UK Families Flight 103 ask Gordon Brown to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing

[What follows is a press release (and notes to editors) just issued by the the Lockerbie relatives group UK Families Flight 103.]

UKFF103 (n1) have delivered a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing under the auspices of the Inquiries Act 2005 (n2). We have also requested a meeting with him.

Since 1989 senior political figures from successive governments have agreed in principle to an inquiry but have qualified their comments by saying that it could not take place while the criminal investigation was ongoing.

As Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw told the families, ‘there should have been a full-scale enquiry after Lockerbie but it didn’t happen. There should have been a scrutiny of intelligence…but it didn’t happen.’(n3)

With the abandonment of Mr Megrahi’s appeal against his conviction, there has been no resolution to any aspect of responsibility for the bombing (n4).

During the trial and subsequently, we heard of ‘significant information’ from a foreign power. On repeated occasions, Her Majesty’s Government has sought to prevent or obstruct access to documents (some viewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission) for reasons of ‘national security’. We seek access to documents previously the subject of Public Interest Immunity Certificates.

Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights demands that an inquiry into the circumstances of a death conform to certain minimum standards where it has occurred at the hands of a state or at the hands of agents of a state. As host nation, the state - i.e. the UK – had responsibility for the security of the aircraft, as confirmed in the findings of the Lockerbie Fatal Accident Inquiry and for the safety of its country’s airports, as well as for the proficient use of intelligence that might have prevented the disaster (n5). We maintain that there has been no investigation compliant with the Article 2 rights of the families.

The outstanding questions about Lockerbie include:

· What was the motivation for the bombing of Pan Am 103?
· Who was responsible and in conjunction with whom? (Although Mr al-Megrahi was charged with “acting in concert with others”, no “others” have been brought to justice.)
· How was it financed?
· How was the bombing allowed to happen given the amount of information available to the intelligence and security services?
· What lessons have been learned from Lockerbie?

We have waited patiently for almost 21 years to learn the full truth of what happened. Now we await Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s response to our renewed calls for a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the bombing.

Notes to editors

Note 1 UK Families Flight 103 is a group of relatives and friends of those killed at Lockerbie. We came together early in 1989 with the aims of:

· Offering each other mutual support

· Establishing the full truth of what happened at Lockerbie

· Preventing similar disasters from happening in the future.

Note 2 Under section 1 of the Inquiries Act 2005, any government minister can appoint an inquiry if:

a) the events in question have caused or are capable of causing public concern, or

b) there is public concern that particular events may have occurred.

No inquiry has yet been set up under the auspices of this Act.

Note 3 Quote from Foreign & Commonwealth Office notes of the meeting between then Foreign Secretary of State Jack Straw and representatives of UK Families Flight 103, on 17th December 2002.

Note 4 Convicted of the bombing in 2001, Mr Megrahi maintains his innocence. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2007 found six possible grounds on which a miscarriage of justice might have taken place. Mr Megrahi abandoned his appeal and was released for return to Libya on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2009.

Note 5 Sheriff Principal Mowat’s determination following the Scottish Fatal Accident (FAI) Inquiry, October 1990 – February 1991 concluded that the bombing was preventable. No evidence concerning the political or criminal aspects of the case was heard at the FAI.