DATE=8/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LOCKERBIE TRIAL (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265747
BYLINE=RON PEMSTEIN
DATELINE=ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The trial of two Libyan suspects for the 1988
bombing of an American jetliner over Lockerbie,
Scotland, has resumed in the Netherlands after a one-
month break. V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from Zeist,
in central Holland, that the first day of the resumed
trial was bogged down in a procedural dispute
involving a Libyan defector and documents from the U-S
Central Intelligence Agency
TEXT: In August of 1988, Abdul Majid, also known as
"Ghaka," offered his services to C-I-A agents working
in Malta. He said he was a Libyan intelligence
officer working there for Libyan Airways. And
observers say he is likely to have crucial information
about the activities of the two Libyans on trial here
for the bombing of Pan Am flight 1-0-3 in December
1988.
The two are charged with putting a bomb in a cassette
recorder inside a suitcase in Malta that was
transferred to the Pan Am airplane in Frankfurt,
Germany. The bomb exploded after the airplane left
London on a flight to New York. The explosion killed
259 people aboard the plane and 11 more on the ground
in Lockerbie, Scotland.
Mr. Majid is now living under a U-S witness protection
program and is expected to testify here against the
two suspects, Abdul Baset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al Amin
Khalifa Phimah. Mr. Majid's testimony will be
supported by 25 C-I-A cables about him -- although the
documents have been heavily edited by the agency.
The defense did not object to the cables being
introduced into evidence on the understanding that the
prosecution also did not know what was contained in
the edited portions. But, when the trial resumed
Tuesday, Mr. Megrahi's lawyer said he had just been
informed that the C-I-A had allowed the prosecution to
see an unedited copy of the documents two months ago,
after this trial was already under way.
The lawyer, Bill Taylor, told the court this advantage
was not fair to the defense. He also said he could
not accept the prosecution's argument that the edited
portions of the C-I-A documents either protect the
agency's sources and methods or are not relevant to
the Lockerbie bombing.
The prosecutor accuses the defense lawyers of
launching what he calls a "fishing expedition" for
information to damage the credibility of Mr. Majid.
He reminded the court it has no power to order the
C-I-A to produce unedited documents.
The Scottish judges agreed with the defense that it is
entitled to same information as the prosecution. And,
they asked the prosecution to make its best endeavors
to obtain better information from the C-I-A. Three C-
I-A officers familiar with Mr. Majid's activities will
testify here using false names.
Thanks to arguments about Mr. Majid and other
procedural matters, the first day of the trial after a
summer recess heard from no witnesses at all.
(Signed)
NEB/RDP/JWH/FC
22-Aug-2000 13:11 PM EDT (22-Aug-2000 1711 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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