Arab League expresses willingness to extradite Libyan suspects
Libya-Regional, Politics, 7/24/1998

Today, the Arab League expressed its willingness to make arrangements for extraditing the two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie case to be presented before the Scotland judiciary in the Netherlands.

The AL's assistant secretary general for political affairs Muhammad Zakarya Ismael said that the Arab League is willing to perform the steps of extraditing the two Libyans, El-Amin Khalifa Fahima and Abd El-Basetiy El-Mechrihy, and guaranteeing their security, noting that the trial would necessitate legal procedures.

The Arab League recently received a message from British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Derek Fatchett in which he gave a hint that moving the Scottish court to a third country necessitates special legislation from the British parliament.

Moreover, the message has specified a number of guarantees to agree upon special arrangements with the state in which the trial will be established, especially guaranteeing the suspects' freedom to perform religious rituals and their security.

Meanwhile, the attorney for the two Libyans renewed the conditions necessary for a "fair trial in a neutral country by unbiased judges," Map reported.

The Libyan news agency "JANA" quoted the attorney as saying that he did not receive any precise American-British proposal to examine it with the team in charge of defending the two Libyan nationals.

The USA and Great Britain said Tuesday they are examining the possibility of holding the trial of the two men in a third country, as proposed by Libya several years ago.

The attorney insisted that any proposal should secure a fair trial in a neutral country by an unbiased court and judges, on which a preliminary agreement is needed, with the legal guarantees to the two clients before, during and after the trial.

Libya is facing since 1992 an air and arms embargo and economic sanctions for its refusal to hand over the two accused men.

The International Court of Justice said recently it is competent to examine the case, as has been requested by Libya and the Arab states.

Previous Stories:
  London intends to close Libya-Lockerbie file   (7/24/1998)
  US confirms Libya-Lockerbie trial considerations   (7/22/1998)
  First step in lifting Libya sanctions   (7/21/1998)

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