Many Megrahi issues 'unresolved'

[This is the headline over a news agency report from The Press Association published earlier today. It reads as follows:]

There are still "too many unresolved issues" surrounding the conviction of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi for his role in the Lockerbie bombing, MSPs have agreed.

Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee agreed to continue a petition calling for an inquiry into the conviction lodged by pressure group Justice For Megrahi (JFM), with a suggestion that it should be referred to the Justice Committee.

SNP MSP Christine Grahame said: "The Megrahi/Lockerbie issue remains unresolved and highly unsatisfactory to many people."

Ms Grahame questioned the resolve to secure justice for the 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, highlighting a freedom of information request which revealed just one police officer is presently assigned to investigate what is still officially an open case.

She said: "The words 'the criminal investigation remains open' with one police officer would seem to me more like, to put it bluntly, file management than a serious and funded investigation to find those responsible.

"If you remember Mr Megrahi's conviction relates to him being involved in the placing of a device within a suitcase. It is known that, even if he is guilty as convicted, there must have been others."

She added: "Given also the flux with regards to Libya, and indeed the position of Megrahi himself within Libya regarding his physical state, I would hope to persuade the committee to continue this to see what happens after the election and see what an incoming administration might do, and also to see what happens way beyond these shores with regard to Mr Megrahi and Gaddafi (the Libyan leader).

"There are so many conspiracy theories around now that I think it's time that we had a clean, clear look at the role of Scottish justice in this.

"The issue is not whether Libya, or any other country, was guilty. The issue is was Mr Al Megrahi rightly convicted, and we have not heard the answer to that yet."

The Scottish Government has already refused the petition's call for an inquiry into the conviction.

[Well done, Christine Grahame and JFM.]