The following reports in today’s editions of The Herald, The Independent and The Guardian, although not directly related to the Lockerbie case, perhaps add support to the contention that the Blair Government was determined, by hook or by crook, to secure Abdelbaset Megrahi’s return to Libya: Dear Muammar ...Yours Tony: Blair letter is latest evidence of UK-Libya links and Letter between Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi revealed as part of documents seized following Libyan revolution and Revealed: How Blair colluded with Gaddafi regime in secret.
From my own meetings with Libyan officials at the very highest level, I can testify that the Libyan government, as a result of its dealings with Tony Blair, Sir Nigel Sheinwald and Sir Mark Allen, believed in 2008 that the repatriation of Megrahi was a done deal. There was a distinct measure of consternation and some scepticism when I informed the Libyan officials that the question of repatriation was one for the Scottish Government, not the UK Government.
From my own meetings with Libyan officials at the very highest level, I can testify that the Libyan government, as a result of its dealings with Tony Blair, Sir Nigel Sheinwald and Sir Mark Allen, believed in 2008 that the repatriation of Megrahi was a done deal. There was a distinct measure of consternation and some scepticism when I informed the Libyan officials that the question of repatriation was one for the Scottish Government, not the UK Government.
Living with the "Lockerbie Affair", 2015:
ReplyDeleteEdwin Bollier & MEBO Ltd Switzerland: The payment of US$ 2.7 billions for the families of the Lockerbie tragedy (US$ 10 million per victim) was not come from the ex Gaddafi government. SAIF EL ISLAM EL GADDAFI had guaranteed at UN:
It has been made by a nummber of Libyan businessmen, who want an end to sanctions imposed by the United Nation and the United States - and was paid from his GIFCA Foundation, via 'BIS' Bank for International Settlements (head office is in Basel, Switzerland). Thus, Libya can not be held responsible for the Pan Am 103 bombing by the payment.
Therefore, a new scottish criminal investigation / Appeal (also in Switzerland) must go on ! Justice for Abdelbaset al Megrahi and for LibyenNew !
The Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF, Arabic: مؤسسة القذافي العالمية للجمعيات الخيرية والتنمية), known also as GIFCA, was before an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) with headquarters formerly located in the Libyan capital Tripoli and Geneva, Switzerland. The president of the Foundation was Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Purpose: to relieve the misery and suffering in the world, including by facilitating the implementation of social welfare programs, giving help and support to victims of natural disasters, epidemics and violations of human rights, strengthening cooperation with national, regional and international organizations with similar goals.
by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO ltd Telecommunication Switzerland. webpage: www.lockerbie.ch
2008? Were they still under the illusion Tony could deliver at that time?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that 3rd May 2007 was crucial to this narrative. The "Deal in the Desert" was underway at that time. Up until the first week of May 2007, Tony Blair would have been justifiably confident that he could deliver on any committment he made on behalf of the Scottish government. Jack McConnell (Labour, Motherwell and Wishaw) was First Minister. Blair only had to say "jump", and McConnell would respond "how high?" If Blair said, "release Megrahi" it would have been a done deal.
On 3rd May 2007 the SNP won the Scottish election, although only just. The majority was so slim it was several days before it became clear they would actually form the government, but they did. From that time on, Blair was going to have to whistle for co-operation from Holyrood. Indeed, not doing what the Labour party wanted was likely to be Standard Operating Procedure.
I know Labour were in denial for quite a while that they had lost Scotland. They saw governing in Holyrood as their right. They set it up to ensure that. They thought they were going to win again, right until a last-minute recount of the list seats in the Western Isles or somewhere saw them pipped by a single seat. They thought that a minority SNP government couldn't go the distance, and that an early election after a vote of no confidence would see normal service resumed. So maybe they still clung on to the belief that they'd soon be back in power and didn't bother telling the Libyans that the Scottish government was no longer in their pocket.
