Barack Obama condemns Lockerbie Bomber's release

By Ben Bailey

President Barack Obama led the US in voicing condemnation over the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

Mr Obama said the decision by the Scottish Government was a "mistake" and called on Libya to immediately place Megrahi under house arrest in his home country.

His comments reflected the anger held by many American families who lost loved ones in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Of the 270 victims of the terrorist attack, 189 were from the US.

The release of the man convicted over the atrocity yesterday was met by disbelief by some in America.

Many could not understand how the Scottish justice system could show compassion for Megrahi, freeing him to live out the remaining weeks of his life in his homeland.

Susan Cohen, of New Jersey, who lost her 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, in the bombing, said: "I think it's appalling, disgusting and so sickening I can hardly find words to describe it."

Likewise Kara Weipz, also of New Jersey found it difficult to contain her anger. Her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti was among the American victims.

"I don't understand how the Scots can show compassion. It is an utter insult and utterly disgusting," Ms Weipz said.

Cable news channels showed footage of Megrahi's homecoming in Libya, complete with cheering crowds, in a move that further angered those who lost loved ones.

Criticism of the Scottish decision came from the highest level. Read more ...

Source: The Evening Standard

President Barack Obama
Latest recipient of The MASH Award

Fathi Eljahmi Gave His Life for Freedom in Libya

The human rights activist died today, at the age of 68, imprisoned, stifled, and physically destroyed by Gaddafi’s regime

By Claudia Rosett

Libya’s leading democratic dissident, Fathi Eljahmi, died today [May 21] – off the radar of the MSM, held for a final two weeks under wraps in a Jordanian hospital to which he was spirited earlier this month, comatose, and still watched by Libyan security, after almost seven years of isolation, deprivation and abuse inside the prison system of Muammar Gaddafi.

Fathi Eljhami gave his life for the cause of freedom. Part of his time in the clutches of Gaddafi’s security apparatus he spent — in an echo of Soviet brutality inflicted on democratic dissidents — confined in a Libyan psychiatric hospital. His “insanity” consisted of advocating free speech and calling for democratic reform in Libya.

It is hard to imagine how much courage it must have taken for Fathi — born in Libya, standing up for freedom inside Libya — to defy Gaddafi, whose regime along with its terrorist history abroad has tyrannized Libya itself for the past 40 years. When Fathi Eljahmi began speaking up for freedom, years ago, Gaddafi in 2002 threw him into Libya’s Abu Salim prison –notorious for its abuse of inmates, including a horrendous massacre of prisoners in 1996, in which up to 1,200 may have died. Read more ...

Source: Pajamas Media

Fathi Eljahmi
Latest recipient of The MASH Award

Libya: converts from Islam got tortured - Stop it!

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 9, 2009) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Libyan intelligence officials have detained and tortured four Christians for converting from Islam. The Christians have been imprisoned for the past seven weeks in Tripoli, Libya’s capital.

Libya’s External Security Organization is believed to be behind the detention and torture of the Christians, according to our sources. The security agents have barred the families from visiting the detained converts and are putting severe physical and psychological pressure on the Christians in order to force them to reveal the names of other converts. Fearing for their lives, converts from Islam are on the run. http://www.persecution.org/suffering/ICCnews/newsdetail.php?newscode=9683&title=libya-tortures-four-christian-converts-from-islam

H/T: www.gegen-islamisierung.info

What Should Be the Punishment for Apostasy (Leaving Islam)?
	I am a Muslim
	There is no compulsion in religion; anyone is free to leave Islam
	Apostasy should be a punishable offence
	Death sentence is the only just punishment for apostasy
	I am not a Muslim
	There is no compulsion in religion; anyone is free to leave Islam
	Apostasy should be a punishable offence
	Death sentence is the only just punishment for apostasy

Court mulls releasing Lockerbie bomber

November 06, 2008

LOCKERBIE, Scotland: A court will consider tomorrow whether to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on bail because he has cancer.

