Megrahi dossier pledge

[What follow are excerpts from an article on page 17 of today's edition of The Sunday Post. It does not feature on the newspaper's website unless, perhaps, you are a subscriber, which I am not.]

The Lockerbie bomber is to pass a shattering dossier of evidence to campaigners fighting to clear his name.

Dr Jim Swire ... has revealed Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has pledged to give him a folder of information the Libyan claims will crush his conviction.

Dr Swire believes Megrahi ... made the promise because he feels guilty about letting down relatives who want answers about the case.

The campaigner says Megrahi regrets denying them the chance to hear evidence of a potential miscarriage of justice when he dropped his appeal before he was freed on compassionate grounds last year.

Megrahi made the pledge last month as Dr Swire sat by his hospital bed in Libya.

Now Dr Swire hopes the dossier will boost his plans to re-launch Megrahi's appeal after his death.

Dr Swire ... said, "He promised that there is a folder, which he thinks would destroy the verdict once and forever, which will be made available to me at a later date.

"I didn't like to firm it up with him and he didn't say so in so many words, but I think he meant that when he dies this folder will be passed to me. (...)"

Dr Swire says he didn't know why Megrahi had decided to drop his appeal but he detected he was in anguish over the move.

He said, "Talking as two men who'd met before and had a common cause, I got the vibe that he felt guilty.

"Not about having caused Lockerbie -- he denies that as resolutely as ever. What he was feeling guilty about was having withdrawn his appeal.

"I think telling me that there was a folder waiting for me one day was his way of soothing his conscience because he knew very well that the withdrawal was a blow to people like me who are seeking the truth."

Dr Swire has previously said he's been given legal advice indicating it would be possible for him to lead an appeal over Megrahi's conviction after his death.

He said, "If we're granted permission to restart the appeal we'd want as much information as possible, including whatever it is that Baset has got squirreled away to give to me."

Dr Swire's revelations come as he and other campaigners in the group Justice for Megrahi launched a petition at the Scottish Parliament, calling for an independent inquiry into Lockerbie.

The group includes Lockerbie relatives, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, TV journalist Kate Adie, retired politician Tam Dalyell and Professor Robert Black (...)

Dr Swire said, "We have over 1000 signatures after a week but we need more people to sign before the deadline of October 28."