Libyan whistleblower is arrested after exposing Tripoli regime's Lockerbie secrets

A writer and person who published documents linking his country’s quality work to the Lockerbie bombing has been arrested connected nationalist information charges.

Samir Shegwara was taken into custody 2 days aft it was reported that the files could signifier grounds against a Libyan who has been accused of making the weaponry that brought down Pan Am Flight 103.

The suspect, Abu Agila Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, is facing proceedings successful Washington and has denied being progressive successful the onslaught that killed 270 radical successful December 1988.

The documents besides implicate Libyan agents successful the demolition of a French airliner that crashed successful the Sahara godforsaken successful 1989, sidesplitting different 170 people.

Mr Shegwara said they were retrieved from the archives of Libya’s erstwhile quality main Abdullah Senussi aft the illness of Colonel Gaddafi’s authorities successful 2011.

Their contents were published successful France successful January this year, successful the publication The Murderer Who Must Be Saved, co-authored by Mr Shegwara and French investigative journalists Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille.

The book’s publishers said Mr Shegwara is facing ineligible proceedings implicit the ‘alleged possession of classified information documents, without ineligible justification’.

The BBC reported connected March 18 that Scottish detectives are examining copies of the files, which could correspond the archetypal impervious from wrong Libya’s quality bureau that it was liable for the Lockerbie bombing.

Mr Shegwara, who is besides politician of Hay al Andalous, a municipality successful Tripoli, was arrested astatine his bureau by constabulary connected March 20.

He has been penning publically astir the documents since 2018 and has made nary concealed of the information that they were successful his possession.

His apprehension would look to enactment his belief, shared by the French journalists, that the documents are genuine.

Robert Laffont Publishing said the authenticity of the documents cannot beryllium questioned and they incorporate accusation of ‘major nationalist and humanities interest’ to Libya, France, Scotland and the U.S.

In a statement, the institution said it ‘deplores the prosecution of Samir Shegware arsenic good arsenic the unit that seems to beryllium exerted connected him to retract his denunciation of the crimes committed by the erstwhile authorities of Muammar Gaddafi.

‘As such, Robert Laffont Publishing joins with Karl Laske and Vincent Nouzille successful calling connected the Libyan authorities to driblet the charges against him.’

The steadfast said Mr Shegwara was provisionally released connected April 1, but remains nether menace of reincarceration and a proceedings successful the coming days.

A retired FBI peculiar cause who led the agency’s archetypal probe into the Lockerbie catastrophe has described the dossier arsenic imaginable ‘dynamite’.

One of the astir important documents appears to springiness an relationship of tests carried retired connected bombs hidden successful suitcases, conscionable weeks earlier the onslaught connected Pan Am Flight 103.

The weaponry which destroyed the level was concealed wrong a vigor cassette subordinate successful a suitcase successful the guardant hold.

A transcript of 1 of the Libyan files seen by the BBC records its taxable substance as: ‘Experiments connected the usage of the suitcase and investigating its effectiveness.’

The handwritten study is labelled ‘top secret’ and dated 4 October 1988, with the sender fixed arsenic the Information and Strategic Studies Centre successful Tripoli, headed astatine the clip by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, who was convicted implicit the Lockerbie bombing by a Scottish tribunal successful 2001.

The papers says the tests were successful, with a ‘powerful and effective’ detonation from a instrumentality which could not beryllium detected by an X-ray scanner.

The study says an cause called Aboujila Kheir - assumed to beryllium Al-Marimi - was progressive successful the tests.

Another appears to item the transportation of 10kg of explosives to an bureau successful Malta, staffed by Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah, the Libyan who was cleared astatine the archetypal Lockerbie trial.

Other documents are alleged to impact the ‘expenses’ of agents who travelled to Malta days earlier the onslaught connected Pan Am 103.

The verdict from the Scottish tribunal was that the weaponry was smuggled onto a level astatine Malta and past routed done the baggage strategy to Frankfurt and Heathrow, wherever it was loaded onto the American airliner.

The documents are besides said to implicate Senussi successful the readying of the attacks connected Pan Am 103 and the French plane, UTA Flight 772.

Senussi, Colonel Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, was convicted of bombing UTA 772 aft a proceedings held successful his lack successful 1999, though helium has ne'er served immoderate of the beingness condemnation imposed by the Paris court.

He was named arsenic a fishy implicit Lockerbie by Scottish and American prosecutors successful 2015.

Senussi is facing proceedings successful Libya implicit his actions during the uprising against Gaddafi 14 years ago.

Police Scotland and the Crown Office declined to remark connected Mr Shegwara’s arrest.