The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 34

NEWS EXTRA 2 SATURDAY 10 APRIL 1999 THE AGE JUSTICE hen cPvy fir "vaVj. tx (if fi vi rv 'ti The accused: Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Lam en Khalifa Fhimah. wmmm A deep gash marks where some of the wreckage of flight 103 fell to earth at Lockerbie, killing 270 people, some of them on the ground. The Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands will be neither brisk nor easy for lawyers or the accused, writes Sonia Harford. wear their own clothes and receive visitors.

Part of the bustle in and out of the camp gates is catering staff who provide meals in strict accordance with the Libyans' Muslim requirements. A prayer room has also been provided with a compass indicating the direction of Mecca. UP THE road in Soesterberg proper, the Dutch locals are characteristically phlegmatic. They notice and quite enjoy the barrage of media passing through, but become more enthusiastic when remarking on how the presence of the Scots will boost local business. The Americans abandoned Camp Zeist four years ago, and with them went many guilders spent in the town on food and other supplies.

"The Americans bought lots of fruit," said Toft the Groenteman (vegetableman) from his fruit and vegetable shop in Rademakerstraat. "When they were here, everyone from the petrol station to McDonald's benefited." Bartender Rob Westra, having an off-duty beer at the Het Wapen van Soesterberg bar, had a different form of self-interest. "You have to be careful with the drinking now, because the whole village is full of police." visitors a glimpse of two-storey barracks buildings and open areas within. About 100 Scottish prison service staff and police are assigned to guard the camp at any given time, housed in dormitories inside the gates. When the trial begins, the converted buildings will also house legal teams and witnesses.

Anyone expecting an air of menace at the prison compound will be disarmed by the site's tranquility. Local residents walk or cycle past, just metres from the camp gates. And, nearby, visitors continue to arrive at the aviation museum, a popular collection of old planes and jets dotted around the flat ground. Depending on their cell's location, it's not impossible that the two Libyan suspects could hear the chatter and laughter of children playing outside the prison grounds. The detention of the two men comes after a decade of US and British legal and diplomatic manoeuvering to force Libya to hand over the suspects for trial before a Scottish court.

In 1991, Britain and the US said investigations into the crash had unearthed evidence that pointed towards Tripoli. But Libya's President, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, refused to surrender the prime suspects, claiming they would not receive a fair trial outside Libya, frustrating the US and British authorities and the hopes of the victims' families. regarded as having sound experience, having hosted the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. Gaddafi continued to delay, and, in February, the US laid down a deadline, demanding the suspects surrender within a month. By March, Gaddafi finally agreed.

The two men would be handed over. The men are described as airline officials for Libyan Arab Airlines, but are believed to be intelligence agents. Both have denied the charges. It has been alleged that a more senior agent, perhaps even Gaddafi, was behind the bombing, but he has denied any involvement. The surrender has long been sought by the British, and the week's Government statements had a subtle air of triumph.

"There can be no question of prejudging the outcome, but the very fact that the trial will now take place represents real and significant progress," said the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar. Immediately after the suspects' arrival at the renamed HM Prison Zeist, the UN suspended its sanctions against Libya, leading this week to speculation that European oil companies, sensing an oil boom, will soon renew investment links with the country. However, Washington is expected to continue sanctions it imposed independently in the '80s when terrorist incidents forced Americans to leave Libya. A Scottish Office spokeswoman said the level of international cooperation at Camp Zeist was unprecedented. "Never before has there been a Scottish trial taking place on foreign ground," she said.

It was also likely be the longest and most expensive Scottish trial ever. In the week that Scotland began an historic election campaign for its own Parliament, the legal procedures begun at Camp Zeist also came under scrutiny. The Lockerbie bombing trial will be heard by a panel of three Scottish judges no jury, as it is believed to be almost impossible to find Scottish residents not prejudiced by reporting of the Lockerbie bombing. Most observers believe the trial could be a long process for the legal teams and the victims' families, and could last up to a year. Scottish law requires that those charged with murder must be tried within 110 days, but it is widely believed in the Lockerbje case that the defence lawyers will ask for an extension to examine investigations going back over 10 years.

