If Muammar Quaddafi's former justice minister is to be believed, the Libyan dictator personally ordered the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
Swedish tabloid Expressen says Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who has just resigned from his cabinet post in protest at the violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations, told their correspondent in Libya: 'I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie.'
He told Expressen Gaddafi gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
Abdel-Jalil went on to say that Qaddafi was personally involved in the dre to get Megrahi released and returned to Libya. Megrahi was released in 2009 based on a diagnosis that he was near death from cancer, though he's still alive two years later.
He didn't elaborate on the evidence, but this revelation in and of itself is absolutely staggering. And it sounds pretty credible, since Abdel-Jalil is one of the highest-ranking officials to defect. It seemed very likely that Qaddafi at least knew about the attack, given that he exercises almost absolute control over the country. But if he personally ordered the attack, then he needs to go before the Hague.
Several of the victims aren't at all surprised to hear that Qaddafi may have personally given the order.
Bob Monetti, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old son Richard was killed in the bombing, said he's glad to hear a former official say what's been clear to him all along.
He said officials and the media, especially in the UK, have been denying that.
'Ever since the trial, which was held in a totally obscure location in Holland and was covered by nobody, there's been a drumbeat in the UK about how this is a trumped up thing and Libya had nothing to do with it,' he said.
'If you went to the trial, there was no question about who did it and why, and who ordered it.' Mr Monetti said.
There's been talk that the White House is considering sanctions against Libya. But if this is at all true, then sanctions may not even cover this. If Qaddafi gave the order, then Lockerbie was a crime against humanity, and he and every government official involved belong in jail.