Libyan families of US bomb victims protest ( 2003-09-25 09:05) (Agencies)
Families of people killed
when U.S. jets bombed Libya urged Tripoli on Wednesday to suspend payments to
relatives of the victims of the 1988 downing of a Pan Am airliner until they
receive compensation from the United States.
U.S. jets struck Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, in retaliation for
the bombing of a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen died 10 days earlier.
The attack killed 27 people and injured 170, said Mohammed Shermit, the
secretary-general of the Families of the American Aggression Victims Society.
The families previously filed a lawsuit seeking compensation, but a U.S.
federal court dismissed their claim for damages.
They decided to renew their appeal for compensation after the Libyan
government led by Moammar Gadhafi accepted responsibility for the terrorist
bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland and agreed to pay $2.7
billion to the families of the 270 people killed.
"We had to make a move forward to demand compensation for our victims,"
Shermit said at a news conference in Geneva. "They are innocent and should not
have been bombed."
The compensation should be equal to the amount paid to the relatives of the
Lockerbie victims, said Shermit, who told reporters that he lost an 8-year-old
daughter and four other family members in the bombing ordered by then-President
Reagan.
A Libyan diplomat accompanied the group at the news conference at the
European headquarters of the United Nations, but he said he was unable to
comment on behalf of his government. The State Department had no immediate
comment Wednesday.
The U.N. Security Council on Sept. 12 lifted 11-year-old sanctions on Libya
after Gadhafi's government took responsibility for the Pan Am attack and agreed
to the compensation.
