Ludwig De Braeckeleer

Lockerbie expert Dr Ludwig De Braeckeleer

Ludwig De Braeckeleer has a PhD in Nuclear Sciences and teaches Physics and International Humanitarian Law in Bogota, Colombia. De Braeckeleer has studied the Lockerbie case for many years and has published more than 100 Lockerbie-related articles on the OhmyNews, Canada Free Press and The Gaia Post websites.

In April 2015, Ludwig De Braeckeleer established a blog focused on the MEBO MST-13 timer fragment PT/35(b) which he describes as the central piece of evidence in the Lockerbie case. According to De Braeckeleer:

"Today we know that PT/35(b) is a forgery. We also know that at least one witness was well aware that PT/35(b) could not have been part of the MST-13 timers delivered to Libya and that this witness deliberately withheld this information from the court. At this point, one can reasonably infer that this so-called evidence was planted.

"How do we know that PT/35(b) is a forgery? Who could possibly have committed such a crime and for what possible motives? Where, when and by whom was this forgery fabricated?

"These are some of the questions that this blog intends to discuss and will hopefully answer."

Lockerbie crime scene

UN Commissioner Bernt Carlsson targeted on Pan Am 103

On 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 fell out of the sky. All 259 passengers and crew members died. Eleven residents of Lockerbie were killed.

A strong westerly wind spread the debris over two trails stretching from the south of Scotland through the north of England and out into the North Sea.

On 28 December 1988, Michael Charles, Inspector of Accidents for the AAIB, announced that traces of high explosive had been found on two pieces of metal. On that date, a criminal investigation was officially launched. The crime scene covered about 845 square miles.

On 13 January 1989, Detective Constables Thomas Gilchrist and Thomas McColm found a fragment of charred clothing in search sector I, near Newcastleton. This piece of charred grey cloth was bagged, labelled “Charred Debris” and given a reference number: PI/995.

On 17 January 1989, it was registered in the Dexstar log.

On 6 February 1989, PI/995 was sent to the Forensic Explosives Laboratory at Fort Halstead in Kent for forensic examination.

PT/35(b)

PT/35(b), the fabricated timer fragment

On 12 May 1989, Dr Thomas Hayes examined PI/995. Inside the cloth, Dr Hayes found fragments of paper, fragments of black plastic and a tiny piece of circuitry. Dr Hayes gave to these items the reference number PT/35 as well as an alphabetical suffix to each one of them. The fragment of the circuit board was named PT/35(b).

In June 1990, with some help from Thomas Thurman of the FBI, Allen Feraday of the Explosives Laboratory was able to match PT/35(b) to the board of a Swiss timer known as an MST-13 timer.

Two MST-13 timers had been seized in Togo in September 1986. BATF agent Richard Sherrow had brought one of these back to the US. Two Libyan citizens were caught in possession of an other MST-13 timer in Senegal in 1988.

An analysis of the Togo timer led the investigators to a small business named MEBO in Zurich. The owners of MEBO told the investigators that these timers had been manufactured to the order of two Libyans: Ezzadin Hinshin, the director of the Central Security Organisation of the Libyan External Security Organisation (ESO) and Said Rashid, the head of the Operations Administration of the ESO.

Indictments

On 14 November 1991, the Lord Advocate and the acting United States Attorney General jointly announced that they had obtained warrants for the arrest of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah.

On 27 November 1991, the British and United States Governments issued a joint statement calling on the Libyan government to surrender the two men for trial.

On 21 January 1992, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 731 calling on Libya to surrender Megrahi and Fhimah for trial either in the United States or in the United Kingdom.

On 31 March 1992, the Security Council passed UNSCR748 imposing mandatory sanctions on Libya for failing to hand over Megrahi and Fhimah. On 11 November 1993, the Security Council passed UNSCR883 that imposed further international sanctions on Libya.

Trial and aftermath

On 31 January 2001, the Scottish Court in the Netherlands found Megrahi guilty and Fhimah not guilty.

On 28 June 2007, the SCCRC announced that Megrahi may have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Accordingly, the SCCRC decided to refer the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal.

On 25 July 2009, Megrahi applied to be released from jail on compassionate grounds. On 12 August 2009, Megrahi applied to have his second appeal dropped. Megrahi was granted compassionate release for his terminal prostate cancer. On 20 August 2009, Megrahi was released from prison and returned to Libya.

NB. Most facts and dates cited in this timeline are taken from a presentation made by Lord Boyd at an International Conference in Australia in late August 2001. This timeline must therefore be regarded as the legal truth.