Call for Trump to declassify Lockerbie bombing files held by US agencies

Lawyer says victims’ families deserve ‘transparency, truth and answers’

A lawyer who represented British victims of the Lockerbie bombing is urging President Donald Trump to declassify US agency files on the tragedy.

Professor Peter Watson says the families of those killed deserve “transparency, truth, and answers”.

It comes after the president moved to declassify files relating to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Prof Watson is the former secretary for the Lockerbie Disaster Group, which represented British victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103.

He made the request in a letter to Matthew Palmer, the US Embassy’s charge d’affaires in the UK.

In the absence of any public inquiry into the bombing, Prof Watson said releasing the documents would help to “fill the vacuum of understanding” that remained about the atrocity.

All 259 passengers and crew onboard the plane died when it was blown to pieces above Lockerbie, Scotland.

Eleven people on the ground were also killed when large segments of the aircraft crashed to earth.

The nose of Pan Am flight 103 lies in a field after the bombing (PA)

Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi remains the only person ever convicted over the bombing.

He was sentenced to life in prison but released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in 2012.

Libyan Abu Agila Masud, who is alleged to have helped make the bomb, is to go on trial in the US in May facing three charges – all of which he denies.

Prof Watson said: “Nearly four decades later, as new trials and investigations continue, the pursuit of truth and justice for the victims and their families endures.

“The families of the victims are entitled to know as much as possible about what happened on the night of the bombing, and we know there are documents held by the US and UK intelligence services that fill the vacuum of understanding that remains today.

“We have seen a move from President Trump to declassify a number of federal secrets, and we believe Lockerbie should be next.

“The families have waited far too long. They deserve transparency, truth and answers.”

Prof Watson wrote the letter ahead of a visit to Florida

Prof Watson is due to speak about the bombing during a visit to Nova Southeastern University in Florida on 17 February.

In his letter to Mr Palmer, he referenced how “under the new administration, President Trump has agreed to review classified files and assess whether certain information should, in specific instances, be declassified and made publicly available”.

Adding there was a “continued pursuit of clarity” in relation to the 1988 bombing, he asked “whether consideration is being given to reviewing and potentially releasing files held by specialist agencies in the United States related to the Lockerbie tragedy”.

Prof Watson said: “Such a step could provide invaluable insight to those directly affected by this disaster, as well as to the wider legal and academic communities seeking to fully comprehend the circumstances that led to this act of terrorism.”