Doctor Jim Swire’s beloved 23-year-old daughter, Flora, was among 270 people murdered when terrorists blew up an airliner above the Scottish town of Lockerbie after the it had taken off from London’s Heathrow Airport. (...)
But now 22 Lockerbie victims’ relatives and the Megrahi family are calling for a fresh inquiry into the case because they say Megrahi waspressured into dropping an earlier appeal.
Dr Swire, who has spent more than two decades trying to uncover the truth about what happened, said they were working with laywer Aamer Anwar to persuade the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) to review the evidence.
“This guy is a campaign solicitor who really wants to solve this case,” the 78-yearold said. “We want to continue to review the evidence that exists against him.
“All of us found this guilty verdict a powerful weapon used by the government of England and Scotland in terms of trying to prevent us from getting to the truth about who murdered our loved ones.
“That is something that remains wholly unacceptable. I want to get to the truth about who murdered Flora and all the other people need to see my friend’s name cleared.”
Dr Swire said after getting to know Megrahi and his family when he realised he was not guilty, he owed it to his friend to clear his name.
“He’s become my friend over the years, because I was able to talk to him I know he wasn’t guilty at all,” he said.
“He and his family have been increasingly my concern although he himself is now dead, poor chap, and died without being able to see the verdict overturned.
“He pleaded the last time I met him in 2011 in Tripoli - I would continue to try and overturn the verdicts after he was gone.”
Dr Swire added he was confident the SCCRC would look at the case again.
“The evidence is now so overwhelming provided we can get it brought before the court, I think that will happen,”he said.
The news of the fresh appeal was revealed at a press conference in Glasgow last week.
“We have an excellent advocate in this guy who knows how to fight his corner," said Dr Swire.
"We have the right under European Human Rights legislation to know the truth about who murdered our loved ones and we intend to enforce that right.
“What matters in the long run is that truth does come out.
LIFE WITH THE LOCKERBIE AFFAIR, 2014
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr. Jim Swire and lawyer Amer Anwar, for your great use for a new appeal.
Thank you very much to al Megrahi's family and - thank you very much to all appellants - you are excellent!
It is a great support at the right moment, where Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier & MEBO Ltd. to call the 'European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in this matter.
Mr. Abdelbaset al Megrahi was an innocent PATRIOT who had sacrificed his freedom in the national interest and for the Libyan People
The crucial Evidence with the MST-13 timer fragment (PT-35) is a big Scottish FRAUD !
by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Telecommunication Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch
I have described the Scandinavian Star case of 1990 earlier, but there is interesting news.
ReplyDelete(My translations from Norwegian)
»[The ... group] has done a thorough piece of work and their report shows that some issues have not been sufficiently researched.
I have for this reason decided to recommend a new investigation«.
The words were spoken today, by 'police master' (='Chief Constable', I believe would fit best) Hans Sverre Sjøvold.
The interesting news is, that Mr. Sjøvold is going against the conclusion of the report of the police's investigating group.
The 'State Advocate', responsible for that report, says 'we conclude that there is no foundation for a new investigation'.
Their argument is not that the guilt of the suspect is established, but rather that there is too little evidence to support other theories as well.
- - -
The 1990 fire on Scandinavian Star may sound familiar to readers here.
Approx. 25 years have passed, since fires on the ship the night before the 7th of April killed 159 people.
The police has been under strong criticism for not looking (enough) into obvious and critical clues in their investigation.
Evidence, both from back then, and having surfaced since, has been brought forward by relatives and interested people.
Some of it matches poorly with the official theory - that a single earlier arson-convicted man from Denmark was the sole responsible.
He, rather clumsily, died in the fire himself.
No hard evidence connects the suspect to the crime. Some witness statements say he was at the critical place at the right time. Later, though, a witness states that the man she saw did not look like the suspect.
Two policemen involved in the case have on TV stated that the evidence was clearly insufficient.
- - -
Mr. Sjøvold stated today:
"The proof in the case against the accused Danish citizen is in our evaluation not sufficient to support a statement that 'this is the guilty man'. When we have a case where we are not sure about who did it, and we have not yet investigated the possible ... motives for the crime, I think we must reopen the case.
...
It is a national tragedy where 159 people perished. If there are unclear matters where answers could be found I think we should try."
Bravo, Mr. Sjøvold, and kudos to Norwegian authorities for taking up the investigation, assigning 11 policemen to do some real work (ending in a report only half a year delayed), and finally having key people openly voicing their dissenting opinions.
What a difference to Scotland and the Lockerbie case, with your sorry excuse for an investigating and judicial system.
The 'State Advocate' is now to decide on whether the Scandinavian Star case is to be reinvestigated.