If convicted, the men will serve their sentences at the high-security Barlinnie Jail in Glasgow, monitored by UN observers. The trial is not expected to begin for several months. For now, the prisoners are on remand, entitled to CELL surrounded by forest A on tne frin8e a small, nil neat Dutch town is the fyJ new home for two of the lm world's most wanted men. ml let Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, 46, and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, 42, were this week handed over to Dutch authorities and charged with mutder and conspiracy in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Their arrest marks the culmination of years of intense international efforts to bring the men" to trial.

The two are accused of planting a bomb, concealed in a cassette recorder, that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York on 21 December, 1988, killing 270 people on board the plane and on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie. On Monday, the two Libyan suspects left Tripoli seven years after they were indicted by Britain and the US. The next day they made their first appearance before a Scottish sheriff, Graham Cox QC, in a makeshift courtroom in the Netherlands. Officials read out the warrants for their arrest in English and Arabic and, in a brief hearing, the suspects made no plea. As the Libyans settle in, their arrival focuses world attention on Soesterberg, a quiet Dutch town outside the city of Utrecht.

Under an extraordinary, UN-brokered diplomatic deal, the Netherlands has ceded a small patch of its territory to Scotland for the term of the trial to satisfy Libya's demands that the charges be heard in a neutral country. In a matter of months, Camp Zeist, a former US air base, has been refitted to provide a secure prison and courtroom under Scottish jurisdiction. As a result, Scottish prison staff and Dutch police share guard duties at the camp's front gate, beyond which lie 40 hectares deemed to be Scottish soil. In the past week, residents of Soesterberg have become accustomed to a large media pack descending on their community, and police and military vehicles making regular convoys through their homely streets. Camp Zeist is reached at the end of a long, straight road lined with quaint brown cottages.

Over a freeway bridge, on a grassed heath, the former base is a surprisingly pleasant place when it rains" mutters a Scottish guard), ringed by forest and trees blossoming in the European spring. The two-metre front gates, covered in plastic, appear hastily erected at what is regarded as a temporary facility, which is surrounded by a long perimeter fence. The front gates swing open regularly as armed police, and catering staff enter the camp, allowing In 1992. the United Nations tried to force Libya's hand by imposing sanctions, banning air travel to and from Libya, and prohibiting trade in equipment used in the nation's vital oil industry. Intense international pressure followed, including the tireless efforts of one victim's father, Jim Swire, who represented the other families, and whose patient, lined face became a moving symbol of "Most observers believe the trial could be along process." their struggle for justice.

Last year, after South Africa's President Nelson Mandela had helped mediate, Britain made some headway in bringing the suspects to trial. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook suggested the Netherlands as an impartial third party, a nation EVENTS Altman, was quick to assert: "The computer world is a world where people do things, experimental things, just about every day. Nothing he did, or intended to do, had a premeditated or wrongful intent." If convicted, Smith faces up to 40 years in jail. DID YOU PAY ATTENTION TIIATSIIAPED Gas cheats to escape fines Macedonia moves thousands of refugees 1 7 According to Jeff Kennett, William Shakespeare used this word quite a lot. 8 Healesville Sanctuary Is celebrating a rare event.

What? 9 Her Majesty, the Queen, Is visiting Australia next year. This be her XXth trip DownVnder fifth, 10th. 13th or 15th trip? 1 A SeleirUstsaM concerned that the destruction of this feliiforcat may be proceeding at double the rate previously thought Which one? 1 Could It have been possible? He was dropped on 317. Who? 2 ll's a Pece of furniture that's been gathering dust for a decade, and John Howard has It. What? These dogs are no mutts.

In Queensland, some dogs are getting high by doing what? A A futuristic thriller shot In Sydney, starring Keanu Reeves, Is tiMMftg a killing at the US box-offloa. What la It? What's the definition of the answer to question I. fi Which Country has by far and away ottered to take the mos refugees tromKoaovo? Premier Jeff Kennett was not a happy man when he learnt that those people who failed to turn off their gas supply during last year's gas crisis could escape punishment, despite threats at the time of fines of between 1 0,000 and 1 00,000. "We may take out a full-page the Premier said, and let everyone know who the pricks were. It wasn't very community minded." About 450 domestic and business users kept using gas, but neither the police nor the Office of Gas Safety seems to have the power to prosecute.

