Ahmed Jibril
In September, MacKechnie asked Murtagh whether President Bill Clinton or CIA Director George Tenet could personally release Fuisz from his gag order; CIA general counsel Robert Eatinger replied with a letter to Murtagh reaffirming that no court order prohibited Fuisz's testimony. The next day, Fuisz called Eatinger's office seeking clarification of the letter – according to Eatinger, Fuisz described multiple briefings from CIA officers between 1988 and 1989 about various "security matters," in particular that Ahmed Jibril of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) was the primary suspect in the Lockerbie case; Eatinger responded that Fuisz was free to discuss the security briefings he received, but he was prohibited from revealing the identities of the CIA officers or discussing the purpose for which he received the briefings. Fuisz was deposed first in December 2000, in the presence of a DOJ lawyer and two unnamed CIA officials, and again in January 2001, with three anonymous CIA officials presiding – although U.S. Attorney Anthony Coppolino invoked the state secrets privilege whenever the line of questioning approached details of Fuisz's relationship to the CIA, Fuisz confirmed that he had received multiple briefings from CIA agents in 1989 in which they informed him, inter alia, that the PFLP-GC was responsible for the bombings; he further claimed that between 1990 and 1995 he was told separately by 10–15 high level Syrian officials, who were in regular contact with Ahmed Jibril, that the Palestinian group was to blame, though he was prohibited from clarifying the nature of his relationship to these officials. In spite of Fuisz's testimony, Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Scottish Court in the Netherlands in January 2001.