This is the heading over a section of the column Richard Ingrams's Week in today's edition of The Independent. It reads as follows:]
Have we now heard the last of the so-called Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi? The Government, and particularly the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, must be praying that we have.
Five weeks ago, I suggested that the prime reason for releasing Mr Megrahi, in spite of the inevitable protest from all corners of the earth, was to bring an end to his appeal – nothing to do with Libyan oil, or secret deals done by Tony Blair or Peter Mandelson.
The danger from Mr Straw's point of view was that it might eventually be shown that Mr Megrahi, convicted of the most terrible of crimes – the bombing of 270 innocent people – was not only innocent but had been framed with the connivance of the British and American security services.
Mr Straw, I pointed out, was old enough to remember the damage done to the reputation of the police and the courts by the wrongful conviction of several innocent men and women during the IRA bombing campaign in the 1970s.
And now, thanks to a long article reprinted this week in The Independent on Sunday by the indefatigable lawyer Gareth Peirce, we learn that two of the government scientists who were accused of giving suspect evidence against those innocent Irishmen also gave evidence against Mr Megrahi in his trial before three Scottish judges.
Using the words "astounding", "shameful" and "profoundly shocking" to describe the Lockerbie investigation and subsequent trial, Ms Peirce has raised the spectre of a miscarriage of justice far more serious than anything in the 1970s. Mr Straw must be hoping that, in these degenerate days, nobody will be paying very much attention to her.
"framed with the connivance of the British and American security services." Spot on but not a subject touched on in Ms Peirce's interesting but fawed analysis.
ReplyDelete"Mr Straw must be hoping that, in these degenerate days, nobody will be paying very much attention to her[=Gareth Peirce]."
ReplyDeleteOf course a lot of people will still rather not want to pay attention. The thought that you may have been fooled is severely unpleasant. That the curses you uttered (I was one of the cursers) were against an person who were wrongfully convicted. That the people you should be able to trust in - structures being the very backbone of our society - well, you could not.
Many journalists who mindlessly repeat what are served on their plate, instead of doing an effort to investigate, are also not interested in a demonstration of how little we can believe in their work.
There's a long way to go, not the least in my own country, Denmark. As a demonstration of how bad it is, can be seen in the stream of comment following this article
http://www.berlingske.dk/article/20090820/debatter/90820030/
- in Danish, sorry. The discussion is about whether it is reasonable to release the convicted man. Out of ~80 postings, only two mention, that there seems to be some doubt about his guilt.
- - -
The relations of the victims form a particularly important group in the fight for moving public attention to the need of investigations. They are obviously strongly justified in demanding answers. Also, as they can be expected to have followed the case (in the course of which they had access to information that was not made public) their opinion carry strong weight. The press is more likely to pick up such a story than from anyone else. Emotions sell newspapers.
We can hope that the group represented by Dr. Swire will grow, and that they are encouraged by what may be seen as a trend in mainstream press, at least in English-language so, in picking up the issues.
We could have a new "Lockerbie" tomorrow. The chance that it will happen has everything to do with whether conspirators will believe that they can escape justice.
And whether certain forces unpunished can continue to twist the truth, to use such disasters to gain public support for their own agenda.
Let's work for getting attention. Thanks to Richard Ingram and The Independent for their help.
A bit too late, sfm!
ReplyDelete"Nennt mich einfach Adam! said..."
ReplyDelete> A bit too late, sfm!
It is sadly too late to save victim #271, Mr. al-Megrahi, if that's what you mean.
Let's do what else can be done.
Being one of the only two relatives who sat through the whole of the trial and both appeals (My 19 year old daughter was on the plane) I can confidently say that it was clear to us that it was clear that something odd and dodgy was going on - but, at that time, we were not quite sure what. Now things are much clearer and our fears are being justified.
ReplyDeleteI want to be convinced that a person of conscience will be shamed by their part in maintaining the fiction of the case against Megrahi and give the relatives the Truth, hidden for so long. Sadly I suspect the layers of dirt in international politics will be used to protect the reputations, such as they are, of the major players. I hope I am wrong.
ReplyDelete