Picture dated Dec. 22, 1988 shows a policeman near the cockpit of the 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland. Roy Letkey/AFP/Getty Images

Airing Tuesday, March 11 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT followed by a special edition of “Consider This” at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, with repeats midnight ET/9 p.m. PT on Tuesday and Sunday, 3/16 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT

Al Jazeera America today announced that the channel will air a new documentary, “Lockerbie: What Really Happened?,” providing evidence to support what many have suspected for years — that Iran was behind the Pan Am 103 atrocity over Lockerbie in 1988.

The revelations will be broadcast in an Al Jazeera America documentary to air on Tuesday, March 11th at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and repeats at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT on Tuesday and Sunday, March 16th at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

In December 1988, a bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. A Libyan citizen, Abdel Baset Mohamed Ali al-Megrahi, was eventually tried and found guilty of the largest case of mass murder in UK history. But Megrahi has always maintained his innocence and many serious commentators have continued to express doubts about this conviction.

Now, this world exclusive investigation uncovers that Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) carried out the atrocity, responding to requests from Iran to avenge the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes in July 1988, which killed 290 people. Classified U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency cables obtained by Al Jazeera say:



“The execution of the operation was contracted to Ahmad Jabril, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) leader. Money was given to Jabril upfront in Damascus for initial expense. The mission was to blow up a Pam-Am flight.”

The investigation also gains access to the confidential Bird Report, which was commissioned by Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the bombing, before he dropped his appeal.

One of the authors of the report, Jessica De Grazia, a former Manhattan district attorney, speaks and shares evidence about the case for the first time. She uncovered notes from 1988 planning meetings in Malta involving PFLP-GC cell-leader Abu Talb.

This narrative is further corroborated by a former senior Iranian intelligence official, Abolghasem Mesbahi. In the documentary, he states:

“Iran decided to retaliate as soon as possible. The decision was made by the whole system in Iran and confirmed by Ayatollah Khomeini. The target of the Iranian decision makers was to copy exactly what's happened to the Iranian Airbus. Everything exactly same, minimum two hundred ninety people dead. This was the the target of the Iranian decision makers.”