Massive protest planned for Gaddafi's US visit

Dubai: "The horse is out of the barn and I don't think there is anything we can do legally [to take action against the Lockerbie bomber]", said an annoyed Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am 103, when asked for his reaction over the release of Abdul Basset Al Megrahi by Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill on "compassionate grounds".

"We did write to them [the Scottish Government] before and after, as [we] did to the US Government, and especially to the FBI Director Robert Mueller, who called it 'a great miscarriage of justice'," said Duggan who - along with his group - now plans to hold demonstrations in New York City where Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is most likely to attend the UN Security Council summit on nuclear disarmament on September 24.

"We are planning a massive demonstration in New York City when Gaddafi will arrive here. We will be joined by numerous other groups objecting to the presence of the Libyan leader on the US soil," Duggan told Gulf News.

"I personally understand the motives of the US Government in trying to bring Libya into the community of peaceful nations, but that does not mean that we have to roll out the red carpet for him to strut on. He delights in rubbing salt into our wounds, and he has already misled the UN as to his intentions," said Duggan.

The Pan Am 103 airliner heading to New York on December 21, 1988, blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board and 11 on the ground.

Al Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer was charged and convicted of the crime and sentenced to serve a minimum of 27 years in Scottish prison. However, a review of his case in 2007 found he was "a victim of miscarriage of justice".

The release of Al Megrahi was also linked to the improved relations between Libya and the West.

After the release of Al Megrahi many of the American victims' family members were in tears, Duggan said. The group leader thinks by releasing Al Megrahi, the Scottish Government has sent a wrong signal.

"On one hand, there is a worldwide firestorm of protest from those opposed to terrorism, and now this 20-year-old story ... is on the front page of virtually every paper that I know of. The people of Scotland are as angry as we US families [are], and the Scottish minister who released the bomber, certainly misunderstood the views of the citizens."