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Saturday 30 November 2013

The Conspiracy Theories Behind The Pan Am Flight 103 Air Crash Investigation

By Angela Briggs


Whenever an event rocks the world, it doesn't take long for conspiracy theories about it to develop. Some people are questioning whether John F Kennedy was really shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, whether the Americans really landed on the moon and whether Al-Qaeda really was behind the events of September 11, 2001. One of the greatest tragedies of the Eighties is another source for conspiracy theorists and after more than 20 years, it seems that the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation will never really draw to a conclusion.

The greatest aviation disaster in British history took place on December 21, 1988. Soon after taking off from Heathrow Airport in London, an airplane of the Pan Am airline exploded in the air over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The initial investigation showed that the explosion was caused by a bomb on the plane.

The crash caused the deaths of all crew and passengers on board the plane. Eleven more people were killed on the ground when parts of the aircraft landed in a residential area of Lockerbie. The total death toll was 270, of which 189 victims were from the USA and 43 were from the UK. In all, people of 19 nationalities were killed.

It took three years of hard work for the investigators to pinpoint their suspects, two men from Libya. Another eight years of negotiations followed before the Libyan government handed the men over so that they could stand trial. Only one of the men was found guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison. He appealed his sentence twice, received a compassionate release in 2009 and maintained until his death of cancer that he had been innocent. The Libyan government, however, paid compensation to the families of those who died in the bombing.

Conspiracy theorists believe that Libya never was responsible for the atrocity. There are several theories about what really happened. One of the more bizarre ones is that the CIA was the guilty party, having bombed the plane so that two agents on board couldn't tell anyone about a drug-running operation that the CIA was involved in. According to this theory, the operation was being run in return for information that would help secure the release of hostages in Syria.

Another conspiracy theory implicates the South African government. At the time, this country was in the process of giving up its control over Namibia. The UN-appointed commissioner who was to take over and lead Namibia to independence died in the disaster, raising the possibility of an assassination by the apartheid security forces. The conspiracy theory was further fueled by the fact that South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister and his delegation, on their way to New York to sign the treaty, were booked on flight 103 but had decided to take another one instead.

Especially since the man found responsible was released in 2009 for compassionate reasons, some family members of those who were killed and some prominent figures have been calling for a new investigation. They started petitions online to find support. Their wish is that an independent inquiry, under leadership of the UN, will uncover the truth about who really was responsible for the tragedy and whether justice had been served.

It is uncertain whether there ever will be a new inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing. However since not all the legal proceedings surrounding the case have been finalized yet, the plane's recovered wreckage is still being kept as evidence. This means that a new Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation would not be impossible.




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