[This is the headline over an article by specialist writer on Middle East affairs, Linda Heard, recently published on the Arab News website. It reads in part:]
It seems to me that people in the highest echelons of the US government have nothing better to do than sit around hoping that the so-called “Lockerbie bomber” Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi will either keel over and die or spend his dying days behind bars.
Leading the revenge brigade is President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who would surely be better employed fixing the economy or working toward getting out of Afghanistan.
Such high level preoccupation with the fate of one lingering cancer sufferer is not only petty but somehow vulgar. It’s the kind of thing one might expect from a crazed, egotistical dictator rather than the leaders of the free world and especially those who profess to be Christians when at the core of that religion is forgiveness. (...)
Equally nauseating is the way that America’s trans-Atlantic self-ascribed “junior partner” Britain is dancing to the White House’s tune by threatening Libya not to celebrate the first anniversary of Al-Megrahi’s homecoming. It really isn’t Britain’s business to tell another sovereign nation how it should behave. In truth, nobody in Libya believes Al-Megrahi committed the crime and I don’t blame them. The evidence against him was so flimsy as to be almost nonexistent and he has always vehemently denied any culpability. Moreover, there is a wealth of international legal opinion that believes his conviction by a panel of three Scottish judges is unsafe.
To most Libyans, Al-Megrahi is a patriot who willingly sacrificed his personal liberty to allow his country to re-join the international community. As far as they are concerned he is an innocent man who deserves their respect and thanks. Libya has long paid its dues. It was forced into taking responsibility for Lockerbie to free itself from UN sanctions, US trade sanctions and to gain access to funds frozen in American banks. It also sought its removal from the list of terrorist sponsoring states.
It went the extra mile toward acceptance by paying families of Lockerbie victims $10 million each and dismantling its advanced nuclear program so that it could be officially declared free of WMD. Yet, Libya still hasn’t been fully embraced into the fold and won’t be as long as Washington continues to bleat about the past when it has committed crimes against Libya that tend to be forgotten.
On April 14th, 1986, President Ronald Reagan ordered a strike on Libya that killed President Muammar Qaddafi’s 15-month-old adopted daughter Hanna along with 45 officials and 15 civilians. American bombs also injured two of the Libyan leader’s sons. That attack was loudly condemned in the UN General Assembly as “a violation of the UN Charter and international law.” Obama and Clinton might wish to reflect on that before they adopt their next holier than thou positions.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has already made it crystal clear that he does not approve of Al-Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds when he should be supporting the Scottish decision that implemented in strict accordance with that country’s compassionate laws. If the doctor who believed that the Libyan had no more than three months to live got it wrong, so be it. Predicting how long an ill person might live is an inexact science yet the US media is spending an inordinate amount of column inches bashing Scotland’s justice minister and the doctor’s report which led him to take his decision.
My American friends should understand that justice in Scotland is a far cry from the hang ‘em high mentality prevalent in some US states or the lurid death row in Texas that was dubbed by the Texas Observer as “the most active human abattoir in North America.” (...)
If the White House and the Senate are seriously seeking justice instead of regurgitating the reasons behind Al-Megrahi’s release, they should institute a new enquiry into Lockerbie, which is exactly what Al-Megrahi — and many of the British Lockerbie victims’ families — wanted during all those years in his cell. Ah! But there isn’t a hope in hell that they would ever consider that when the truth and details of the way it was covered up could prove so embarrassing. If there was anything sinister behind the Libyan’s release as Americans claim, keeping inconvenient truth under wraps could well be it.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
The vengeance bandwagon
Now Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has jumped on the vengeance bandwagon. She maintains that the families of Lockerbie victims have been denied justice because a year ago the Scottish justice minister released the only person to have been convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Libyan Abdul Baset Al Megrahi.
Released on compassionate grounds in keeping with Scottish law, his mistake was he refused to die on cue. Instead of expiring within the proscribed three-months, he is lingering on thanks to new and innovative treatment. His longevity is offensive to Clinton, who blames Scotland for not keeping him behind bars until his last breath.
Apart from the fact that a slew of legal experts have deemed Al Megrahi's conviction as potentially unsafe, such bloodlust coming from a cultured woman politician is unseemly at best and, at worst, vulgar or ghoulish.
I'm reminded of Genghis Khan, who put the head of one of his enemies on a pole as a victory trophy and paraded it through village after village or, more recently, the US military that ensured that the corpses of Saddam's sons made it to our screens.
Clinton is now calling for Al Megrahi to serve out his sentence while the British government has warned Libya not to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his homecoming, although every Libyan believes in his innocence and he is considered a hero for sacrificing his freedom to enable his country to rejoin the international community. Whether he survives for three months or three years is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things.
[From an article on the Gulf News website by Linda S Heard, a specialist writer on Middle East affairs.]
Released on compassionate grounds in keeping with Scottish law, his mistake was he refused to die on cue. Instead of expiring within the proscribed three-months, he is lingering on thanks to new and innovative treatment. His longevity is offensive to Clinton, who blames Scotland for not keeping him behind bars until his last breath.
Apart from the fact that a slew of legal experts have deemed Al Megrahi's conviction as potentially unsafe, such bloodlust coming from a cultured woman politician is unseemly at best and, at worst, vulgar or ghoulish.
