Pan Am Flight 103

Following a three-year joint investigation by [[Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary]] and the US [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in 1991. After protracted negotiations and United Nations sanctions, in 1999, Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] handed over the two men for trial at [[Scottish Court in the Netherlands|Camp Zeist, the Netherlands]]. In 2001, [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]], a Libyan intelligence officer, was found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused, [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah]], was acquitted. In 2009, Megrahi was [[Release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|released]] by the [[Scottish Government]] on [[Compassionate release|compassionate grounds]] after being diagnosed with [[prostate cancer]]. He died in 2012 as the only person to be convicted for the attack.

Following a three-year joint investigation by [[Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary]] and the US [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), arrest warrants were issued for two Libyan nationals in 1991. After protracted negotiations and United Nations sanctions, in 1999, Libyan leader [[Muammar Gaddafi]] handed over the two men for trial at [[Scottish Court in the Netherlands|Camp Zeist, the Netherlands]]. In 2001, [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]], a Libyan intelligence officer, was found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused, [[Lamin Khalifah Fhimah]], was acquitted. In 2009, Megrahi was [[Release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi|released]] by the [[Scottish Government]] on [[Compassionate release|compassionate grounds]] after being diagnosed with [[prostate cancer]]. He died in 2012 as the only person to be convicted for the attack.

In 2003, Gaddafi paid more than US$1 billion in compensation to the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. Although Gaddafi maintained that he had never personally given the order for the attack, acceptance of Megrahi's status as a government employee was used to connect responsibility by Libya with a series of requirements laid out by a UN resolution for sanctions against Libya to be lifted.{{Cite web |date=13 August 2003 |title=Libya ready to accept responsibility for Lockerbie bombing |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libya-ready-to-accept-responsibility-for-lockerbie-bombing-100088.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libya-ready-to-accept-responsibility-for-lockerbie-bombing-100088.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=13 June 2020 |website=The Independent}} In 2011, during the [[Libyan civil war (2011)|First Libyan Civil War]], former Minister of Justice [[Mustafa Abdul Jalil]] said that Gaddafi personally ordered the bombing.{{cite news |date=23 February 2011 |title=Colonel Gaddafi 'ordered Lockerbie bombing' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-12552587 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226151414/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-12552587 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=21 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}

In 2003, Gaddafi paid more than US$2 billion in compensation to the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. Although Gaddafi maintained that he had never personally given the order for the attack, acceptance of Megrahi's status as a government employee was used to connect responsibility by Libya with a series of requirements laid out by a UN resolution for sanctions against Libya to be lifted.{{Cite web |date=13 August 2003 |title=Libya ready to accept responsibility for Lockerbie bombing |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libya-ready-to-accept-responsibility-for-lockerbie-bombing-100088.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libya-ready-to-accept-responsibility-for-lockerbie-bombing-100088.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=13 June 2020 |website=The Independent}} In 2011, during the [[Libyan civil war (2011)|First Libyan Civil War]], former Minister of Justice [[Mustafa Abdul Jalil]] said that Gaddafi personally ordered the bombing.{{cite news |date=23 February 2011 |title=Colonel Gaddafi 'ordered Lockerbie bombing' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-12552587 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226151414/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-12552587 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=21 June 2018 |work=BBC News}}

As all the accomplices required for such a complex operation were never identified, or convicted, many conspiracy theories have swirled, such as [[East Germany|East German]] [[Stasi]] agents having a possible role in the attack. Some relatives of the dead, including Lockerbie campaigner [[Jim Swire]], believe the bomb was planted at [[Heathrow Airport]] and not sent via feeder flights from [[Malta]], as suggested by the US and UK governments.{{Cite news |last1=Connolly |first1=Kate |last2=Carrell |first2=Severin |date=20 March 2019 |title=Lockerbie investigators 'question former Stasi agents' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/20/lockerbie-investigators-question-former-stasi-agents |access-date=13 June 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=21 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421213126/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/20/lockerbie-investigators-question-former-stasi-agents |url-status=live}}

As all the accomplices required for such a complex operation were never identified, or convicted, many conspiracy theories have swirled, such as [[East Germany|East German]] [[Stasi]] agents having a possible role in the attack. Some relatives of the dead, including Lockerbie campaigner [[Jim Swire]], believe the bomb was planted at [[Heathrow Airport]] and not sent via feeder flights from [[Malta]], as suggested by the US and UK governments.{{Cite news |last1=Connolly |first1=Kate |last2=Carrell |first2=Severin |date=20 March 2019 |title=Lockerbie investigators 'question former Stasi agents' |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/20/lockerbie-investigators-question-former-stasi-agents |access-date=13 June 2020 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=21 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421213126/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/20/lockerbie-investigators-question-former-stasi-agents |url-status=live}}