I'm surprised that misapprehension continued as long as 2008 though. The legal situation was perfectly clear,
Yes, the legal situation was perfectly clear to anyone who cared to research it. It wasn't perfectly clear to the Libyan regime until I explained it to them (and even then, they weren't wholly convinced). Whether the legal situation was clear to Blair, Sheinwald and Allen (and whether the legalities ever even entered into their calculations) I have no way of knowing, but rather doubt.
DeleteI suppose it was just part and parcel of the Labour sense of entitlement that we're still seeing even in 2015. The party even now still shows signs of regarding itself as the rightful owners of Holyrood and behaves as if the SNP government are illegitimate temporary interlopers.
DeleteEven after the absolute clobbering they got in 2011, the post-election rhetoric was still about how they were going to spend the next five years undermining their SNP victors so that they could return to business as usual in 2016. Now it looks as if they're going to get an equivalent clobbering in Westminster seats in May, and they're still in denial, declaring that not only will they not lose any seats, they'll gain some. Not just a river in Egypt.
I suppose Blair might simply have failed to realise that he could no longer tell the Scottish government what to do, after May 2007.
Rolfe, I concur.
DeleteHas that al Megrahi family member finally joined the cause of requesting appeal yet - or not?
ReplyDeleteSeveral members of the Megrahi family (including his executor) have signed documents (a) intimating that they wish to join in the application to the SCCRC and (b) instructing Aamer Anwar & Co to represent them in this endeavour. The SCCRC apparently requires more than this. Given the situation in Libya, getting the additional documentation required is not easy. But I am confident it will eventually be achieved.
Delete"Confident". I like that word. Tweeter Hend said Libya is "heading Syria-wards", which isn't reassuring.
DeleteIn one sense it might be a positive devevopment if Lady Dorrian were to rule that the families of the victims are entitled in their own right to apply for another appeal, as interested parties. It would simplify matters and provide an extra layer of comfort and security. I suppose the concern is that she might not rule in this way.
In my opinion there's way to much respect for "certainty and finality" creeping into Scots law these days. Reality isn't like that, science isn't like that. You can't tell Einstein to shut up and go away because Newton's theories were granted "certainty and finality" status. You can't go on insisting that the Sun orbits the Earth, after Gallileo has conclusively demonstrated the opposite is the case, as the Church finally had to realise.
In what version of reality is it "justice" to insist that a conviction can't be re-opened when there is absolutely crystal-clear, incontrovertible evidence not just of reasonable doubt, but of FACTUAL INNOCENCE? Oh, the convicted man was tricked out of his previous appeal and now he's safely dead and we like the version of history we created so go away?
That is in effect what the Crown Office is trying to pull. It mustn't be allowed to get away with it, for the sake of a just Scotland for all of us and those who come after us.
Living with the "Lockerbie Affair", 2015, (google translation german/english):
ReplyDeleteThe truth about Mr. Al Megrahi and Libya (in the Lockerbie case) can be clarified quickly, if the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, opening the blockade of the criminal investigation against an official.
Only then the mutual international Agreement with legal assistance Switzerland / Scotland, can be involved in the Investigation. Then the Scottish justice must bring the MST-13 Timerfragment parts (PT 35/b and DP-31/a) to Switzerland to the forensic police Institute for analysis . All right ?!
+++
Die Wahrheit einer Beteiligung oder nicht, von Mr. Al Megrahi and Libya (im Fall Lockerbie) kann schnell aufgeklärt werden, wenn das Bundesstrafgericht in Bellinzona eine "Nichtanhandnahme" einer Strafuntersuchung in der Schweiz als nichtig erklärt.
Damit kann das gegendeitige, internationale Rechthilfe Abkommen Schweiz/ Scotland, in die Untersuchung einbezogen werden. Nur so, kann die Scottish Justice gezwungen werden, die MST-13 Timerfragment Teilstücke (PT-35/b und DP-31/a) zum polizeilichen Forensischen Institut, zur Analyse in die Schweiz zu bringen. Alles klar?!
by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd Telecommunication Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch