The Scottish police acted
illegally in the course of investigations over the Lockerbie bombing, according
to the campaign group Justice for Megrahi.
Members of the group
yesterday gave details of the allegations listed in a letter they sent the
Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill last month.
Robert Black, a lawyer,
said the group made six allegations of criminal misconduct by the Scottish
police in the course of investigations. (…)
Members of the prosecution team are accused by the
group of presenting a scenario to the court “which was known to be false”.
They also accuse the Dumfries and Galloway police
of concealing a witness statement in relation to an airside break-in at
Heathrow airport on the same day the bombing happened.
The Scottish Justice Ministry responded by saying
reports of criminal activity should have been reported to the police.
“The reason we did not do so was because the
allegations concern police officers within the Dumfries and Galloway police,”
Prof Black said. The group has now filed an official report and will “wait and
see” what action the police will take.
Pan Am flight 103 blew up on December 21, 1988,
over the Scottish town of Lockerbie after leaving Heathrow airport. The
terrorist attack killed 270 people.
The case put forward by the prosecution argued the
suitcase in which the bomb was placed left Malta on an Air Malta flight to
Frankfurt before being transferred to another flight to Heathrow.
Libyans Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a Libyan
intelligence officer, and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah were accused of the bombing. At
an international trial in Camp Zeist, The Netherlands, only Mr Megrahi was
found guilty.
However, campaigners such as Prof Black and Jim
Swire, the father of a Lockerbie victim, have insisted Mr Megrahi was innocent.
In 2007 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review
Commission concluded that a miscarriage of justice may have taken place.
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