Blair calls international community to pressure Libya to hand over Lockerbie suspects

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday called upon the international community to pressure Libya to hand over it citizens Ali al-Maqirhi and al-Amin Fahimah, accused of bombing a Pan -Am plane over the Scottish village of Lockerbie ten years ago.

Meanwhile, families of the victims held a sermon commemorating the incident's anniversary but with little hope of a quick solution to the crisis. The official spokesman for Blair said that the "British Prime Minister finds it very necessary that the international community to pressure Libya to hand over the two Libyans because they have to be tried after ten years since the explosion which is in itself a long time."

The spokesman added that "Blair will raise this issue with the president of South Africa during his visit to Pretoria during the New Year vacation." South African President Nelson Mandela "played a main role in mediation to try the two Libyans in a third country."

On Monday night Blair attended a special mass at Westminister Abbey on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Lockerbie explosion. A message was read by Blair on this occasion, in which he stressed the "importance of reaching the facts concerning the incident and to ensure achieving justice."