§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Prime Minister what proposals he has which would allow Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the United States of America to resolve the Lockerbie affair other than by way of instituting criminal proceeding in Scotland or the United States of America; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Lockerbie bombing was a crime committed against a United States aircraft over Scotland. It has been investigated from Scotland with the co-operation of the United States authorities. The trial of those accused of this terrible crime must take place in Scotland or the United States. This has been confirmed by the UN Security Council.
§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Prime Minister if he will discuss with President Clinton the role in Beirut in 1988 of Ron Carviene, Bill Leyene and Dan O'Connor, tinder the command of Matthew Gannon and Charles McKee.
§ The Prime MinisterI have no plans to do so.
§ Dr. GodmanTo ask the Prime Minister what discussions he had when he last met President Clinton on the subject of the setting up of an international court to try those persons alleged to have perpetrated the murders of the passengers and crew members of Pan Am flight 103 and residents of Lockerbie in December 1988; and if he will make a statement.
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§ The Prime MinisterNone.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the memorandum for No. 10 Downing street in 1989 adducing the reasons why Her Majesty's Government would not allow the public inquiry into the Lockerbie crime; and at what level the decision on the public inquiry was taken.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is not usual practice to place internal Government correspondence in the Library. I have nothing further to add to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Linlithgow on 10 January,Official Report, column 20.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his letter of 30 August 1994 to the hon. Member for Linlithgow what examination has taken place of the Toshiba and Helsinki warnings in relation to Lockerbie since the fatal accident inquiry.
§ The Prime MinisterThe fatal accident inquiry, which took place 22 months after the disaster, examined both warnings in some detail. In his determination, the Sheriff Principal concluded that the so-called Toshiba warning was not relevant to the circumstances of the deaths and that the so-called Helsinki warning lacked credibility. It has therefore not been considered necessary to conduct further examinations into these.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what representations Her Majesty's Government have had from the German Government about their interrogation of Edwin Bolliers's Statsi control and the sale of timing devices to the Statsi.
§ The Prime MinisterNone.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will discuss the implications with President Clinton of the FBI briefing paper regarding Iranian links and baggage being unloaded on Air Malta 180 destination Frankfurt airport.
§ The Prime MinisterI have no plans to do so.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister (1) if British authorities have interviewed Marwin Khreesat, a bomb maker, briefly detained and then released in Neuss, Germany;
(2) if he will put the transcript of the interview with Mr. Ghandanfar and Mr. Dalkamouni in the Library.
§ The Prime MinisterAs the hon. Gentleman well knows, it would he wrong to reveal details of the evidence in a criminal case while proceedings are pending.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will ask Chancellor Kohl the reasons why in October 1988 the Verfassungschütz released certain Palestinians and their bomb-making equipment.
§ The Prime MinisterThe release of detainees from German prisons is a matter entirely for the German authorities.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will discuss with Chancellor Kohl the prima facie evidence that a German-based terrorist organisation used its knowledge of a covert United States drugs operation to switch an unaccompanied bag containing drugs with an identical bag containing a bomb which destroyed Pan Am Flight 103.
§ The Prime MinisterThe allegation has been examined. No evidence has been found to support it.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what representations he has received from Lockerbie victims' families regarding information conveyed to them by 79W members of the United States commission about the extent of the information available to United States and United Kingdom Governments and the probability of its publication; what elements of the United States commission's findings support the families' version; and if he will place in the Library the United Kingdom responses to these findings.
§ The Prime MinisterI have recently received a letter from the family of a Lockerbie victim which referred to the United States President's commission on aviation security and terrorism. A copy of the commission's report, dated May 1990 will be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what assessment Her Majesty's Government has made of the role of Khaled Jaafar, a Lebanese victim of the Lockerbie bombing.
§ The Prime MinisterThe fatal accident inquiry in 1990–91 considered allegations of involvement of Khaled Jaafar in the bombing. In his determination, the sheriff principal concluded that there was no connection between Mr. Jaafar and the suitcase which contained the bomb.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister on what evidence British officials publicly dismissed a document of the United States Air Force, air intelligence unit, asserting that Ali Akbar Mostashemi, former Iranian Interior Minister, paid $10 million to terrorist gangs to carry out the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, as based on dud intelligence.
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing further to add to the answer I gave the hon. Gentleman on 26 January,Official Report, columns 299–300.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what assessment Her Majesty's Government have made of American reports about the destruction of Pan Am 103, based on reports from defecting Iranian pilots.