I'm reminded of Genghis Khan, who put the head of one of his enemies on a pole as a victory trophy and paraded it through village after village or, more recently, the US military that ensured that the corpses of Saddam's sons made it to our screens.
Clinton is now calling for Al Megrahi to serve out his sentence while the British government has warned Libya not to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his homecoming, although every Libyan believes in his innocence and he is considered a hero for sacrificing his freedom to enable his country to rejoin the international community. Whether he survives for three months or three years is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things.
[From an article on the Gulf News website by Linda S Heard, a specialist writer on Middle East affairs.]
Kirk official backs Scottish Government decision to release Megrahi
[This is the headline over a report published today on the Ekklesia website. It reads in part:]
The Scottish government was right to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on compassionate grounds, an official of the Church of Scotland says.
"The principle behind the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi a year ago was right, compassion, and my views haven't changed since I welcomed his release on 20 August last year," the Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Presbyterian denomination's church and society council, has told ENInews.
The spiritual leader of Roman Catholics in Scotland [Cardinal Keith O'Brien] has taken a similar stance, criticising the furore in the United States over the decision. (...)
The Catholic leader also backed the Scottish government's decision not to give evidence to American senators investigating Megrahi's release.
The similar opinions of a leading Church of Scotland figure reflect an overwhelming preference for mercy over vengeance among churches in Scotland, a commentator told Ekklesia.
The Scottish government was right to release the Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on compassionate grounds, an official of the Church of Scotland says.
"The principle behind the release of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi a year ago was right, compassion, and my views haven't changed since I welcomed his release on 20 August last year," the Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Presbyterian denomination's church and society council, has told ENInews.
The spiritual leader of Roman Catholics in Scotland [Cardinal Keith O'Brien] has taken a similar stance, criticising the furore in the United States over the decision. (...)
The Catholic leader also backed the Scottish government's decision not to give evidence to American senators investigating Megrahi's release.
The similar opinions of a leading Church of Scotland figure reflect an overwhelming preference for mercy over vengeance among churches in Scotland, a commentator told Ekklesia.
For Sen Menendez read Joe McCarthy
[This is the heading over a letter from John Edwards in today's edition of The Herald. It reads as follows:]
So United States Senator Robert Menendez believes there is a “cloud of suspicion” hanging over the medical reports that led to the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi (“Scots back Salmond on US inquiry decision”, August 20). Just how far is Menendez going in his attempts to sully Scotland’s legal system, and his intereference in Scottish sovereignty?
And the US government wants Mr Megrahi returned to prison, because after a year in which he has no doubt been receiving the very best medical attention, he is still alive.
The American vengeance machine rolls on. This whole affair increasingly has echoes of the McCarthyism era in the United States in the 1950s, when free thinking liberals were put on trial for “un-American” activities.
The difference now is that it is not individuals being accused, but the Scottish nation and our government.
Now we learn that the Central Intelligence Agency had evidence that could have changed the course of the Camp Zeist trial, but was not presented. Why?
The stench of hypocrisy grows stronger by the day.
[A letter from James S MacDonald in The Scotsman reads as follows:]
With regards to your reports and letters over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, for the first time in my life, I plan to vote SNP at the next election. The reason being I was pleased with our First Minister for standing up to that vindictive race of people who live across the Atlantic.
I don't recall an inquiry when the Americans shot down an Iranian airliner full of innocent people. Nor do I hear them showing remorse for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed by their troops.
Perhaps the reason that Megrahi has survived longer than the prognosis is that the Libyan medical system is superior to ours.
So United States Senator Robert Menendez believes there is a “cloud of suspicion” hanging over the medical reports that led to the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi (“Scots back Salmond on US inquiry decision”, August 20). Just how far is Menendez going in his attempts to sully Scotland’s legal system, and his intereference in Scottish sovereignty?
And the US government wants Mr Megrahi returned to prison, because after a year in which he has no doubt been receiving the very best medical attention, he is still alive.
The American vengeance machine rolls on. This whole affair increasingly has echoes of the McCarthyism era in the United States in the 1950s, when free thinking liberals were put on trial for “un-American” activities.
The difference now is that it is not individuals being accused, but the Scottish nation and our government.
Now we learn that the Central Intelligence Agency had evidence that could have changed the course of the Camp Zeist trial, but was not presented. Why?
The stench of hypocrisy grows stronger by the day.
[A letter from James S MacDonald in The Scotsman reads as follows:]
With regards to your reports and letters over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, for the first time in my life, I plan to vote SNP at the next election. The reason being I was pleased with our First Minister for standing up to that vindictive race of people who live across the Atlantic.
I don't recall an inquiry when the Americans shot down an Iranian airliner full of innocent people. Nor do I hear them showing remorse for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed by their troops.
Perhaps the reason that Megrahi has survived longer than the prognosis is that the Libyan medical system is superior to ours.
Jail killed me a million times
Breaking his silence on the first anniversary of his release, the 58-year-old cancer sufferer said he was disgusted by those who effectively wanted him dead.
'They want to quicken my death. Is it up to me?' Abdelbaset Al Megrahi Megrahi told journalists in his home city of Tripoli.
