Monday 26 September 2011

Libya asked to find key papers on Lockerbie

[This is the headline over a report published (behind the paywall) in today's Scottish edition of The Times.  It reads in part:]

Scotland’s Lord Advocate has opened a dramatic new chapter in the Lockerbie saga by formally seeking evidence from the new Libyan authorities which could lead to a second trial for the atrocity, The Times has learnt.

Frank Mulholland, QC, has made the move in the growing belief that the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) in Tripoli will release key evidence and testimony relating to the blowing up of Pan Am Flight 103.

Scottish prosecutors believe that the co-operation of the NTC will provide them with the vital evidence they need to convict those who acted along with Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in committing the terrorist act.

In particular, the Crown Office is keen to obtain further evidence against Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the man who originally stood trial for the terrorist atrocity alongside al-Megrahi, but was acquitted of any involvement.

Confirming the Lord Advocate’s approach to Libya’s new political leaders, a spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The Crown will continue to pursue lines of enquiry that become available and following recent events in Libya has asked the National Transitional Council, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for assistance with the investigation. In particular we have asked the NTC to make available to the Crown any documentary evidence and witnesses, which could assist in the ongoing enquiries.”

Mr Mulholland’s move reveals growing confidence within the Crown Office that it can secure further convictions over the Lockerbie bombing.

The Lord Advocate set up a specialist unit earlier this year charged with gathering evidence against Mr Fhimah, 55, after MSPs paved the way for a retrial by scrapping the country’s 800-year-old double-jeopardy law.

Mr Fhimah recently attempted to side publicly with the Libyan rebels as the Gaddafi regime fell, in what was seen as a desperate attempt to persuade them not to hand him over to the Scottish authorities.

As the Crown Office has stepped up efforts to secure evidence against him, Mr Fhimah also used an interview in a Swedish newspaper to deny any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. (...)

Colonel Gaddafi’s former justice minister, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who claimed to have evidence of Gaddafi’s involvement in the Lockerbie outrage, is now one of the leaders of the NTC.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said Mr Jalil pleged his full co-operation with the UK authorities when the two men met in London last month.

Although some members of the NTC have rejected calls for the suspect in the killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher to be handed over — or for Megrahi to be returned to jail — the Crown Office is hopeful that it will take a different approach in relation to the Lockerbie suspects, who have remained loyal to Gaddafi until the final days of his regime.

Mr Fhimah was given a hero’s welcome by Gaddafi when he returned to Libya following his acquittal at the trial in the Hague.

Al-Megrahi’s co-accused had been accused of helping to place the bomb in the baggage system of the New York-bound plane while it was at an airport in Malta.

However, Mr Fhimah’s defence argued that the case against him amounted to “inference upon inference upon inference upon inference ... leading to an inference”.

Earlier this year, Scottish police questioned the former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who has defected from the Gaddafi regime and is believed to hold key information about the 1988 attack. Mr Fhimah is understood to have formed a central part of their questioning of Mr Koussa.

Other suspects in the case include Abdullah Senussi, Colonel Gadaffi’s brother-in-law who headed Libya’s intelligence services and was al-Megrahi’s immediate boss.

Ibrahim Nayili, Libya’s former head of airline security, is also on the list of potential suspects. He is said to have put al-Megrahi in contact with potential sources of arms and aircraft components.

However, Sa’id Rashid, who is suspected by US intelligence staff of being “the senior government official who orchestrated the attack”, is believed to have died during the current uprising.

Izz Aldin Hinshiri, a former Libyan minister said to have taken possession of timers that may have been used in the Lockerbie attack, may also be dead.

[This story has now been picked up on the BBC News website.  The first paragraph of a commentary on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm by the editor, Steven Raeburn, reads as follows:]

This morning’s announcement from the Crown Office that they have contacted Libya’s newly changed regime in an effort to seek “assistance with the investigation” into the Pan Am 103 atrocity is a dangerous, disgraceful and disrespectful charade.

6 comments:

  1. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011 (google translation, german/english):

    The article "The Big Lie" opens the windows to the truth in the "Lockerbie-Affair" against Libya (NTC). The real atrocity on Pan Am 103 has a different background ...
    Mr Abdelbaset Al Megrahi and Libya have to do nothing with the "Lockerbie-Tragedy" !

    Please visit Friends of Justice for Megrahi on facebook:
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/161241207237021/

    +++
    Der Artikel "Die grosse Lüge" öffnet die Fenster zur Wahrheit in der "Lockerbie-Affäre" gegen Libyen (NTC). Das reale Attentat auf PanAm 103 hat einen anderen Hintergrund...
    Mr Abdelbaset Al Megrahi und Libya haben mit der "Lockerbie-Tragödie" nichts zutun !

    Bitte unterstützen Sie "Freunde von Gerechtigkeit für Al Megrahi" auf "facebook": http://www.facebook.com/groups/161241207237021/

    by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd., Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  2. Unless Mr Mulholland and the Scottish Crown Office can make the Brown Samsonite Suitcase noted and described by Heathrow's Mr Bedford, before 103A had landed in London, magically disappear - just as it did at the FAI - then any 'evidence' presented against the accused seems inconsequential.

    As testified by DC Henderson at said FAI, this unaccompanied brown Samsonite was almost precisely in the position in AVE4041 that the AAIB determined the explosion occurred, and yet just as this suitcase remained on the floor of 4041, underneath the explosion, but magically vanished at the FAI, the very same suitcase was now deemed 'moved to some other part of the container' by the time Kamp Zeist was created.

