LIBYA:A PROMINENT son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy has accused the families of victims of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing of being "very greedy" in negotiations to obtain compensation from Libya for the attacks.
The Pan Am jumbo jet exploded en route from London to New York over the southern Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 18th, 1988, killing 270 people.
Libya formally admitted responsibility in 2003 and agreed to pay $2.7 billion (€1.84 billion) in compensation to families of the victims, a major step towards ending years of sanctions against the north African country. But Mr Gadafy's son Saif al-Islam has said he expects Libya will one day be cleared of any link to the bombing.
In extracts from a BBC interview in a documentary to be broadcast tomorrow, Saif Gadafy accused the Lockerbie victims' families of "trading with the blood of their sons and daughters".
"I think they were very greedy. The negotiation with them - it was very terrible and very materialistic and was very greedy. They were asking for money and more money and more money and more money."
US and Libyan officials signed a deal this month to settle remaining compensation claims linked to Lockerbie and other bombings and pave the way for normal relations.
The deal has drawn criticism from relatives of the Lockerbie victims, who accuse the US and its allies of selling out to Libya in the chase for lucrative contracts to exploit the country's oil wealth.
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing, wrote in a letter to the Glasgow Herald yesterday: "I just wish that the needs of the relatives, namely a thirst for the truth and for justice, would be attended to, rather than an alleged hunger for money. So far as many relatives I know would say, we would gladly repay any 'compensation' money if we could just have our loved ones back."
Dr Swire said the Libyan government's admission of guilt for the Lockerbie bombing allowed its economy to recover while giving the West access to the country's oil. "The Libyans have achieved what they want and western commerce has got what it wanted too," he said. "In this, many of us feel like pawns."
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, was convicted in 2001 of the Lockerbie bombing after standing trial in The Netherlands under Scottish law. He won the right last year to launch an appeal, which he said would prove his innocence. - (Reuters, PA)