[This is the headline over a review on the Edinburgh Guide website of today’s keynote session at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It reads as follows:]
“Eight senior Scottish judges got it wrong, but the question is why? It is not because of a lack of intellectual skills”, said Hans Köchler this morning at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, suggesting an international government cover up over the conviction of the Libyan bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Speaking at the first keynote event on the opening morning of the Book Festival, Köchler, who was an observer at the Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie) bombing trial and subsequent appeal, argued that the verdict was reached for political motives and that the Scottish judges at Camp Zeist passed a ruling which was not logical upon examination of the facts.
Joining Köchler in the event was John Ashton, author of Megrahi: You are my Jury, as well as Jim Swire, whose daughter was killed in the Lockerbie bombing of 1988 and whose account of those fateful events was the subject of an acclaimed Fringe play in 2010, Lockerbie: Unfinished Business.
Ashton, who worked on Megrahi’s legal team and has written the biography of Megrahi on his request, agreed with Köchler, arguing that the Crown Office withheld evidence in the initial trial: “their incompetence was shameful” he said.
Following a meeting with the Lord Advocate in February of this year, Jim Swire spoke of his fury that the Lord Advocate did not know why evidence was withheld by the Crown Office in the original trial, specifically the evidence surrounding a break in to Heathrow airport around the time Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London.
Megrahi, who died in May this year, was released on compassionate grounds from Scottish prison in 2009, a decision that was highly divisive.
“Megrahi’s cancer was a gift from God for everyone involved in this case. It was a tragedy for Megrahi but everyone else was punching the air”, said Ashton, suggesting that the release allowed for improved relations between the UK, Libya and the United States, having earlier said it was “plain as daylight” there was a deal between Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi.
If the conviction of Megrahi was an extraordinary miscarriage of justice, then the price Libya has paid is an extraordinary case of extortion and an abuse of international law.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, perhaps understandably, it appears Libya adopted the role of helpless victim just wishing their tormentor would leave them alone.
Presumably this is why little Libya was chosen as the scapegoat rather than say big Iran, because Iran would have had the clout to defend themselves in court and at the UN.
But I’m still surprised Libya didn’t commission a public inquiry, with international observers, to establish the truth about Lockerbie.
Perhaps they feared this defiance would make things worse and incite America to destroy their country for humanitarian reasons?
In the book 1984 it wasn’t enough to obey Big Brother you had to love Big Brother and any sign of defiance was considered a threat that had to be crushed.
ReplyDeleteThis same mentality governs American foreign policy and explains why they wish to crush rather than negotiate with countries on their hit list.
It’s a lethal approach promoted by the ‘end of days Zionist lobby’ or neo-cons, that also explains why countries prefer to co-operate with, rather than dispute American lies.
I think this explains the silence on Lockerbie, because to raise this issue would be viewed as a hostile act that would put you on the hit list?