Lockerbie - Criminal Justice or "War by Other Means"

This is the title of the most recent post by Baz on The Masonic Verses blog. It provides a fascinating account of the geo-political background to the selection of Libya as fall-guy for the Lockerbie atrocity. The full text can be read here.

Another straw in the wind

"On Dec 21, 1988 -- almost exactly 20 years ago -- I was finishing my graduate work at Syracuse's Maxwell School in upstate New York. I was on duty at Hendricks Chapel when Pan Am flight 103 was destroyed by terrorists. It still brings me to a boil -- how I lost friends; how the press behaved that day; how the Libyans have managed to bribe their way into world acceptance -- as though any sum of money will bring back innocent lives. The worst part of it is there is a strong body of evidence suggesting Syria had a much larger role in the murders than the United States is prepared to acknowledge. For me and many others, flight 103 remains wholly unsolved. I cry for those murdered in the air and in Lockerbie, Scotland, on that tragic day. It all remains an open festering wound."

From an article by UPI international columnist, Marc S Ellenbogen. Yet another example of US news media beginning to appreciate the flimsiness of the "official" explanation of Lockerbie.

Courage amid grief and facing up to offensive remarks

This the headline over a long article by Nicola Barry in The Press and Journal, a daily newspaper with a wide circulation in the north of Scotland. The final sentence reads:

"Lord Fraser is a man who should be allowed to fade into the obscurity he so deserves."

Well said, Ms Barry! The full article can be read here.

Reaction to Lord Fraser's "Stockholm syndrome" outburst

Today's edition of The Herald carries two letters critical of Lord Fraser of Carmyllie's recent remarks about Dr Jim Swire suffering from Stockholm syndrome. They can be read here.

Questions Remain Unanswered Two Decades After Plane Bombing Over Lockerbie

This is the title of a long and interesting article on the CNS News website by their International Editor, Patrick Goodenough. It is particularly significant in that it comes from a United States news organization (indeed, one with clear conservative sympathies) and retails in some detail the very real concerns that exist about the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi and the thesis of Libyan responsibility for the Lockerbie disaster.

Terror and Tears

A one-hour special programme with this title was broadcast yesterday by Syracuse NY television station News10Now to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster, in which 35 students from Syracuse University were killed. The programme, presented by Bill Carey, can be viewed here.

New questions raised over Lockerbie bombing

Here is an excerpt from an article published in yesterday's edition of The Jerusalem Post:

'Megrahi, who has always denied involvement, lost an appeal against his conviction in 2002, and was only given leave to mount a second appeal in June 2007. A Scottish legal review commission found six potential grounds for a miscarriage of justice, including flaws in the process by which he was identified and, reportedly, the non-disclosure of a classified report on the timer purportedly used in the bomb. The commission referred the case back to the Scottish courts.

'The overturning of Megrahi's conviction could revive the bombing investigators' original theory, widely believed by many of those close to the case, that Lockerbie was not a Libyan plot at all, but was, rather, carried out by Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, on behalf of Iran.

'Among the leading figures who publicly voiced this assertion was then trade minister Ariel Sharon, who told a press conference in Madrid seven weeks after the bombing, "Israel believes it was Ahmed Jibril."

'The spokesman for the Lockerbie victims' families, the UN's observer on the case and the Scottish law professor who formulated the legal framework under which Megrahi was tried all said they were convinced the conviction will be overturned.'

Press coverage of 20th anniversary events

The UK press, as would be expected, has extensive coverage of the various memorial events held yesterday to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster. The Herald's treatment can be seen here and The Scotsman's here.

Lockerbie: was it Iran? Syria? All I know is, it wasn't the man in prison

A lot of powerful people would be embarrassed if the truth, whatever it is, came out

Last week saw more than its share of stories about miscarriages of justice. But spare a thought this Christmas for the victim of the biggest miscarriage of justice in Scottish legal history, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted of blowing up Pan Am flight 103 en route from London to New York, 20 years ago today. (...)

Megrahi's conviction was a shocker. No material evidence was presented linking him to the bombing, let alone any evidence that he put the bomb on the plane or that he handled any explosives. Even the prosecution subsequently questioned the credibility of its star witness.

Nevertheless, keen to move on, Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing although it never accepted guilt. Gaddafi paid $2.7bn (£1.8bn) in compensation to the victims' families – $10m for every victim. The final payment was made this year. US lawyers took approximately a third of the final amount. But the economic and humanitarian price for Libya was far higher: UN sanctions over an 11-year period inflicted billions of dollars' worth of economic damage on Libya and prevented thousands of Libyan citizens from travelling abroad. (...)

