attacks.

Mr McCue said he had been invited to Benghazi by the rebels.

In Libya, the rebels advanced yesterday, recapturing most of the strategic oil town of Brega, which has repeatedly changed hands in weeks of battles.

By contrast, the message delivered by Mr al-Obeidi, at meetings in Greece and then Turkey, was that Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi wants to the fighting to end.

Italy has become the third country to recognise the rebel's Interim Transitional National Council as the official Libyan government.

And in a further boost to the insurgents, the UK government has revealed it is supplying telecommunication equipment to the rebel council.

Mr Hague said the Government was prepared to provided "non-lethal equipment" to help protect civilians and deliver aid.