Lockerbie bombing prosecutors target Libyan defector Moussa Koussa

Scottish investigators have asked to interview Gaddafi foreign minister and spymaster, who has defected to Britain

• Severin Carrell and Chris McGreal
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 March 2011 16.44 BST
• Article history

The wrecked cockpit of Pan Am 103 outside Lockerbie, Scotland, after the 1988 bombing. Moussa Koussa, the Gaddafi foreign minister who has defected to the UK, is being targeted by Scottish investigations for questioning. Photograph: AP

Scottish prosecutors have asked to interview Moussa Koussa about the Lockerbie bombing after the Libyan foreign minister and spy chief defected to Britain.

The request from the Crown Office in Scotland follows demands from Libya's rebel leadership for Koussa to be returned to Libya for trial for murder and crimes against humanity after Muammar Gaddafi is toppled from power.

Moussa Koussa. Photograph: Mohamed Messara/EPA

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, has said the UK is not offering Koussa immunity from prosecution.

The Crown Office in Edinburgh has said it is formally asking for its prosecutors and detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police to question Koussa about the 1988 bombing. "We have notified the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that the Scottish prosecuting and investigating authorities wish to interview Mr Koussa in connection with the Lockerbie bombing," it said.
"The investigation into the Lockerbie bombing remains open and we will pursue all relevant lines of inquiry."
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