8 Man dies after salmonella outbreak One man died and four people tested positive for salmonella after eating home-made Sri Lankan pan rolls at a food fair. Dr John Carnie, head of disease control at the Department of Human Services, said it was not proved that the roll caused thedeath of Henry Angus Helsham, 74, of Bundoora. "He bought food at the fair but he's not one of the four proved to have salmonella infection," Carnie said. 9 A last chance to see the Queen passing by The Queen is to pay us a visit next year her 13th, and perhaps her last as head of state if Australians vote for a republic in the November referendum. PM John Howard believes she will be welcomed by all: "All Australians, whether or not they want a republic, would welcome the visit.

She is a respected and much-liked figure," he said. But Real Republic director Phil Clean' disagreed: "I can't think of anything I'd less like to see than Lizzie parading through the streets of Sydney and Melbourne," hesaid. fl Swanston Street JLVJr to traffic U-turn if you want to: Swanston Walk will be reopened to traffic, possibly as early as next month. New Lord Mayor Peter Costigan said night-time traffic could be permitted even earlier. It's all part of a plan to boost trade and cut crime in the area.

Molra O'Brlen-Malone About 30,000 Kosovar refugees went missing as Macedonia moved to clean up grim border camps and bussed away thousands to other countries and camps, separating families in the process. Eventually, up to 20,000 were accounted for, but confusion continued about the precise whereabouts of the displaced. And then Yugoslavia's President, Slobodan Milosevic, seemed to change tactics: instead of pushing out Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, police and border guards ordered tens of thousands back to their villages. Officially they were being returned to their homes, but NATO officials feared a darker motive: they believed the fleeing Kosovaxs were being held as human shields against continuing bombing. 2 Priest's house no sanctuary for massacred Timorese Twenty-five people were killed, and many more injured, when about 500 members of the Red and White Iron, a militia backed by Indonesia's military, attacked East Timorese villagers sheltering in a Catholic priest's house in Liquica, west of Dili.

Bishop Carlos Belo, who is head of the Catholic Church in East Timor, inspected the scene: "Firstly, I am sad, profoundly sad," he said. "Secondly, I am ashamed to be a citizen of the Indonesian nation." 3 All Ordinaries, hits record 3000 points After a fortnight or so of threatening to, the All Ordinaries Index finally closed above 3000 points, closing on Tuesday at 3032.9. "After a number of attempts, we've finally broken the 3000 point well and truly," one analyst said, "If the US market can hold its ground overnight, the local market is set for further gains." Well, maybe. The index slipped marginally 3.3 points the next day but remains above 3000. The All Ords first went to 2000 in July 1987.

41 hope you feel his terror', mother tells son's murderer "I hope you never experience a day or night without experiencing the terror, humiliation, hopelessness and helplessness my son felt that night," Judy Shepard told Russell Henderson, the 21 -year-old from Laramie, Wyoming, who had admitted murdering her son, gay college student Matthew, who was robbed, beaten, then tied to a fence and left to die. The attack on Shepard brought angry reactions throughout America, and prompted moves to strengthen hate crime laws. Henderson was jailed for life. 5 Libya hands over Lockerbie suspects A decade after Pan Am flight 103 blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie killing 270 people, two men suspected of the bombing are to be brought to court. Abdel Basset All al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, thought to be former Libyan spies, were flown to the Netherlands where they will be tried under Scottish law.

The handover of the suspects ended seven years of international sanctions against Libya. 6 Programmer charged wlthcreatlng Melissa virus In America, a 30-year-old computer programmer from New Jersey was charged with creating the Melissa virus, which infected computers around the world through their e-mail systems. But David Smith was no hacker, his lawyer, Steven ANSWm (1) Shane Wame, he has taken that many Test The desk that once Belonged to Sir Robert Menzlea. (3) Ingesting the venom of cane toads. (4) The Matrix, (S) A female used for breeding, or a place or medium In which something Is tyed or produced.

-1 (6) Germany. of a platypus. (9) Thirteenth. (10) The Amazon. WHO'S WHO IN THE AGE NEWS EXTRA SECTION Andrew Clark Production staff Rachel Buchanan Deputy Editor (Saturday) Newt Extra Editor Graham RelHy Andrew Stephen! Production Editor LlzClncotta Personal anlitant Fax: I 2482 Molra O'Srlen-Malone Phone: 9601 2842 Chief Copy Editor EAA B2.