IRA victims say its our turn now for Libya compensation (Roundup)

By Anna Tomforde Aug 25, 2009, 13:20 GMT

   London - The international furore over the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has prompted fresh demands for compensation for 'Libyan-sponsored terrorism' from victims of IRA bombings in the Northern Ireland conflict.

   Lawyers and Protestant politicians in Northern Ireland said Tuesday the time had now come to negotiate compensation payments for families who lost loved ones in bomb attacks carried out by the former terrorist Irish Republican Army (IRA) for which explosives were supplied by Libya.

   London-based human rights lawyer Jason McCue, who has led the legal battle for victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland, including the 1998 Omagh bombing, said a new turning point has now been reached.

Al-Megrahi, sentenced to life for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing of a Pan Am airliner in which 270 people died, was freed from jail in Scotland on health grounds last week after serving eight years.

The jubilant scenes with which al-Megrahi, 57, was welcomed in Tripoli had taken Libya 'back in diplomatic years,' said McCue. The former pariah state now needed to show that it could maintain good relations with international trading partners.

   'Families of victims killed by Libyan weapons believe their hand has been strengthened by al-Megrahi's release,' said McCue. 'There is no simpler and easier way to do that than to compensate those victims of IRA bombs that utilized donated Libyan Semtex (plastic explosive).'

   Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son, Tim, was killed in an IRA attack in Warrington, northern Britain, in 1993, said Libya should now recognize the 'pain of so many in the UK' and acknowledge past wrongs.

'We see Libya rejoicing over the return of al-Megrahi...it's now time for Libya to acknowledge the pain and suffering they inflicted by supporting the IRA and show the same compassion to its victims,' he said.

'A moment in time has arisen with the release of al-Megrahi for Libya to address the actions of the past, especially as it aspires to be a respected nation in the eyes of the world,' added Parry, who leads a campaign group.

He urged the British government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to support the compensation demand and back the families' court bid against Libya.

Alan McBride, who lost his wife and father-in-law in an IRA bombing in Belfast in 1993, said it was 'long overdue' that Libya was taken to account for 'fronting terrorist campaigns.'

In August 2003, Libya agreed to a record compensation deal of 2.7 billion dollars for the Lockerbie victims in a move that paved the way for the country's normalization of relations with the west.

A number of Protestant politicians in Northern Ireland have lobbied on the issue of compensation at the political level for many years.

The prominent Democratic Unionist parliamentarian Jeffrey Donaldson was hoping to travel to Libya with some of the relatives in the autumn, his office said Tuesday.

However, the Foreign Office in London said earlier this year that the issue of compensation for victims of the Northern Ireland Troubles had repeatedly been discussed with Libya.

In the view of the British government, Libya had 'accounted for its past support of the IRA' in the mid-1990s and was unlikely to be prepared to consider 'a bilateral compensation settlement.

On all occasions when the issue had been discussed Libya had stressed that it believed the matter was firmly closed, Foreign Office officials said.

The government was, however, acutely aware that 'many thousands of people' had suffered from IRA terrorism and would 'continue to monitor Libya's position closely.'

The 30-year-long so-called Troubles between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland claimed more than 3,500 lives, including up to 400 soldiers and policemen.