By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 22 December:
The Martyrs of Flight LN 1103 Association commemorated today at the Rixos hotel the twentieth anniversary of . . .[restrict]the downing of the Libyan Airlines flight LN 1103.
A large crowd of about 250 attended the event headed by GNC head Mohamed Magarief and members of the GNC. It was an emotional occasion as those in attendance struggled to hold back tears on numerous occasions.
‘’Thank you for giving me and my colleagues from the GNC the opportunity to join you in this commemoration’’, Magrief opened as his voice broke. ‘’It was a case of an unjust crime and thanks to the February 17th Revolution you and the Libyan population can have the right to know the complete truth of this crime and those who committed it.’’
‘’This occasion reminds me of all the crimes and injustices against the Libyan people that Qaddafi had committed. It also reminds us to continue to seek out all the other crimes and those who committed them. We (at the GNC) are committed to the seeking of justice and compensation for all the martyrs’ families’’, the GNC stressed to laud applause.
In concluding, Magarief paid his condolences and assured the audience that he would ‘’insist on bringing those responsible, if still living, to justice’’.
Libyan Airlines flight LN 1103 was an internal flight from Benghazi to Tripoli which exploded on 22 December 1992 as it was preparing to land leading to the loss of the life of the 157 on board.
Great mystery and intrigue has always surrounded the downing of this flight with much speculation on the reasons for and methods of its downfall. The Qaddafi regime had blamed its downfall on foreign, Zionist or Israeli agents in retaliation for the downing of the Lockerbie flight.
The Martyrs of Flight LN 1103 Association, on the other hand, has no such doubts. They believe that the Qaddafi regime had put a bomb on board the plane and exploded it to distract attention from the Lockerbie affair and the biting sanctions imposed on Libya.
They point to the same date and to the LN 1103 sharing the 103 with the Pan Am flight number 103. [/restrict]