'They killed me in prison a million times, denied as I was from seeing my children and family. So what more do they want from me?' (...)
Megrahi denies having anything to do with the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 in which 270 died.
He began his second year of freedom talking to friends in Scotland and watching British TV.
Megrahi sat up in bed in his home in front of a large plasma screen, surrounded by close family.
Despite having difficulty speaking, he managed a few words to telephone callers, but mainly exchanged greetings via email. Meanwhile, VIP friends including members of Colonel Gaddafi's family visited his two-storey villa, bringing gifts to mark the first anniversary of his release. (...)
Megrahi has not been seen in public since December but those who arrived at his house in Mercedes and BMW limousines reported that he was 'comfortable and surrounded by loved ones'.
'Brother Abdelbaset has been sat up in bed and keeping his mind active,' said one.
'He has friends in Scotland following his many years there and was talking with them.
'He misses certain people in Scotland, and was asking about the obvious things - the weather, that kind of thing. He wanted to know how Glasgow Rangers, his favourite football team, were doing.'
Among those visiting him was Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif, whose charitable foundation is bankrolling his cancer treatment.
Megrahi, who can now only walk with the aid of a stick, arrived home in Libya on August 20 last year. He is living with his wife, 48-year-old Aisha, and the couple's four sons and daughter.
Both Britain and the U.S. have started investing millions into Libya since Megrahi's release, with the North African country in turn pouring just as much into the UK.
[From a report in today's edition of the Daily Mail.]
'They want to quicken my death. Is it up to me?' Abdelbaset Al Megrahi Megrahi told journalists in his home city of Tripoli.
'They killed me in prison a million times, denied as I was from seeing my children and family. So what more do they want from me?' (...)
Megrahi denies having anything to do with the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 in which 270 died.
He began his second year of freedom talking to friends in Scotland and watching British TV.
Megrahi sat up in bed in his home in front of a large plasma screen, surrounded by close family.
Despite having difficulty speaking, he managed a few words to telephone callers, but mainly exchanged greetings via email. Meanwhile, VIP friends including members of Colonel Gaddafi's family visited his two-storey villa, bringing gifts to mark the first anniversary of his release. (...)
Megrahi has not been seen in public since December but those who arrived at his house in Mercedes and BMW limousines reported that he was 'comfortable and surrounded by loved ones'.
'Brother Abdelbaset has been sat up in bed and keeping his mind active,' said one.
'He has friends in Scotland following his many years there and was talking with them.
'He misses certain people in Scotland, and was asking about the obvious things - the weather, that kind of thing. He wanted to know how Glasgow Rangers, his favourite football team, were doing.'
Among those visiting him was Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif, whose charitable foundation is bankrolling his cancer treatment.
Megrahi, who can now only walk with the aid of a stick, arrived home in Libya on August 20 last year. He is living with his wife, 48-year-old Aisha, and the couple's four sons and daughter.
Both Britain and the U.S. have started investing millions into Libya since Megrahi's release, with the North African country in turn pouring just as much into the UK.
[From a report in today's edition of the Daily Mail.]
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Miscarriage of justice
This is the headline over an article in the Maltese newspaper The Sunday Times by Justice for Megrahi committee member Robert Forrester, based on the Address to the People and Government of Scotland. It can be read here.
Is it not sad that no Scottish Sunday newspaper has done the same? All credit, however, to Newsnet Scotland and to The Herald for their earlier coverage.
Is it not sad that no Scottish Sunday newspaper has done the same? All credit, however, to Newsnet Scotland and to The Herald for their earlier coverage.
Megrahi's conviction "entirely unsustainable"
The White House has told Scottish Ministers that they should return the Lockerbie bomber to jail in Scotland, amid fresh calls for a full public inquiry into his conviction and subsequent release.
John Brennan, counter-terrorism adviser to President Barack Obama, said Washington had expressed "strong conviction" to officials in Edinburgh over what he described as the "unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision" to free Abdelbaset Al Megrahi. (...)
But campaigners who believe in Megrahi's innocence are now arguing that the backlash over his freeing should not obscure more fundamental questions surrounding his conviction.
It came as it emerged that the Egyptian-born terrorist Mohammed Abu Talb - the man many suspect as the real figure behind the bomb - was released from jail in Sweden.
Michael Mansfield QC, one of the country's best-known defence lawyers, said a full judicial inquiry was required to settle the doubts over the case. Mansfield said he had no doubt that the evidence given to secure Megrahi's conviction was "entirely unsustainable".
[From a report in today's edition of Scotland on Sunday.
The same newspaper runs an opinion piece by Kenny Farquharson headlined "Scotland itself is in the dock" arguing that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice should go to Washington to testify on the compassionate release decision before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As is so often the case with Scotsman publications these days, the readers' comments are much more interesting than the article.]
John Brennan, counter-terrorism adviser to President Barack Obama, said Washington had expressed "strong conviction" to officials in Edinburgh over what he described as the "unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision" to free Abdelbaset Al Megrahi. (...)
But campaigners who believe in Megrahi's innocence are now arguing that the backlash over his freeing should not obscure more fundamental questions surrounding his conviction.