§ The Prime MinisterI have nothing further to add to the answer I gave the hon. Gentleman on 26 January,Official Report, columns 299–300
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 25 January, what strategy, other than demanding a trial of Libyan suspects, Her Majesty's Government have for obtaining justice for all the victims of the crime of Lockerbie. The Prime Minister: The Lockerbie investigation has been the most exhaustive ever undertaken in this country. It remains open but has to date uncovered evidence to support charges against the two Libyans accused. Our demands, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council have been for the surrender of the accused for trial in the United States or Scotland, the satisfaction of French justice over the bombing of UTA 772, the payment of appropriate compensation and concrete proof from Libya that it has renounced terrorism. I can see no other means of meeting the legitimate demands for justice than by trial of the persons alleged to be responsible before a criminal court properly exercising jurisdiction in respect of these matters.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister whether Her Majesty's Government were informed on or about 19 December 1988 of the travel plans of Major Charles McKee by the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Cyprus.
§ The Prime MinisterNo. I understand Major McKee was not an employee of the DEA.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if, pursuant to his answer on 14 February,Official Report, column 571, 80W he will identify the partners to whom he referred in relation to discussions about Lockerbie and UTH 772.
§ The Prime MinisterThe United States, France, other EU states and other friendly countries. We work most closely with the United States and France, the other states most seriously affected by the Lockerbie and UTA bombings. The Lockerbie issue is raised in bilateral contacts with a wide range of countries.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what information came to Her Majesty's Government about approaches by members of the Juafar family offering precise testimony about Hezbollah and Achmed Tibril and their role in using a member of the Juafar family to get a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103.
§ The Prime MinisterNo such approaches have been received.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister what reports the United Kingdom and the United States authorities in Cyprus received from Mr. David Lovejoy, an employee of the United States Government directly or through other sources on the movements of the United States hostage rescue team, including Matthew Gannon and Major Charles McKee subsequently killed at Lockerbie, before the destruction of Pan Am 103; and if he will discuss with President Clinton the reasons why these reports were sought.
§ The Prime MinisterThe British authorities in Cyprus neither sought nor received any such reports.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his Private Secretary, Mr. Edward Oakden's letter of 18 January to the relatives of the Lockerbie victims, if he will bring forward proposals whereby fatal accident inquiry presiding judges can have access to intelligence information.
§ The Prime MinisterSection 4(3) of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths (Scotland) Act 1976 requires that, subject to an exception relating to the reporting of matters affecting persons under the age of 17, any fatal accident inquiry shall be open to the public. There are no proposals to amend that provision.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if pursuant to his letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 15 February on Lockerbie, if he will list the witnesses interviewed by the German authorities at the request of, or in consultation with, the Scottish authorities and on what dates; and on what occasions Scottish officers were present, assisting at interviews.
§ The Prime MinisterDisclosure of the fact the Messrs Ghadanfar and Dalkamouni were interviewed was an exceptional step taken only because of the unwarranted criticisms which had been, and were continuing to be, made of the German authorities and the Scottish police. It would not be appropriate to go beyond this by discussing details of confidential communications between the Scottish police and prosecuting authorities and their counterparts in Germany, or indeed in any other country.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Linlithgow on 26 January,Official Report, column 300, in what month of what year allegations were first made to the effect that Ali Akbar Mostashemi had paid $10 million to have the Lockerbie bombing carried out; who were the competent authorities to whom the Prime Minister refers; and how much of the 81W alleged contradicting material came from Abdul Meged Jiacha.
§ The Prime MinisterThis allegation first appeared in the British press in September 1989. I have nothing to add to the answer that I gave the hon. Gentleman on 26 January,Official Report, column 299–300.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will discuss with President Clinton the statement of Mr. Vincent Cannistraro, head of the CIA counter-terrorism operations until 1990, that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine general command was implicated in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and had been planning other operations against United States and Israeli targets when some of its members' squad were arrested in Frankfurt and that the operation had been bankrolled by Iranians.
§ The Prime MinisterI have no plans to do so.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Prime Minister if he will discuss with President Clinton the posting of warnings about Pan Am flight 103 on United States embassy bulletin boards, and the subsequent United States directive requiring imprisonment of officials, should they discuss warnings with family, friends, and colleagues in the absence of a public warning.
§ The Prime MinisterI have no plans to do so.