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caliboyeightyeight t1_izsnt7e wrote

Can someone explain why he would be in US custody/trial instead of UK? A bit confused by that.

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40mm_of_freedom t1_izsp6g0 wrote

There were Americans killed in the bombing. The US announced charges against him 2 years ago. Apparently he made a confession to Libyan authorities and the US is using that as evidence.

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cthulhus_spawn t1_iztbkik wrote

I live in the U.S. and someone I know died on that plane. She was coming home for Christmas.

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PhilSpectorsMugshot t1_iztqgmr wrote

I’m sorry to hear that. I imagine it shook you and was quite traumatic.

One of my earliest memories of watching the news was the coverage of the Lockerbie bombing.

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cthulhus_spawn t1_izuijxw wrote

It was a very long time ago and we weren't close but we went to school together for years. There is a memorial for her in the center of town. It was... surreal to realize someone I knew had died in such an infamous way. Send your loving thoughts to her family. I'm ok. <3

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AngryZen_Ingress t1_izv53sa wrote

I was standing in line at Sadler Dining Hall when the news came over. I didn’t know people only because it was the end of my first semester. It cast a pall over the entire year.

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angelcobra t1_izvfpby wrote

Oh god. I’m so sorry. I know it was decades ago, but my sympathies.

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slemoine94 t1_izw4vfb wrote

I knew someone too. We went to junior high school together. My heart breaks for his family, all this news coming up again.

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onarainyafternoon t1_izxd6lh wrote

I'm sorry for your loss. My father was scheduled for the same flight but decided to postpone his departure by a week. It saved his life, and mine consequently.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izw5cgt wrote

For those wondering:

  • 270 total fatalities (including 11 on the ground that the plane crashed onto)
  • 190 of those 270 were from the USA
  • plane was PanAm (USA airline)
  • plane was going from London to NYC
  • plane exploded over Scotland
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auntieup t1_izyn5pz wrote

A detail that people often miss: the bomb aboard that flight was on a timer. The plane was supposed to blow up over water, but the flight departed about 20 minutes later than scheduled.

PA103 had received clearance to enter oceanic airspace from Shanwick Oceanic Control 6 seconds before the bomb went off. The message was never acknowledged.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izynspv wrote

how on earth do you know when the bomb was supposed to blow up? Do you have something you want to tell the FBI? lol sounds like we got an inside man here

−7

auntieup t1_izypbmu wrote

My friend was murdered aboard that flight when I was in college. She was just 20. I was just a little bit older.

I have read every report on this disaster. I have watched all the TV coverage of it. I followed the initial investigation (the only good thing Poppy Bush ever did, btw) and then the show trial, like my life depended on it.

I’m not afraid of flying anymore, but Christmas has sucked for me for 34 years.

That’s how I know.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izyplt5 wrote

Sorry to hear that. But still how would you know? How would anyone know? We don’t even know who did it, where in the world are you getting details even beyond that

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auntieup t1_izyqyox wrote

My brother in Christ, this is a matter of public record.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izyrjt1 wrote

Why are you so upset about asking how you know that? Lol perfectly reasonable question. Is it stated in this link you shared? I can’t find any info on it in there. Maybe I missed it

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auntieup t1_izysg9e wrote

I think you miss a lot of things, lmao. Have a better day.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izysqj1 wrote

Lol ok so you don’t know. Which is obvious because logically it would be impossible to know, it’s ok. Then just enjoy my joke. Sorry I exposed you lol it was meant to be playful

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MidnightSlinks t1_izssgig wrote

The US has proscecutorial jurisdiction on crimes committee on civil aircraft owned/operated by American companies. (It also has jurisdiction over crimes committed on foreign aircrafts on flights that land the US, and that's so that US officials can legally board the plane and arrest the person once it lands.)

This and related laws were put into place after a pilot was attacked in 1950 while flying over international waters. Even though it was an American civil aircraft both departing from and landing on US soil, the US had no laws on the books giving it jurisdiction.

Because the crime was committed over UK soil, the UK also has jurisdiction and they prospected his co-conspirator back in the day, but are letting the US take this one.

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Puzzleworth t1_izstkbc wrote

>The US announced charges against Abu Agila Masud two years ago, alleging that he played a key role in the bombing on 21 December, 1988.

[...]

>A US Justice Department spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that Masud would make an initial appearance in a federal court in Washington.

[...]

>A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: "[...]Scottish prosecutors and police, working with UK government and US colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with Al Megrahi to justice."

The plane crashed in Scotland, but it was an American flight. There are probably some legal implications there.

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auntieup t1_iztuit3 wrote

The combined value of the lives lost on that plane was calculated in the tens of millions. My friend was one of them. She would be 54 now.

We’ve learned a lot about how international courts “work” in the past 34 years. We are going to make these charges stick.

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kickass236 t1_izuyof2 wrote

Are you implying that every country in the world has a shit justice system compared to America because it sure as all fucks ain't.