It came as it emerged that the Egyptian-born terrorist Mohammed Abu Talb - the man many suspect as the real figure behind the bomb - was released from jail in Sweden.
Michael Mansfield QC, one of the country's best-known defence lawyers, said a full judicial inquiry was required to settle the doubts over the case. Mansfield said he had no doubt that the evidence given to secure Megrahi's conviction was "entirely unsustainable".
[From a report in today's edition of Scotland on Sunday.
The same newspaper runs an opinion piece by Kenny Farquharson headlined "Scotland itself is in the dock" arguing that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice should go to Washington to testify on the compassionate release decision before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As is so often the case with Scotsman publications these days, the readers' comments are much more interesting than the article.]
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Address to the People and Government of Scotland
This is the title of an open letter issued by Justice for Megrahi calling upon the Scottish Government to set up an independent inquiry into:
• The Fatal Accident Inquiry into the downing of Pan Am 103.
• The police investigation of the tragedy.
• The subsequent Kamp van Zeist trial.
• The acquittal of Lamin Fhimah and conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
• The SCCRC’s referral of Mr al-Megrahi's case to the Court of Appeal.
• The dropping of this second appeal and the compassionate release of Mr al-Megrahi.
The full text of the address can be read here on the Newsnet Scotland website.
The list of signatories is as follows:
Ms Kate Adie (Former Chief News Correspondent for BBC News).
Mr John Ashton (Co-author of Cover-up of Convenience: The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie).
Mr David Benson (Actor and author of the play Lockerbie: Unfinished Business).
Mrs Jean Berkley (Mother of Alistair Berkley, who was killed on flight 103).
Mr Peter Biddulph (Lockerbie tragedy researcher).
Professor Robert Black QC (Commonly referred to as the architect of the Kamp van Zeist Trial).
Professor Noam Chomsky (Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and human rights commentator of international repute).
Mr Tam Dalyell (Member of Parliament: 1962 – 2005, Father of the House: 2001 – 2005).
Mr Ian Ferguson (Co-author of Cover-up of Convenience: The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie).
Mr Robert Forrester (‘Justice for Megrahi’ committee member).
Ms Christine Grahame (Member of the Scottish Parliament and justice campaigner).
Mr Ian Hislop (Editor of Private Eye: one of the UK’s most highly regarded journals of political comment).
Father Pat Keegans (Lockerbie Parish Priest at the time of the Pan Am 103 incident).
Mr Adam Larson (Editor, writer and proprietor of The Lockerbie Divide).
Mr Iain McKie (Retired Police Superintendent and justice campaigner).
Ms Heather Mills (Reporter for Private Eye specialising in matters relating to Pan Am flight 103).
Mr Charles Norrie (Brother of Tony Norrie, who died aboard UT-772 over Niger on 19th September 1989).
Mr Denis Phipps (Aviation security expert).
Mr John Pilger (Author and campaigning human rights journalist of world renown).
Mr Steven Raeburn (Editor of The Firm, one of Scotland’s foremost legal journals).
Mr James Robertson (Writer and author of the recently published And the Land Lay Still).
Doctor Jim Swire (Justice campaigner, Dr Swire’s daughter, Flora, was killed in the Pan Am 103 incident).
Sir Teddy Taylor (Former Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Member of Parliament from 1964 to 2005).
His Grace, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu (Defender of human rights worldwide, Nobel Peace Prize winner and headed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission).
[The writer A L Kennedy is the latest person to add her name to the list of signatories.]
• The Fatal Accident Inquiry into the downing of Pan Am 103.
• The police investigation of the tragedy.
• The subsequent Kamp van Zeist trial.
• The acquittal of Lamin Fhimah and conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
• The SCCRC’s referral of Mr al-Megrahi's case to the Court of Appeal.
• The dropping of this second appeal and the compassionate release of Mr al-Megrahi.
The full text of the address can be read here on the Newsnet Scotland website.
The list of signatories is as follows:
Ms Kate Adie (Former Chief News Correspondent for BBC News).
Mr John Ashton (Co-author of Cover-up of Convenience: The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie).
Mr David Benson (Actor and author of the play Lockerbie: Unfinished Business).
Mrs Jean Berkley (Mother of Alistair Berkley, who was killed on flight 103).
Mr Peter Biddulph (Lockerbie tragedy researcher).
Professor Robert Black QC (Commonly referred to as the architect of the Kamp van Zeist Trial).
Professor Noam Chomsky (Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and human rights commentator of international repute).
Mr Tam Dalyell (Member of Parliament: 1962 – 2005, Father of the House: 2001 – 2005).
Mr Ian Ferguson (Co-author of Cover-up of Convenience: The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie).
Mr Robert Forrester (‘Justice for Megrahi’ committee member).
Ms Christine Grahame (Member of the Scottish Parliament and justice campaigner).
Mr Ian Hislop (Editor of Private Eye: one of the UK’s most highly regarded journals of political comment).
Father Pat Keegans (Lockerbie Parish Priest at the time of the Pan Am 103 incident).
Mr Adam Larson (Editor, writer and proprietor of The Lockerbie Divide).
Mr Iain McKie (Retired Police Superintendent and justice campaigner).
