A
report that purports to show that the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber was a
miscarriage of justice is now “very likely” to be made public, the Scottish
Government has claimed.
Information
contained in the 800-page report includes the six grounds on which Abdelbaset
Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi planned to appeal against his conviction for killing 270
people by placing explosives on Pan Am flight 103. It is currently protected
under data protection laws.
Last
week justice secretary Kenny MacAskill wrote to his UK counterpart, Ken Clarke,
saying it was “imperative” that the document be made public. The move could
only go ahead if the UK government makes a one-off exception under data
protection law.
Yesterday,
a Scottish Government source said it was encouraged by Clarke’s reponse “that
officials should meet to discuss this. If they are not minded to do it, why
meet? I think on this, of all issues, openness serves the interest of
everybody. I would be encouraged that the UK government is willing to enter a
process of discussions about setting aside data protection restrictions. That’s
a very welcome development.”
Earlier
this year, Westminister officials met Gerry Sinclair and Michael Walker, chief
executive and senior legal officer respectively at the Scottish Criminal Cases
Review Commission, which holds the report, to discuss the case. If the UK
government allows the data protection exception, the SCCRC would then take the
decision on whether to publish.
The
Scottish Government believes that the publication last week of John Ashton’s
book, Megrahi: You are my Jury, along
with two documentaries hinting at what is contained in the report, has
strengthened the case for the report’s disclosure. (…)
“I
think the SCCRC would take the view that elements [of the report appearing] in
the public domain would strengthen the case.”
The Scottish Government has introduced laws in the
parliament making it legal for the SCCRC to publish the document, which clears
one of its potential hurdles.[An article in today's edition of The Observer can be read here; and one in the Scottish Sunday Express here.]
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