by NJJN Staff

August 27, 2009

The Aug. 20 release from prison of the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, has provoked strong reactions from New Jersey’s two U.S. senators.

And the “hero’s welcome” Abdel Basset al-Megrahi received in Libya has prompted New Jerseyans to issue angry calls to deny the planned visit next month of dictator Muammar Gadhafi to the state.

Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent who is in the final stages of advanced cancer, was released from prison on “compassionate grounds,” Scottish officials said.

“The man who committed these awful crimes should not be allowed to walk free,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg in a statement. “The Pan Am 103 victims deserve compassion — not Mr. al-Megrahi.”

The victims of the Dec. 21, 1988, attack included 189 Americans, 32 from New Jersey. In 2001, following a trial in the Netherlands, al-Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to a minimum 27 years in prison.

On the day al-Megrahi left prison, Sen. Robert Menendez said in a statement, “Today, a convicted terrorist who brought down an airplane and sent 270 innocent people to their deaths was able to take off to freedom in a private jet.

“I’m sure the tragic irony was lost on few. The question that comes to mind when assessing this outcome is, where is the justice? My thoughts are with the victims’ families. They deserve to know that there are severe and lasting consequences for those who murdered their loved ones.”

In its response to the events, the Anti-Defamation League noted the “hero’s welcome” al-Megrahi received in Libya, calling his release a “travesty of justice.”

“To treat such a violent person with ‘sensitivity’ and to allow him to rejoin society is to extend to him a right that he had permanently denied his victims,” said ADL national director Abraham Foxman in a statement.

Lautenberg also called for the State Department to place restrictions on Gadhafi during his planned participation in September’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

News reports have speculated Gadhafi plans to stay at a Libyan government-owned mansion in Englewood. The Libyan leader, said Lautenberg, “wasn’t welcome” in the Garden State.

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes also decried the planned visit, saying his town’s residents are “infuriated,” according to a report from Reuters.

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