Ms Heather Mills (Reporter for Private Eye specialising in matters relating to Pan Am flight 103).
Mr Charles Norrie (Brother of Tony Norrie, who died aboard UT-772 over Niger on 19th September 1989).
Mr Denis Phipps (Aviation security expert).
Mr John Pilger (Author and campaigning human rights journalist of world renown).
Mr Steven Raeburn (Editor of The Firm, one of Scotland’s foremost legal journals).
Mr James Robertson (Writer and author of the recently published And the Land Lay Still).
Doctor Jim Swire (Justice campaigner, Dr Swire’s daughter, Flora, was killed in the Pan Am 103 incident).
Sir Teddy Taylor (Former Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Member of Parliament from 1964 to 2005).
His Grace, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu (Defender of human rights worldwide, Nobel Peace Prize winner and headed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission).
[The writer A L Kennedy is the latest person to add her name to the list of signatories.]
Megrahi’s release was the correct decision made on humane, compassionate grounds
This is the heading over four letters published today in The Herald. They all support the release and some draw attention to the grave concerns that exist about the original conviction.
The Scotsman publishes three letters under the heading "Megrahi decision will not topple the SNP" of which two support the decision.
For a representative press account of the US call for Abdelbaset Megrahi to be returned to a Scottish prison, see the Daily Telegraph's "Lockerbie bombing: US calls for Megrahi to be returned to jail".
A good account of the US call and the Scottish Government's response can be read in the Financial Times article "Scots take firm stand over Megrahi".
The Scotsman publishes three letters under the heading "Megrahi decision will not topple the SNP" of which two support the decision.
For a representative press account of the US call for Abdelbaset Megrahi to be returned to a Scottish prison, see the Daily Telegraph's "Lockerbie bombing: US calls for Megrahi to be returned to jail".
A good account of the US call and the Scottish Government's response can be read in the Financial Times article "Scots take firm stand over Megrahi".
Why was terrorist Talb cleared over Lockerbie?
[This is the headline over an article by Lucy Adams in today's edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]
A convicted killer who many believe is the real Lockerbie bomber has been freed from prison in Sweden, prompting calls for a new investigation into Palestinian links to the atrocity.
Mohammed Abu Talb, who was serving a life sentence for other terror attacks in Copenhagen and Amsterdam using explosive devices, was the original suspect for the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 until 1990, when attention switched to Libya.
The Egyptian-born militant then served as a prosecution witness at the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, when he denied defence claims that he was the killer of the 270 people at Lockerbie in 1988.
However, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is understood to have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the case against Talb, who was allegedly funded by Iran to blow up the plane in revenge for the American cruiser USS Vincennes shooting an Iran Air flight out of the sky on July 3, 1988, killing 290 people.
On the first anniversary of Megrahi’s release yesterday, Swedish authorities confirmed publicly for the first time that Talb had been released from Malmo prison after serving 20 years.
Because his whereabouts is now unknown, and he is widely thought to have returned to the Middle East, campaigners who believe Megrahi has been unjustly treated are concerned that a key chance to interview Talb has been lost.
The Herald has previously revealed that Talb could be tried if Megrahi were to be formally cleared. An appeal against Megrahi’s conviction could still be mounted even after the death of the Libyan, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer.
Eddie MacKechnie, Megrahi’s solicitor from 2001-2006, said it was now time to refocus on what really happened, rather than obsessing about Megrahi’s early release. “There was more evidence at the time to implicate Talb and his associates than Megrahi,” he said. “I know that many police officers at the time were concerned that the investigation shifted to Libya when there was no evidence of Libyan involvement.
“The relatives deserve to know whether there has been a cover-up of any kind. We need to have a full and independent inquiry into what happened, and it needs to look at the Palestinian connection.”
Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Lockerbie trial, said: “I support Mr MacKechnie 100%. Clearly the Palestinian connection deserves to be looked at and a full inquiry needs to be held.”
A leading CIA figure also called for the Palestinian connection to be reinvestigated. Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East, told The Herald that an appeal or public inquiry was now needed. “I talked to the SCCRC and they were very clearly focussed on the Palestinians and the Iranian connection,” he said.
“There is no doubt that Abu Talb was an asset controlled by the Iranians and questions need to be asked about how he ended up as a prosecution witness. He was definitely not a reliable witness and what we need now is what the SCCRC report says, what intelligence there was, and what the connections were.”
The SCCRC report refers to the recovery of official records from various organisations in Italy. These are thought to relate to Talb, who travelled between Cyprus, Rome, Malta, and Frankfurt in the run-up to the bombing.
Evidence not heard at the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands has revealed that the CIA thought Talb was the man responsible, and that police found clothes, including a blue babygro similar to one found at Lockerbie, when they raided his flat in Germany.
Police also found a calendar with the date “21 December” circled. In addition, Talb’s wife was recorded in a wiretapped telephone call warning another unidentified Palestinian to “get rid of the clothes immediately”.
In May 1989, Talb was arrested in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. At Camp Zeist, defence counsel alleged the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, and the lesser-known Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, were responsible for the Lockerbie bombing. They said Talb was linked to both terrorist groups.