EDIT: just to clarify I think the trial should be in Scotland where the attack took place not America. If we arrested the people who did 9/11 and then claimed that well british people died so we are putting them on trial not you you'd all be pissed.

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auntieup t1_izv6l8p wrote

A professor at UC Berkeley School of Law taught students in her civil procedure class that their work began with one question: What would make the client whole?

In this case, the answer is: 270 people still alive. Their families intact. A quiet street in a tiny Scottish town unharmed, no homes on fire, no bodies in its back gardens and fields. All of that has been impossible since 21 December 1988. What we have left now is prosecution.

American courts aren’t perfect. But we’ve developed really robust tort law, over generations, that effectively measures harm and assesses the appropriate responses to it. We’re good at defining horror with dollar amounts. We like making people pay.

The law in the United States is an imperfect system of last resort. This delayed attempt at justice, 34 years after my friend was murdered on her way home from a semester abroad, is the definition of last resort. And I will take it.

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kickass236 t1_izv8kpm wrote

So what your saying is he should be in Scotland awaiting trial since he committed this crime in Scotland where the person who committed the act was put on trial this is a terror attack on scottish soil that killed scottish people too so he should be held to account by our courts not yours. Its not a last resort its an attempt to police the world once again.

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auntieup t1_izvbnnc wrote

That is what you are saying. And you’re making kind of a mess of saying it, lmao.

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kickass236 t1_izvcgcd wrote

Ah yes making a mess of saying that 21 nationalities where involved it happend in Scotland the original person was charged and jailed under scots law so in fact this person too should be being held to account in the uk under scots law this was the biggest terror attack to happen on british soil where the fuck does it involve american soil planes are not sovereign soil. But airspace above Scotland and the houses it crashed into where in Scotland thats all sovereign soil. If one of the attackers was charged tried and found guilty under scots law so should the other

−7

auntieup t1_izvjisk wrote

LMAO. (cracks knuckles)

The bomb had been assembled in Libya, likely packed into a suitcase in Malta, loaded onto a flight in Germany, and finally planted aboard its destination flight on an American carrier in London. After negotiations with Nelson Mandela and the United Nations, Scottish authorities were placed in charge of the trial of the first two suspects, which was held in the Netherlands. And Scotland did incarcerate the one convicted terrorist until they released him on medical grounds 8 years later. They shouldn’t have done that, but they did. He died 4 years later.

So yes, we tried the collective approach. It failed. This is a murder investigation and the majority of people who were murdered were Americans. We have your uncle in custody and we’re going to try him. If you’re mad about that, you should have told him not to confess to building the bomb a decade ago, lol.

You don’t have to like it. In fact I’m kind of happy about how upset you are.

Merry Christmas.

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kickass236 t1_izvnk4i wrote

Yeah not upset just don't understand how it gets tried in america when it happend it scotland lol. And yeah totally agree we shouldn't have let him leave but don't think anyone on Scotland expect our government at the time did or does. Merry Christmas

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leaving4lyra t1_izvdg1i wrote

It was an American based airline company with a US crew..the passengers were from 21 nations with the US losing the most citizens with 190 passengers dying. The first two guys caught and tried were tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law with one acquitted and the other guy getting life but doing less than ten years in jail before getting sick and gaining compassionate release in 2009.. he died in 2012. Families of the victims, mostly the US as we lost the most people in the crash, felt that the first two guys tried got off easy so when this third man, the man incidentally who built the bomb that blew up the plane, was caught, it was agreed by other countries involved to let the US take the lead in hopes that if found guilty, this guy would get a harsher sentence than the first two got.

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ssr_nana t1_izvmdb2 wrote

Thanks for the explanation. Very interesting.

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KarateKid917 t1_izsq7pz wrote

Americans were killed in it and it was a US based airline

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International_Bat_87 t1_iztq3yi wrote

AP news explains a little more in-depth that Ghadafi ordered intelligence officials of the Libyan government to carry out the hit as Americans were the target. It’s an act of terrorism against the US government carried out by another foreign government is how they’re trying to pin it so they have jurisdiction.

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BenPool81 t1_izu6gw8 wrote

The flight was PanAm, an American company.

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woodguyatl t1_izwwnh7 wrote

Yes. I highly suspect he was part of the Griner prisoner swap. Russia had Libya release him to the US as part of the deal.

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themoff81 t1_izz5qt3 wrote

Are there any sources for your suspicion?

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woodguyatl t1_izzbuyy wrote

No. Pure suspicion. But it is quite a coincidence that that a smaller ally of Russia released somebody the US has been trying to extradite just a few days after the prisoner deal.

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hateitorleaveit t1_izw5wc7 wrote

Short answer. The USA arrested and charged him. So the USA is sending him to USA trial

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pickled-egg t1_izwmagt wrote

Megrahi didn't get a real trial, it was just a show.

The USA has dropped the pretence this time.

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