    Two magic invisible brown samsonite suitcases frustrate this case: one that was witnessed at Heathrow by Mr Bedford but simply disappeared, and another invisible suitcase loaded at Malta for which we have no witnesses nor evidence whatsoever.

    Not to mention the small matter of 38 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That, and the total absence of evidence of the bomb travelling from Malta through Frankfurt. If there was evidence from Malta/Frankfurt of a comparable nature to the Heathrow evidence, then one set would have to be a red herring, of course. But that isn't the case.

    The real scandal is the absence of any evidence that what the Crown allege happened, actually happened at all. Granted, it was probably possible to get an unaccompanied suitcase on board KM180 at Malta, tagged for PA103. What was completely impossible (and actually quite unnecessary) was to do that in such a way that no trace was left as to how it had been done or that it was done at all.

    There comes a point when, if something actually happened, a sufficiently determined investigation by a competent team of investigators would find some evidence that it happened. Malta was investigated till its pips squesked, and they came up with a big fat nothing.

    Megrahi was convicted of doing something that didn't happen. Now they're looking for more evidence that Fhimah did something that didn't happen. What sort of bizarro-world is this?

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  4. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2011 (google translation, german/english):

    In the emergency Scotland's Lord Advocate ask the new Libyan authorities "NTC" for a "LIFE-BELT" for not to drown in the "Lockerbie affair"...
    Chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya (NTC) Mustafa Abdul Jalil, by a interview in a Swedish newspaper "Expressen" on February 23, 2011 claims:
    "I HAVE EVIDENCE with key papers over Lockerbie, that Gadhafi ordered Lockerbie and he did everything in his power Megrahi to get back from Scotland. He Gadhafi ordered Al Megrahi to do it the bombing."

    The families of the victims of PanAm103 and the finaziell damaged persons and companys, like MEBO Ltd. etc., wait since 7 months for the promised proofs of Mustafa Abdul Galil.

    It would be very strange if after the alleged death of witness Sa’id Rashid and the former justice minister, Eng. Izzedin Hinshiri;--- now was also burnt the promised "PROOFS"--- by a bomb attack from NATO ...? Oh yeh...
    Fortunately the Scottish Lord Advocate, can find the answer (if he wants the truth) in the blocked 800 secret documents of the Scottish Criminal Cases Reappeal Commission (SCCRC) over the Miscarriage of Justice in 6 points in favor of Mr. Al Megrahi.
    Please visit Friends of Justice for Megrahi on facebook:
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/161241207237021/
    +++

    In der Not bittet "Scotland’s Lord Advocate" die neuen libyschen Autoritäten des "NTC" um einen "Retungsring" um in der "Lockerbie-Affäre" nicht zu ertrinken...
    Chairman der National Transitional Council of Libya (NTC) Mr. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, beschuldigte in einem Interview der schwedischen Zeitung "Expressen", am 23. Februar, 2011: "Ich habe BEWEISE durch wichtige Dokumente, dass Gadhafi für das "Lockerbie-Attentat" die Order und den Befehl gab, dass Abdelbaset Al Megrahi die Bombe in Malta auf das Flugzeug einschleuste. Mr. Galil sagte weiter, "Gadhafi tat alles in seiner Macht, um Al Megrahi aus dem Gefängnis in Scotland nach Libyen zurückzubringen."
    Die Familien der Opfer von PanAm 103 und die finaziell Geschädignten Personen und Firmen, wie MEBO AG und andere, warten seit 7 Monaten auf die versprochenen Beweise, von Mr. Mustafa Abdul Jalil...
    Es wäre sehr seltsam, wenn nach dem angeblichen Tod der "möglichen" Zeugen Sa'id Rashid und des ehemaligen Justizministers Ing. Izzedin Hinshiri;--- nächstens bekannt gemacht würde, dass auch die versprochene Beweisakten durch einen Bombenangriff der NATO verbrannt worden sind...? Oh yeh !
    Zum Glück kann der schottische Lord Advocate, wenn er will, die Wahrheit in den 800 geheimgehaltenen Akten der "Scottish Criminal Cases Reappeal Commission (SCCRC) nachlesen, welche ein Fehlurtel in 6 Punkten zugunsten Mr. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi prognostizieren.

    by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd., Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie ch

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  5. Dear Friends of the Lockerbie-Bloc, please watch the TV for Dispatches:
    >The Wonderful World of Tony Blair<
    to day on Channel 4, Mon 26 Sep, 8PM,

    or online on:
    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/the-wonderful-world-of-tony-blair-trail

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  6. Dear Commentators,

    The more we are graced by the new Lord Advocate's interventions in this matter, the more I hope that Alex Salmond hasn't put a sell-by date on Mr Mulholland's tenure.

    Firstly, we were treated to his proclamation that he was out to get Mr Fhimah under the new facility availed the Crown to persecute an individual to the grave with the lifting of the prohibition on double jeopardy. Now, we have him pleading with the NTC to cobble together some evidence for him since he clearly doesn't have any of his own to support his objective.

    Such behaviour, whilst highly embarrassing to the Scottish criminal justice system of course, also lends considerable credence to the view that the mush trumpeted delegation representing the Crown and Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary which met with Mr Koussa earlier in the year in the hope that he would provide the necessary goods with which to defend the indefensible, namely, a conviction supported by thin air, gleaned absolutely nothing from Colonel Gaddafi's former security services chief.

    Oh dear. It's all looking like a bit of a disaster when put alongside Abdel-Jalil's vapid claims in March and the fact that the only documents thus far to have emerged out of the rubble in Libya appear to be ones which implicate the UK security services in redition flights to Tripoli and Tony Blair's shenanigans.

    Pip, pip,
    Robert Forrester.

    ReplyDelete