In his testimony, Talb told the court that he ended “all activities relating to Palestine at the end of 1982”. He was jailed along with three other men for the bombings in Denmark and the Netherlands, which killed one man and injured many others, but his life sentence was later commuted to 20 years.
[The release of Abu Talb from prison in Sweden was first reported on 18 October 2009 by Marcello Mega in an article in The Mail on Sunday.]
A convicted killer who many believe is the real Lockerbie bomber has been freed from prison in Sweden, prompting calls for a new investigation into Palestinian links to the atrocity.
Mohammed Abu Talb, who was serving a life sentence for other terror attacks in Copenhagen and Amsterdam using explosive devices, was the original suspect for the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 until 1990, when attention switched to Libya.
The Egyptian-born militant then served as a prosecution witness at the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, when he denied defence claims that he was the killer of the 270 people at Lockerbie in 1988.
However, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is understood to have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the case against Talb, who was allegedly funded by Iran to blow up the plane in revenge for the American cruiser USS Vincennes shooting an Iran Air flight out of the sky on July 3, 1988, killing 290 people.
On the first anniversary of Megrahi’s release yesterday, Swedish authorities confirmed publicly for the first time that Talb had been released from Malmo prison after serving 20 years.
Because his whereabouts is now unknown, and he is widely thought to have returned to the Middle East, campaigners who believe Megrahi has been unjustly treated are concerned that a key chance to interview Talb has been lost.
The Herald has previously revealed that Talb could be tried if Megrahi were to be formally cleared. An appeal against Megrahi’s conviction could still be mounted even after the death of the Libyan, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer.
Eddie MacKechnie, Megrahi’s solicitor from 2001-2006, said it was now time to refocus on what really happened, rather than obsessing about Megrahi’s early release. “There was more evidence at the time to implicate Talb and his associates than Megrahi,” he said. “I know that many police officers at the time were concerned that the investigation shifted to Libya when there was no evidence of Libyan involvement.
“The relatives deserve to know whether there has been a cover-up of any kind. We need to have a full and independent inquiry into what happened, and it needs to look at the Palestinian connection.”
Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Lockerbie trial, said: “I support Mr MacKechnie 100%. Clearly the Palestinian connection deserves to be looked at and a full inquiry needs to be held.”
A leading CIA figure also called for the Palestinian connection to be reinvestigated. Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East, told The Herald that an appeal or public inquiry was now needed. “I talked to the SCCRC and they were very clearly focussed on the Palestinians and the Iranian connection,” he said.
“There is no doubt that Abu Talb was an asset controlled by the Iranians and questions need to be asked about how he ended up as a prosecution witness. He was definitely not a reliable witness and what we need now is what the SCCRC report says, what intelligence there was, and what the connections were.”
The SCCRC report refers to the recovery of official records from various organisations in Italy. These are thought to relate to Talb, who travelled between Cyprus, Rome, Malta, and Frankfurt in the run-up to the bombing.
Evidence not heard at the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands has revealed that the CIA thought Talb was the man responsible, and that police found clothes, including a blue babygro similar to one found at Lockerbie, when they raided his flat in Germany.
Police also found a calendar with the date “21 December” circled. In addition, Talb’s wife was recorded in a wiretapped telephone call warning another unidentified Palestinian to “get rid of the clothes immediately”.
In May 1989, Talb was arrested in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. At Camp Zeist, defence counsel alleged the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, and the lesser-known Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, were responsible for the Lockerbie bombing. They said Talb was linked to both terrorist groups.
In his testimony, Talb told the court that he ended “all activities relating to Palestine at the end of 1982”. He was jailed along with three other men for the bombings in Denmark and the Netherlands, which killed one man and injured many others, but his life sentence was later commuted to 20 years.
[The release of Abu Talb from prison in Sweden was first reported on 18 October 2009 by Marcello Mega in an article in The Mail on Sunday.]
Visiting time ...
This is the heading given by Martin Rowson to his cartoon in today's edition of The Guardian. It can be viewed here. The readers' comments that follow it are worth reading.
Friday, 20 August 2010
Salmond: 'nothing to hide' on Megrahi release
[This is the headline over a report on the Channel 4 News website. It reads in part:]
First Minister Alex Salmond told Channel 4 News that Scotland had "nothing to hide" in the 22-year period since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, when a US plane blew up over the Scottish town, killing 270 people.
He also defended the decision, taken one year ago, to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. (...)
Mr Salmond said that he had received a letter from four US senators today which raised the issue again of commercial interests motivating al-Megrahi's release. (...)
Mr Salmond said: "I had a letter today which, despite all the evidence to the contrary, despite everyone knowing the Scottish government's vigorous public and private opposition to the prisoner transfer agreement with Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi and all of that stuff, claims of deals with BP and the rest of it...to get a letter from people who suggest that we were somehow involved in that is simply incredible." (...)
The US senators want to hold their own inquiry amid concerns that al-Megrahi's release was tied to a BP oil deal with Libya - a suggestion that has been strongly denied by all parties involved.
There have also been renewed calls for an inquiry into the 2001 conviction itself, with pressure group Justice for Megrahi claiming he may have been the victim of a "spectacular miscarriage of justice."
Mr Salmond said that, if there were to be any international inquiry into the al-Megrahi case by an independent authority such as the United Nations, his country and his government would co-operate fully.
