The Libyan embassy in The Hague is preparing to submit a procedural legal proposal to the Presidential Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Unity (GNU) to file a lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case pertains to the downing of Libyan Airlines Flight 114 over Egypt’s Sinai on 21 February 1973. The plane carried 113 passengers, including women and children.
A source at the embassy told Al-Wasat News that the proposal is based on the ICJ’s jurisdiction, citing the precedent set in 2023 when Ukraine and France filed a case against Iran for shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in January 2020.
The 1973 incident involved a Libyan Arab Airlines Boeing 727 departing from Libya’s Tripoli for Cairo. Two Israeli fighter jets intercepted the aircraft, forcing it to divert towards Sinai before shooting it down. The crash killed 108 passengers and crew members. Initially, Israel claimed the incident was accidental but later admitted that the order to shoot down the plane came from then-Chief of Staff David Elazar.
According to the source, the timing of the legal proposal aligns with renewed discussions over reopening the Lockerbie case and other potential legal matters. This move is seen as part of a broader strategy to counter the prosecution of Libyan national Abu Ajila Masoud, currently detained in the United States.
Meanwhile, Al-Wasat reported that the Presidential Council has established a high-level legal committee led by legal expert Ahmed Jehani, Libya’s representative to the International Criminal Court.
The committee, based in The Hague, will form a defence team for Masoud. A government source also indicated the possibility of assembling two legal teams—one to defend Masoud and another to appeal the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in the Lockerbie case.
Masoud is accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people.
