"Libya rebels arrest man suspected of Yvonne Fletcher murder 27 years ago"

[Clio the Leo]

This almost makes all of the broo ha ha of the last week worth it...

Libya rebels arrest man suspected of Yvonne Fletcher murder 27 years ago

The man suspected of murdering PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 has been arrested by rebel forces in the country and is in custody in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Campaigners welcomed the arrest and expressed the hope that Omar Ahmed Sodani would face trial in Britain.

<snip>

Fletcher was helping to control a small demonstration outside the embassy in St James's Square on 17 April 1984 when shots were fired from the first floor of the building at the protestors. She was shot in the stomach and died in hospital.

Armed police surrounded the embassy in an 11-day siege. Gaddafi responded by sending forces to surround the British embassy in Tripoli. The sieges ended when staff in both embassies were allowed to leave. Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Libya. Libyan embassy staff, who were expelled from Britain, claimed diplomatic immunity which meant they could not be questioned by police. Nobody has faced justice for the shooting.

Britain restored diplomatic relations with Libya in 1999 after an agreement was reached on the trial of the Lockerbie bombers and the Libyan government admitted "general responsibility" for Fletcher's death.

The Police Federation of England and Wales welcomed the arrest of Sodani. Paul McKeever, the chairman, said: "For 27 years PC Yvonne Fletcher's family, friends and colleagues have fought for justice after she was brutally murdered in London by Gaddafi's thugs. This news and the possibility of regime change in Libya gives a real glimmer of hope that justice may finally be done."

PC Yvonne Fletcher, who was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in April 1984 and died shortly after. Photograph: PA


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/25/libya-rebels-yvonne-fletcher-murder

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. They're only doing this...

...to make themselves respectable, and garner sympathy.

They're no better, no worse, than anybody else in that country.

The rebels, having had the misfortune to discover Qadaffi is a bigger bastard than Mubarak was prepared to be, and having discovered the military didn't come over to their side are shit out of luck.

Nothing we, or anyone else can do -- they just get rolled up, slaughtered in reprisal, and the lucky handful become refugees, like all the other losers in the past. They should have been more organized, more successful -- or rebelled in some popular country, like Egypt, or one visited by Bono, like Darfur.

Then they'd be worthy of our support.

[Taverner]

2. You could cut that sarcaasm with a knife!

I like it

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. Every argument...

...actually made here in the last week.

[EFerrari]

3. Almost.