Assessor move gives fresh hope to victims of IRA's Libyan arms

The campaign to compensate victims of Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism has taken "a small step forward" after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt agreed to appoint an independent liaison between the Government and those affected.

The work would include assessing how many people could potentially qualify for compensation and what levels of redress should be requested.

An estimated £12bn in Libyan assets seized after the fall of the Gaddafi regime remains frozen in the UK.

The bereaved and injured have been lobbying the Government for years to support their bid for compensation to be paid out of the frozen assets.

Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey said the announcement of an assessor at least "provides some encouragement that the Government is prepared to look at how a measure of justice might be provided for UK victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorist attacks".

He said: "While no firm undertakings were given by the Foreign Secretary, the fact is that this is the first time that the Government has done anything other than bat the problem away.

"This week marked the 35th anniversary of the IRA bomb at the Harrods store in London when six people were killed and 90 injured.

"The injustice of the current situation was clearly demonstrated at this atrocity. Most of the victims were British, one was an American citizen. The family of the US citizen were properly compensated whereas the families of the British victims were not, even though they were standing beside each other at the time of the blast which was caused by Libyan supplied Semtex."

DUP MP Emma Little-Pengelly also welcomed the move. "Whilst this is a small step along the road it is still significant. This campaign has been running for more than a decade," she said.

Gaddafi armed the IRA with massive amounts of weaponry, including Semtex used in attacks at a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen in 1987, Warrington in 1993, and as a detonator at London's Docklands in 1996.

Jonathan Ganesh, president of the Docklands Victims' Association, which has been campaigning for compensation, said the recent event to remember the anniversary of the Harrods bombing should serve as a reminder to the Government that many people still need help.

He said: "This breaks my heart and sadly this service illustrated continuing pain the victims of terror are still going through every day."

Susanne Dodd, whose father Inspector Stephen Dodd was among the six people killed in the Harrods attack, said the UK Government had "disgraced my brave dad and all the IRA victims" so far.

Belfast Telegraph