"If there was to be an international inquiry into this case, then of course the Scottish government would fully co-operate. We have nothing to fear and nothing to hide in the way we have conducted this case under Scottish jurisdiction over the last 20 years," he said.
He also backed the original decision of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, based on the medical report from Dr Andrew Fraser, to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
"Any doctor can only judge the patient in front of him," he said. "Al-Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer and he will die of that condition...Most people will know from their own experience of people who have contracted cancer where they have exceeded their life expectancy prognosis, and lived for longer."
First Minister Alex Salmond told Channel 4 News that Scotland had "nothing to hide" in the 22-year period since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, when a US plane blew up over the Scottish town, killing 270 people.
He also defended the decision, taken one year ago, to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. (...)
Mr Salmond said that he had received a letter from four US senators today which raised the issue again of commercial interests motivating al-Megrahi's release. (...)
Mr Salmond said: "I had a letter today which, despite all the evidence to the contrary, despite everyone knowing the Scottish government's vigorous public and private opposition to the prisoner transfer agreement with Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi and all of that stuff, claims of deals with BP and the rest of it...to get a letter from people who suggest that we were somehow involved in that is simply incredible." (...)
The US senators want to hold their own inquiry amid concerns that al-Megrahi's release was tied to a BP oil deal with Libya - a suggestion that has been strongly denied by all parties involved.
There have also been renewed calls for an inquiry into the 2001 conviction itself, with pressure group Justice for Megrahi claiming he may have been the victim of a "spectacular miscarriage of justice."
Mr Salmond said that, if there were to be any international inquiry into the al-Megrahi case by an independent authority such as the United Nations, his country and his government would co-operate fully.
"If there was to be an international inquiry into this case, then of course the Scottish government would fully co-operate. We have nothing to fear and nothing to hide in the way we have conducted this case under Scottish jurisdiction over the last 20 years," he said.
He also backed the original decision of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, based on the medical report from Dr Andrew Fraser, to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
"Any doctor can only judge the patient in front of him," he said. "Al-Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer and he will die of that condition...Most people will know from their own experience of people who have contracted cancer where they have exceeded their life expectancy prognosis, and lived for longer."
They're still at it!
A group of US senators says a "cloud of suspicion" still hangs over the release a year ago of the man responsible for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Senator Robert Menendez called on Britain and Scotland to answer a number of "outstanding questions" over the case of Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi. (...)
Mr Menendez said that one year on, there was "anger and frustration" in the US that Megrahi was "still very much alive and very much free".
The BBC's Matthew Price, in New York, says the senators want "more information on the medical opinions that led to the conclusion that Megrahi had just three months to live and details on communications between BP and the British government".
Their move follows an earlier decision by the Scottish government not to send officials to a hearing in Washington.
[From a report on the BBC News website. A fuller report by The Press Association news agency can be read here.
Justice for Megrahi at the end of July invited the four senators to lend their support to a full inquiry into the Lockerbie case -- the circumstances in which Abdelbaset Megrahi was convicted as well as the circumstances in which he was released. Answer came there none.
The Scottish Government has up to now responded to these grandstanding clowns with impeccable -- if somewhat strained -- courtesy. The gloves should now come off.
A press release from the Scottish National Party headed "Questions for US Senate over Libya deal" provides details of major US oil companies' lobbying of the US Senate in relation to the treatment of Libya. Christine Grahame MSP is qoted as saying:
"I do not doubt the Senators care and concern for the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing and I share their desire to get to the truth over the bombing but would urge them to join me in backing a full international inquiry into the atrocity. Their hypocrisy in making allegations against the Scottish Government when they themselves have acted in favour of US oil and Libyan Government lobbying is deeply distasteful."]
Senator Robert Menendez called on Britain and Scotland to answer a number of "outstanding questions" over the case of Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi. (...)
Mr Menendez said that one year on, there was "anger and frustration" in the US that Megrahi was "still very much alive and very much free".
The BBC's Matthew Price, in New York, says the senators want "more information on the medical opinions that led to the conclusion that Megrahi had just three months to live and details on communications between BP and the British government".
Their move follows an earlier decision by the Scottish government not to send officials to a hearing in Washington.
[From a report on the BBC News website. A fuller report by The Press Association news agency can be read here.
Justice for Megrahi at the end of July invited the four senators to lend their support to a full inquiry into the Lockerbie case -- the circumstances in which Abdelbaset Megrahi was convicted as well as the circumstances in which he was released. Answer came there none.
The Scottish Government has up to now responded to these grandstanding clowns with impeccable -- if somewhat strained -- courtesy. The gloves should now come off.
A press release from the Scottish National Party headed "Questions for US Senate over Libya deal" provides details of major US oil companies' lobbying of the US Senate in relation to the treatment of Libya. Christine Grahame MSP is qoted as saying:
"I do not doubt the Senators care and concern for the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing and I share their desire to get to the truth over the bombing but would urge them to join me in backing a full international inquiry into the atrocity. Their hypocrisy in making allegations against the Scottish Government when they themselves have acted in favour of US oil and Libyan Government lobbying is deeply distasteful."]
