On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Three years after the blast, a Scottish court petition named two Libyan officials, Mr. Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah and Mr. Abdel Basset Ali al Megrahi, as the individuals responsible for the atrocity. Earlier this week, more than 10 years after the explosion, the two men were handed over to United Nations officials in Tripoli in preparation for a trial in the Hague. Justice can now be done.
An international investigation conducted by police and intelligence agencies identified the two defendants, who are suspected of having been Libyan intelligence agents working in Malta at the time of the explosion. When two indictments were handed down -- one in Scotland, another in Washington, D.C. -- the Libyan government refused to hand the men over. Threats of air and arms embargoes by the U.N. did not change the thinking of the country's leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The embargo went into effect April 15, 1992, and lasted until this week. (As part of the deal, the U.N. sanctions were suspended when the two men were handed over. After 90 days, the Security Council must decide whether to lift them permanently.)
Ten years seems like a long time to hold out hopes for justice. But for the victims' families, the wait is not over yet. The trial may drag on for years, and there is a good chance that no verdict will offer them the solace they seek. The Libyan government has been given assurances that the trial will focus on the two men and is not an attempt to embarrass or undermine Tripoli. That rankles. As one relative of a victim noted, it is like going after the hit men and ignoring the boss who gave the order.