Iran Raps Al-Jazeera Claim about Involvement in 1988 Lockerbie Bombing

(FNA)- The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly rejected and condemned the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel’s unfounded allegations about Tehran’s involvement in the 1988 attack on a PanAm flight over Lockerbie in Scotland.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian on Wednesday condemned Qatari broadcaster al-Jazeera for accusing Iran of Lockerbie explosion as smokescreen campaign at the behest of the Israeli regime, and said the report was fabricated in line with the Zionist regimes lies.

He said that Iran called on Qatari officials on Tuesday to prevent broadcasting the lies and not to let Zionists use their broadcasting service.

Amir Abdollahian said that Al-Jazeera has been involved in smokescreen service to the Israeli regime in contravention of the criteria the media should respect.

He also warned that such irrelevant propaganda by al-Jazeera would damage Tehran-Doha normal relations.

In a Monday interview with al-Jazeera documentary, Abolqassem Mesbahi, who claims to be a former Iranian official and now lives in Germany, claimed that the bombing was ordered by Tehran and carried out by the Syrian-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC).

Back in 1988, 270 people were killed when PanAm flight 103 from London to New York blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was the only person to be convicted of the bombing. Megrahi was found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing in 2001. The former director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, Libya, died in May 2012, almost three years after the Scottish government freed him on humanitarian grounds following his diagnosis with terminal cancer.