Since the Crown never had much of a case against Megrahi, it was no surprise when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) found prima facie evidence in June 2007 that Megrahi had suffered a miscarriage of justice and recommended that he be granted a second appeal.

For 11 years, while legal proceedings were pending and throughout the trial, the British Government argued that a public inquiry into Lockerbie was not appropriate as it would prejudice legal proceedings. After the conviction, it switched tack, arguing instead that no public inquiry was necessary. But if the conviction were overturned, there would no longer be a reason to hold back. For Megrahi, this cannot come soon enough. In September he was diagnosed with advanced terminal prostate cancer.

The British Government is preparing for Megrahi to be transferred to Libya for the rest of his sentence. This would eliminate the risk of an acquittal and lessen the chance of a subsequent inquiry. Applications for a transfer cannot be submitted while an appeal is pending, which for the Government raises the convenient prospect that Megrahi will abandon his appeal so he can die at home. But letting Megrahi die a condemned man reduces the chance of Scottish prosecutors, the police, various UK intelligence services plus many American and other foreign bodies being asked a lot of difficult questions. Last month, a general agreement on the exchange of prisoners was signed between Libya and Britain paving the way for such a transfer. The agreement will be ratified in January.

"The Crown and the prosecution are using every delaying tactic in the book to close off every route available to Megrahi except prisoner transfer, as this means he has to abandon his appeal," commented Professor Robert Black QC, the Scottish lawyer who was the architect of the original trial who feels partly responsible for the miscarriage that occurred. "It is an absolute disgrace. It was 27 June 2007 when the SCCRC released its report and sent its case back to the criminal appeal court, and here we are 18 months later and the Crown has still not handed over all of the material that the law requires it to hand over and it is still making every objection conceivable."

There are, however, two obstacles to the British plan. Firstly, the decision to transfer Megrahi lies with the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond. Upset that the Government reached an agreement over Megrahi without consulting him first, Mr Salmond has ruled out any transfer.

Secondly, whether Megrahi dies in jail in Scotland or Libya, under Scottish law his appeal can still go ahead without him. "Any interested person can continue the case. In this case one of Megrahi's children could continue with the appeal to clear their father's name," says Professor Black. (...)

The fate of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, however, and the tarnished reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system rest in the hand of the Scottish courts. Megrahi's acquittal, posthumous or otherwise, will undo a heinous wrong and return us to where we were 20 years ago – searching for the truth behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.

[From an article by Hugh Miles in today's edition of The Independent on Sunday. The full text can be read here.]

Swire is victim of Stockholm Syndrome, says Lord Fraser

Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC, the Lord Advocate in 1991 at the time when charges in respect of the destruction of Pan Am 103 were brought against Abdelbaset Megrahi, has been a busy little bee. Two Sunday newspapers, The Sunday Times and Scotland on Sunday run interviews in which he accuses Dr Jim Swire of suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm syndrome relates to the behaviour of kidnap victims who, over time, become sympathetic to their captors, and can, accordingly have no application whatsoever to Dr Swire. But why should Peter Fraser allow anything as trivial as accuracy get in the way of a good headline?

Dr Swire and Rev John Mosey attended virtually the whole of the proceedings in the Scottish Court at Zeist. Both of them, having heard the evidence, have the very gravest doubts about the justifiability of the conviction of Megrahi. Those doubts are shared by many others who have taken the trouble to consider the evidence and the trial court's written opinion. And, of course, the independent (and expert) Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred the case back to the Criminal Appeal Court on six grounds, one of which is that in respect of crucial findings in fact, no reasonable court could have reached those conclusions on the evidence led.

For Peter Fraser in these circumstances to suggest that a relative who doubts the validity of Megrahi's conviction is labouring under a psychological aberration such as Stockholm syndrome is outrageously insulting and casts more doubt on the psychological state of the maker of the statement than on that of the person at whom it is directed.

Remembering Lockerbie 20 years on

This is the title of a long feature written by Peter Ross for the Spectrum section of the edition of Scotland on Sunday for the day of the twentieth anniversary of the the destruction of Pan Am 103. The article can be read here.

Moving On

"Terror and Tears, Part 6, Moving On" the sixth instalment of the series on the Lockerbie disaster being broadcast by Syracuse NY news channel News10Now, can be viewed here, as can the written article that accompanies it.

The demand for truth is more than rhetoric

This is the headline over the Saturday essay by The Herald's distinguished columnist, Ian Bell. Here are excerpts:

'I was in The Herald newsroom, a bit-player, on the night Pan Am Flight 103 fell on Lockerbie. I was back - still more reluctance - a decade ago. Sherwood Crescent; Rosebank Crescent; Dryfesdale Cemetery; the brooding silence at Tundergarth: in these honest, inconspicuous places the war on terror - selected, manipulated, the fount of a thousand lies - properly began. Poor Lockerbie.

