STOCKHOLM — Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, the former Libyan justice minister said in an interview Wednesday with Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Expressen on Wednesday quoted Mustafa Abdel-Jalil as telling their correspondent in Libya that “I have proof that Khadafy gave the order about Lockerbie.” He didn’t describe the proof.
Abdel-Jalil stepped down as justice minister to protest the violence against anti-government demonstrations.
He told Expressen Khadafy gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground on Dec. 21, 1988.
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“To hide it, he (Khadafy) did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland,” Abdel-Jalil was quoted as saying.
Al-Megrahi was granted a compassionate release from a Scottish prison in August 2009 on the grounds that he was suffering from prostate cancer and would die soon. He is still alive.
Expressen spokeswoman Alexandra Forslund said its reporter, Kassem Hamade, interviewed the ex-justice minister at “a local parliament in a large city in Libya.” She didn’t want to name the city, citing security concerns.