One Year Later, Senators Speak Out On Bomber’s Release

New Jersey Senators Robert Menendez (D) and Frank Lautenberg (D) are holding a press conference in their home state Friday to reveal new information on the release of the Lockerbie bomber one year ago today. 

In recent months, the Senators have raised concerns that the oil giant BP may have pressured the Scottish government to release the bomber in order to gain access to drilling rights off Libya’s shore.

According to a press release sent out by Menendez’s office, the Senators will bring attention to a letter to the involved governments outlining evidence of possible commercial pressure surrounding the bomber’s release.

The Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, is a Libyan national convicted by the Scottish government for planting an explosive on a Pan-Am flight in 1988. Last year, he was released by the Scots on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer that would supposedly kill him within three months.

The flight was scheduled to touch down in New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. 270 died in the crash.