'The "anniversary piece", as we call it, rarely illuminates anything much. Prose becomes a little purplish and reverential, but that tends only to distress the bereaved further. They know what happened. They would rather know why it happened, and whether those responsible have been punished. Twenty years after Lockerbie, the truth - like Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the only man convicted of the mass murder of 270 people - remains locked away.

'He didn't do it. If he was in any way involved he was neither the sole nor the principal actor. His country, Libya, is these days back in the oil-vending, terrorism-fighting fold. "Compensation" paid, it once again cuts Blair-brokered deals with the west. Syria, Iran, the CIA and geo-politics, US-style, have moved on. But the evidence against the man dying of stage-four prostate cancer in HM Prison Greenock remains flimsy, inconsistent, contradictory and deeply, as his lawyers might say, unsatisfactory.

'This is not meant as another rehearsal of numerous theories. Suffice it to say that we have been told often enough by members of the American security apparatus - ask the bereaved Dr Jim Swire, if you doubt me - that the truth will not be made available. But here's the thing: if Lockerbie marked the real beginning of the terror war, long before 9/11, why are truth and facts still so dangerous? Why are those commodities always, persistently, as a matter of routine, withheld? Democracies depend, at minimum, on disclosure. Why did we wage war in Iraq? Why the war in Afghanistan? It is attested that these have been noble, necessary causes, essential in the struggle against dark, implacable forces. Perhaps. Bombings in London, Bali or Madrid were not fictions. The attack on Glasgow airport was no fantasy. So why does my government fight so hard to prevent me from reading the minutes of the Cabinet meetings during which the occupation of Iraq was discussed? (...)

'I despise conspiracy theories. They make life too easy for the powerful, who much prefer to dismiss every inconvenient truth as fantasy. But when 20 years elapse and the truth of the Lockerbie massacre remains contestable, when six bloody years go by with Iraq selected as the useful evil-of-the-month, the demand for truth is more than mere rhetoric.

'It functions as a reminder, in fact, of the state we're in. We can call for facts, and insist on truth, and yet receive neither. We can whistle. In the dark.'

The press on the eve of the anniversary

Most UK newspapers today have features marking the twentieth anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster. The most interesting contributions from my perspective are mentioned below.

The Scotsman has a double-page spread of accounts by Lockerbie inhabitants of their experiences, adapted from Jill Haldane’s book An' then the world came tae oor doorstep: Lockerbie Lives and Stories published by the Grimsay Press, priced £16.95.

The Daily Record, one of Scotland’s largest circulation tabloids, has an article concentrating on the town’s recovery from the tragedy and featuring reflections from father Pat Keegans.

The Independent has a leader entitled “Lockerbie's unanswered questions”. It reads in part:

‘Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. In the intervening period, the Libyan government has been blamed for the bombing; the families of the victims have received a $1.5bn compensation package authorised by Colonel Gaddafi, and Pan American airlines has filed for bankruptcy. In 2001 a panel of Scottish judges, sitting in the Netherlands under special arrangements agreed with the Libyan government, convicted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, of 270 counts of murder for his part in the bombing. The narrative is far from complete, however. That al-Megrahi's case took 10 years to reach trial is remarkable; that serious questions still remain about the credibility of the evidence used to convict al-Megrahi is a scandal.

‘In June 2007, the Libyan's defence team was granted leave by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to appeal, for a second time, his conviction. The commission gave six grounds for believing a "miscarriage of justice may have occurred", chief among them that the evidence given by the prosecution's witness Tony Gauci, who identified al-Megrahi, was flawed.

‘Since then, his defence team has revealed that it was denied access to papers from a foreign government that were made available to Scottish police, but not defence lawyers. It also alleges that Gauci was offered a $2m reward in return for giving evidence. The substance of the claims will be measured at an appeal which begins next spring – providing al-Megrahi, who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, is still alive.

‘In any event, the outcome could not be more important. Twenty years after that fatal flight, there remains a very real possibility that justice has still not been done.’

On a very different level, the LINKS website re-publishes two articles by Norm Dixon from 14 February 2001 and 14 July 2007 detailing the concerns that exist over the evidence that led to the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi.

Dark Memories

"Terror and Tears, Part 5, Dark Memories" the fifth instalment of the series on the Lockerbie disaster being broadcast by Syracuse NY news channel News10Now, can be viewed here, as can the written article that accompanies it.