The hearing has been scheduled after a lawyer for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi, 56 - behind bars for downing a transatlantic airliner over Scotland in 1988 killing 270 people - said Al-Megrahi has advanced prostate cancer.

The Crown Office, which handles prosecutions in Scotland, confirmed the hearing but made no further comment. Such applications are usually decided on the day, but a spokesman declined to speculate on when a ruling could be made.

Al-Megrahi is serving life with a minimum term of 27 years in a Scottish prison for blowing up Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on the night of December 21, 1998.

His lawyers have applied for his release on bail pending an appeal, which is not expected until next year.

The father of one of the victims, who has criticised the slow appeals process, backed Al-Megrahi's provisional release.

“The man has reportedly got months to live,” said Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing and who became a spokesman for the Lockerbie victims' families in the years following the tragedy.

“My personal feelings are that to force him to remain segregated from his family and his five children for the short remaining time that he may have before him would amount to exquisite torture,” he told the BBC last week.

Source: The Australian

Italy's $US5bn apology ends Libya rift

September 01, 2008

BENGHAZI, Libya: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday apologised to Libya for damage inflicted by Italy during the colonial era and signed a $US5 billion ($5.8 billion) investment deal as compensation.

Mr Berlusconi made the apology during a visit to the Mediterranean city of Benghazi for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to seal a co-operation accord with the oil-rich north African nation.

"It is my duty, as a head of government, to express to you in the name of the Italian people our regret and apologies for the deep wounds that we have caused you," said Mr Berlusconi, whose comments were translated into Arabic.

He and Colonel Gaddafi then signed a "friendship and co-operation agreement" aimed at recompensing Libya for damage incurred during the colonial era.

"The accord will provide for $US200 million a year over the next 25 years through investments in infrastructure projects in Libya," Mr Berlusconi said.

"This agreement should put an end to 40 years of discord. It is a concrete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era."

The signing ceremony took place in the garden of a palace occupied by the Italian governor in colonial times.

Mr Berlusconi then bowed before the son of the hero of Libyan resistance against the Italian occupiers, Omar Mokhtar, in a symbolic gesture.

"This is a historic moment when two brave men acknowledge the defeat of colonialism," Colonel Gaddafi said, raising his arms in a sign of victory.

"The Libyan people endured injustice and were attacked in their homes and they deserve an apology and compensation."

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was occupied by Italy in 1911 before becoming a colony in the 1930s.

The country gained its independence in 1951 after a brief period under a UN-mandated Franco-British administration.

Italy and Libya have spent years negotiating a wide-ranging treaty to cover compensation for Rome's military occupation and colonisation.

An association representing Italians expelled from Libya in 1970 denounced Rome for compensating Libya and not repatriated Italians.

Mr Berlusconi should have "a sudden burst of dignity, humanity and respect so as to finally give satisfaction ... to the 20,000 Italian citizens who are still waiting for fair compensation from their government," it said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to arrive in Libya next week for the first visit by such a high-ranking US official since 1953.

Mr Berlusconi said a coastal motorway from the Tunisian border to Egypt would be among the major projects to be financed by Italy. Rome would also fund housing construction, scholarships for Libyan students to study in Italy and pensions for those mutilated by landmines laid by the Italian military.

Source: The Australian

Libya frees 90 Islamists close to Qaeda

TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libya has freed 90 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamist group that Al-Qaeda hailed as a new affiliate last November, the Kadhafi Foundation headed by the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said on Tuesday.

"The dialogue opened with leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group .. has resulted in the release of 90 members, which represents one third of the membership of this group," said the foundation headed by Seif al-Islam Kadhafi.

The prisoners were paraded for photographers as they were released amid tight security from the Abu Salim prison in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Al-Qaeda had announced in an audiotape posted on an Islamist website last November that the Libyan group had joined the jihadist network.

"The esteemed leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have announced their allegiance to the Al-Qaeda network," Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said in the recording.

The Libyan group was the second Islamist organization in North Africa whose allegiance was claimed by Al-Qaeda after Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat joined in January last year. Read more ...

Source: AFP
H/T: Jihad Watch