Libya 'To Resist' IRA Victims' Compensation Claims

Libya will resist demands for compensation payouts from the families of victims of IRA bombings, Sky News has reported.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, told Sky News that any claims of compensation from victims of bombings where Libya supplied the IRA with Semtex, would be a matter for the courts.

In the same interview, Mr Gaddafi also described British politicians as "disgusting and immoral" for using the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to make political capital.

Mr Megrahi, convicted for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21 1988, which killed 270 people, was freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government last month as he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also now offered his support to the families of IRA victims seeking compensation.

Mr Brown has announced that dedicated Foreign Office staff will be made available to support the families, while diplomats at the British Embassy in Tripoli would be available to advise them when they travel to Libya next week for talks with Colonel Gaddafi.

The families have welcomed the Prime Minister's decision, after he had previously sparked outrage by questioning whether or not not it was "appropriate" for the government to pressure Libya on the matter.

However, opposition MPS have seized on the Prime Minister's announcement, accusing him of making a "U-turn", claims which have been denied by Downing Street.

(KMcA/GK)