Bomb victims deliver letters to Downing Street
Victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism delivered letters to the Prime Minister urging him to push for compensation.
The group, mainly consisting of those caught up in the Canary Wharf explosion of 1996, arrived on Monday morning - coincidentally hours after it was announced Abdelbaset al-Megrahi had died.
The Docklands Victims Association, which is campaigning for compensation from the Libyan state for the country's past sponsoring of IRA terror, has previously written to David Cameron asking for Government support.
Mr Cameron recently told victims their claim was a 'top priority' of discussions with the new Libyan government following the death of former leader Colonel Gaddafi.
However, the victims are concerned by the time this has taken, especially due to the deteriorating health of some of the claimants.
Chair of Docklands Victims Association Jonathan Ganesh said: "We appreciate the Prime Minister's support but the victims who have been left severely disabled such as Zaoui Berezag and many others like him desperately need this help now rather than later.
"I feel the Prime Minister should immediately engage with new interim Government of Libya to provide help for these innocent victims."
Gemaa Berezag, speaking about her husband Zaoui who was in a car in South Quay when the bomb exploded there in the attack 16 years ago, added: "My husband is now blind and his condition is getting worse as years go by. He has mental age of 5 years old. I'm pleading today with the Prime Minister and the new Libyan Government to help all those left disabled due to Gaddafi's Semtex.
"The money will not make them well again but it would allow us to provide a better life for them."
The explosive was placed at South Quay by the IRA and included Semtex supplied by Libya.
Al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the African state's most high profile attack - Lockerbie - died at his home in Tripoli on Sunday, three years after being released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds.
He was suffering from terminal cancer.
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How many more years must the victims wait? The yanks received compensation 3 years ago while the UK victims have been treated like 2nd class citizens! It is nothing short of a disgrace that this is still dragging on! And where are the victims legal team? I would have thought they would be champing at the bit to get news of this grave injustice out!
Its disgraceful that this fight for justice has been allowed to go on for so long. How much longer do these people have to fight? Despite many promises from the government that this is a "top priority" we are yet to see any evidence of this. This battle is being fought by not only the friends and families of the victims, but some of the victims themselves (havent they been through enough?) - its about time the government honoured their words and attempted to resolve this matter once and for all. The Americans did it years ago - all they are asking for is justice and compensation to make the lives of the people affected by Libya sponsored terrorism easier.
These victims have been fighting to secure justice now for a very long time.
So its now time for the government who said compensation for IRA bombing victims was "a vitally important issue" to act now for the sake of the victims as action speaks louder than words.