Libya's ex-foreign minister Moussa Koussa Scottish prosecutors said Friday they had interviewed Libya's ex-foreign minister Moussa Koussa as part of an investigation into the 1988 bombing of a passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland Scotland's most senior lawmaker Alex Salmond said Koussa may be able to provide more information into who authorised the bombing, which killed all 259 people aboard the Pan Am jet and 11 people on the ground. Many of those killed were Americans.
Prosecutors would not disclose where they and Scottish police officers had met Koussa on Thursday or comment on the details of the meeting. Koussa's whereabouts have not been disclosed by British authorities.
British government officials said Koussa was being treated as a witness, rather than a suspect in the case.
"As the investigation remains live, and in order to preserve the integrity of that investigation, it would not be appropriate at this time to offer any further details of the meeting, or the details of ongoing inquiries," Scotland's prosecution service said in a statement.
Answers
In 2003, Libya acknowledged responsibility for the bombing, but Scottish authorities believe Koussa could offer more information on the individuals involved.
Only one man, Abdel Baset Al Megrahi, has ever been convicted on charges related to the terrorist attack. Al Meghrahi was granted a compassionate release from a Scottish prison in August 2009 on the grounds that he was suffering from prostate cancer and was sent back to Libya. A second man, Amin Khalifa Fhimah, stood trial with Al Megrahi at a special court convened in the Netherlands and was acquitted. In France, families of those killed when a French plane with 170 passengers aboard was blown up in 1989 over Niger have demanded that Koussa also answer questions about that attack.
Britain's Foreign Office has said it has not received any other requests from authorities seeking to question Koussa.
Focus on Libya
Foreign Secretary William Hague cancelled a planned visit to South America this week to lead Britain's efforts to seek an end to the conflict in Libya.
Alan Charlton, Britain's ambassador to Brazil, said the trip had been pulled because Hague was "directing his focus on Libya" and preparing for the meeting of an international contact group in Doha next Wednesday.
"The decision was not taken lightly. The prime minister asked him not to leave the country, so as to focus fully on the participation of the UK in the coalition and the conference in Qatar," Charlton wrote on his official blog.