Safia Aoude

Safia Aoude  (journalist, researcher)
Pan Am 103/Lockerbie website editor
Interests	Pan Am Flight 103

Safia Aoude comes from East Copenhagen (Oesterbro), Denmark and has a law degree from Copenhagen University (1997). Safia began working in 1998 for FM Legal Aid, for Audiomedia A/S, as well as a part time freelance journalist for her own firm Aoude Media. She was the editor of the now defunct Pan Am 103/Lockerbie website.

Safia Aoude has recently moved from Denmark to live and work in New York City.

Interests

Safia Aoude lists the following interests: philosophy, international law, traveling the world, and learning languages. She speaks Danish, English, Arabic, German, French, Rasta, Jive, Ebonics and Swedish, and understands Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Afrikaans, Jiddish, Swahili, Tamahaq, Maltese and Norwegian. She enjoys outdoor sporting activities, Hechler & Koch automatic weapons, aviation history, computer technology, computer games and everything else that catches her eye.

Lockerbie bombing

In the late 1990s, Safia wrote: "Some might think that Pan Am 103 and the Lockerbie trial is taking up all of my time these years. To a certain extent this is true. That is why holidays were invented."

On 24 December 2000, towards the end of the Lockerbie trial, Safia Aoude posted the following item on her Pan Am 103/Lockerbie website:

Former British diplomat accuses South Africa of Lockerbie bombing

The former British diplomat Patrick Haseldine was sacked by HM Government in 1988 accused of abusing his freedom of speech. Since then he has tried to convince the world that South Africa was behind the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. He has recently posted a number of messages on the Lockerbie Trial Discussion Board. He has also tried to post a number of documents and letters in the British press, allegedly containing circumstantial evidence of South Africa´s involvment into the Lockerbie bombing. Since 1993 no media has printed any of his documents.

But now readers/viewers of this website can have a look of their own into the accusations of Mr Haseldine, starting with a concise introduction of what he thinks went wrong on Pan Am 103 - and why:

Patrick Haseldine's Queen's Commission

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims on Pan Am 103 are enraged over Haseldine´s claims. Sanya Popovic from the American victims´ organisation Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc. said:

"Not only is Haseldine quite out to lunch on this issue, but his (anniversary related) surfacings have caused real pain to me, my family, Bernt's sister and the rest of Bernt Carlsson's extended family. The Haseldine file, if it is what he has sent me previously, is a rehash of secondary sources, which he has culled from the Internet. He has no personal knowledge whatsoever about this very tragic matter."

"Haseldine was not ever even a diplomat, insofar as information officer does not quite bequeath the same aura of legitimacy as true "diplomat" does, which he claims to be, but never was," said Ms Popovic.

As evidence that he had in fact been a member of HM Diplomatic Service, and demonstrating that Sanya Popovic had made a diplomatic gaffe, Patrick Haseldine produced a copy of The Queen's Commission dated 5 August 1983 (pictured).

Other interests

In 2001, Safia Aoude became interested in welding with Brown´s Gas generator. She said:

"If you think welding is boring, you are in for a big surprise. Brown´s gas is made entirely out of hydrogene and oxygene (water), burns with a ridiculous flame temperature of merely 135 Celsius and is thus totally harmless if exposed to say the bare skin. But when pointed at metal, say aluminium, it will heat up the temperature of aluminium to more than 1200 Celsius. Applyed to a brick, temperatures get up to almost 2000 Celsius. Along all this, you can still put your hand into the flame and feel little but some warm sensation. Brown's gas can even cut iron oxide and works by raising the temperature of the burning material. Scientists still don´t know how the gas can do that. Try using Brown´s gas on a piece of wood fire brick a few minutes - the brick will be melted down to something like a stone with a hardness of 9.5, which is almost as hard as a diamond. Thanks to wonderful Colin Wilson for directing my mind to this fascinating scientific invention!

Safia was also learning Egyptian hieroglyphs. She said: "I am planning to learn ayamara next year, an easy language spoken by people in South America."

Holidays

Safia Aoude reported:

"During virtually all my holidays for the last 3 years (1997-2000), I´ve had another occupation that is as vivid as Pan Am Flight 103 and as intriguing as the Lockerbie bombing trial. It made me climbing desert mountains in the worst of summer heat, diving into long forgotten historical archives and to the beautiful bottom of the Red Sea. All for the single purpose of finally uncovering the near atomized remains of some old bones amid desert rock.

"I found those bones, all right. I didn´t find them in their final resting place, though. I found them in the genes of people, in the pages of history, in the dust of my own past. The dead should be left alone in their graves. But the ones who put them there, by force and far too early - they should never be left alone."

"Relatives and friends of victims aboard Pan Am 103 and in Lockerbie might think 12 years is a long time. It isn´t! For the true seekers of justice, time is but a noun. And a murder is still a murder, even after 70 years of wilful oblivion."

Social media

On Facebook, Safia Aoude's 1,628 friends include Robert Black, Edwin Bollier, Ian Ferguson, Robert Forrester and Patrick Haseldine. She has 264 followers on Twitter and has produced over 7,500 tweets.

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