Senate panel postpones hearing on Lockerbie bomber, citing possible witness ’stonewalling’

Senate hearing on Lockerbie bomber postponed

WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has postponed Thursday’s hearing on the release of the man convicted for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, because of what a senator says is “stonewalling” by British and Scottish officials who declined to testify.

Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who was to chair the hearing, said Tuesday that “no witness of consequence has the courage” to step up and clear the air.

The committee is looking into whether British-based oil company BP had sought Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s release to help get a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya off the ground.

BP acknowledged that it had urged the British government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, but stressed it didn’t specify his case.