On
Tuesday
morning the Justice Committee at Holyrood will reach a decision which could
colour Scotland’s perception of our elected representatives in terms of their
relationship with the Crown for generations to come. It is a simple matter.
Namely, whether or not to throw out the Justice
for Megrahi petition calling for an independent inquiry into the conviction
of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Those who argue that it ought to be shut down, like
the Crown Office, will doubtless say that the issue is a matter exclusively for
the courts. Justice campaigners, however, feel that the courts have proven incapable
of resolution and the Crown downright obstructive.
It
is important to understand the facts of this case in order to appreciate its
potential as a massive miscarriage of justice.
At
the Kamp van Zeist trial, the first time ever that the Scottish High Court had
operated on neutral, international territory, the Crown, acting as prosecutor,
judge and jury offered a simple scenario.
Mr
al-Megrahi contrived to place an unaccompanied and unaccounted for bronze
coloured, hard shell Samsonite suitcase containing a bomb operated by a simple
count-down timer on to a flight from Luqa airport on Malta destined for
Frankfurt. At Frankfurt, the bomb suitcase was transferred to a feeder flight
bound for Heathrow. Once there, the suitcase, still unaccompanied and
unaccounted for, was loaded on to Pan Am 103 resulting in the tragic deaths of
270 souls in Lockerbie.
No
direct evidence, of any nature whatsoever, was presented at Zeist or has ever been
found to support these allegations. Importantly since the trial a mass of evidence
has transpired to undermine the Crown case.
Indisputable
eye witness and documentary evidence does exist which says that Heathrow
Terminal 3 airside was broken into only hours before the departure of Pan Am 103,
thus providing access to the loading
area. Vitally before the arrival of the
Frankfurt flight, an unaccounted for suitcase, which investigators eventually
concluded answered to the description of the bomb suitcase, was observed in the
luggage container in which the explosion took place.
Of
the prosecution’s star eye witnesses the first, Abdul
Majid Giaka, was dismissed as a ‘fantasist’ by their Lordships, and the
second, Tony Gauci, has been tainted by allegations of having accepted bribes
from the US justice Department.
Nothing
in the Crown case passes the test of credibility let alone guilt beyond
reasonable doubt, which is, of course, partly why the Scottish Criminal Cases
Review Commission (SCCRC) supported the need for a second appeal.
Zeist
is as uncomplicated and incredible as that.
Following
the application for the second appeal, a Public Interest Immunity Certificate
was placed over part of the evidence by the last UK Labour government. Scotland’s
High Court, in the full knowledge of Mr al-Megrahi’s terminal medical condition,
took an unreasonably long period deciding how to go about hearing the appeal.
As the appeal was progressing to a point where it was looking as if it might be
successful, Mr al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds and the appeal was
dropped. Yet again clouds of suspicion masked the truth.
As
things stand members of the al-Megrahi family could apply to resurrect the appeal.
However, Libya is riven with murderous political factionalism where not even
the US ambassador is immune. What hope then does this family stand of receiving
justice with all the internal and external political pressures against them?
Even
the efforts of the Crown to locate new evidence in the shambles of today’s new
Libya, in order to resuscitate flagging public confidence in the verdict back
in Scotland, have turned out to be fruitless. Now in desperation they appear to have given
up and turned their attentions to Malta a country that has always denied guilt
for involvement in Lockerbie.
Quite
exceptionally an application for a third appeal could be left to families of
the victims of the atrocity but it is far from clear how successful such an
appeal would be given the miserable state of Scotland’s criminal justice
system.
The
question is: Will Scottish parliamentarians show courage and vision and support
our call for an inquiry or will they act against the interests of justice and
the truth and support the Crown’s continuing defence of the indefensible?
Last month’s damning
report into the Hillsborough Disaster revealed double dealing and cover up on a
massive scale. Lies and deceit came before truth and understanding and justice
to the victims.
Such
are the echoes of Lockerbie.
It
is time to cut the puppeteer’s strings.
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