Kadafi Seeks Pledge Suspects Won’t Be Shifted

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is balking at an offer to try suspects in the Pan Am bombing case in the Netherlands, demanding guarantees that the pair won’t be turned over to Britain.

Kadafi on Saturday said the United States and Britain intended to use the Netherlands as “a transit point” and would extradite the two Libyan suspects after they arrive at The Hague to stand trial.

“We [are prepared] to go tomorrow to the Netherlands, provided that the Netherlands is the last stop in case of acquittal or conviction,” Kadafi said in remarks monitored by the BBC in London. “Guarantees to that effect are necessary,” he said.

Alistair Duff, a defense lawyer for the two suspects, said Sunday that Kadafi has not rejected the proposal outright and appears simply to be negotiating.

“It sounds to me as if what he is saying is that in principle the idea of a trial in The Hague is not unacceptable,” Duff told reporters in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The two Libyans, Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, are accused in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo later this month will discuss Libya’s request for guarantees for the two suspects, an Arab diplomat said Sunday.

The diplomat, who requested anonymity, told Reuters news service that the Cairo-based Arab League is willing to mediate between Libya and Britain and the United States.

Under a U.S.-British offer made last month, the suspects would be tried in the Netherlands by a panel of Scottish judges according to Scottish law.