Five questions about the Lockerbie bomber's release
[This is the headline over an article just published on the website of Time magazine. The last three questions are as follows:]
Did Scottish officials persuade Al-Megrahi to drop his legal appeal before going home?
With no explanation, Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal against his conviction shortly before he was freed. Some relatives of Lockerbie victims suspect Scottish officials might have persuaded Al-Megrahi to end his appeal — possibly in exchange for a smoother release — perhaps to avoid raising potentially embarrassing questions about the original trial, held in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in 2001 and 2002. "Most of us [relatives of Lockerbie victims] here feel that there is something extremely murky, which the US and British governments don't want to come out," John Mosey, a British pastor whose 19-year-old daughter died aboard the Pan Am plane, tells Time. Jim Swire, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed in the Lockerbie attack, says Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill did something "very unwise. He went to see Al-Megrahi in prison ... then Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal, and then MacAskill decided to send him home." Swire, who has fought a long campaign to reveal the truth behind the Lockerbie attack, says that suggests possible persuasion. But, so far, there's no proof of any.
Could Al-Megrahi have been innocent?
US Senators are not aiming for a retrial, but they might focus on the controversies surrounding Al-Megrahi's imprisonment. Swire, Mosey, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy to the Lockerbie trial, Austrian law professor Hans Köchler, are among those who have long argued that the trial leading to Al-Megrahi's conviction was deeply flawed. In 2007, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, a publicly funded body that investigates possible wrongful convictions, issued an 800-page report listing several grounds for an appeal by Al-Megrahi, including inconsistencies in the testimony of the key prosecution witness and the existence of CIA documents about the Swiss-made timer for the bomb, which defense lawyers had not seen. So far, the full report has not been released publicly.
How is Al-Megrahi still alive?
This is hardly something on which the US Senate will focus, but at least one survivor of the Lockerbie victims is curious as to how Libya's doctors have kept Al-Megrahi alive in Tripoli. Swire, a British medical doctor, says he studied survival rates for cancer patients with conditions similar to Al-Megrahi's and concluded that only about 10% of them could live this long. "He was regarded as hopeless," he says. Al-Megrahi's survival suggests that Libya might have used start-of-the-art medicine on him. "If there is some new technology which has been offered to him it would be good to know," he says. "It is very, very encouraging in terms of medicine." Although surely not so encouraging for those who, predicting his quick demise, sent him home one year ago.
Did Scottish officials persuade Al-Megrahi to drop his legal appeal before going home?
With no explanation, Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal against his conviction shortly before he was freed. Some relatives of Lockerbie victims suspect Scottish officials might have persuaded Al-Megrahi to end his appeal — possibly in exchange for a smoother release — perhaps to avoid raising potentially embarrassing questions about the original trial, held in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in 2001 and 2002. "Most of us [relatives of Lockerbie victims] here feel that there is something extremely murky, which the US and British governments don't want to come out," John Mosey, a British pastor whose 19-year-old daughter died aboard the Pan Am plane, tells Time. Jim Swire, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed in the Lockerbie attack, says Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill did something "very unwise. He went to see Al-Megrahi in prison ... then Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal, and then MacAskill decided to send him home." Swire, who has fought a long campaign to reveal the truth behind the Lockerbie attack, says that suggests possible persuasion. But, so far, there's no proof of any.
Could Al-Megrahi have been innocent?
US Senators are not aiming for a retrial, but they might focus on the controversies surrounding Al-Megrahi's imprisonment. Swire, Mosey, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy to the Lockerbie trial, Austrian law professor Hans Köchler, are among those who have long argued that the trial leading to Al-Megrahi's conviction was deeply flawed. In 2007, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, a publicly funded body that investigates possible wrongful convictions, issued an 800-page report listing several grounds for an appeal by Al-Megrahi, including inconsistencies in the testimony of the key prosecution witness and the existence of CIA documents about the Swiss-made timer for the bomb, which defense lawyers had not seen. So far, the full report has not been released publicly.
How is Al-Megrahi still alive?
This is hardly something on which the US Senate will focus, but at least one survivor of the Lockerbie victims is curious as to how Libya's doctors have kept Al-Megrahi alive in Tripoli. Swire, a British medical doctor, says he studied survival rates for cancer patients with conditions similar to Al-Megrahi's and concluded that only about 10% of them could live this long. "He was regarded as hopeless," he says. Al-Megrahi's survival suggests that Libya might have used start-of-the-art medicine on him. "If there is some new technology which has been offered to him it would be good to know," he says. "It is very, very encouraging in terms of medicine." Although surely not so encouraging for those who, predicting his quick demise, sent him home one year ago.
'Lockerbie: Unfinished Business' shortlisted for Amnesty Freedom of Expression award
Amnesty International today added Roadkill and Lockerbie: Unfinished Business to the shortlist for its Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe. The award, given to an outstanding play carrying a human rights message, will be presented on Thursday 26 August. (...)
Lockerbie: Unfinished Business, written & performed by David Benson and directed by Hannah Eidinov, is also based on a true story, this time of Jim Swire, father and justice campaigner. Performed at the Gilded Balloon Teviot, the play follows his quest for the truth after the death of his daughter in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Freedom of Expression Award judge Stephanie Knight said of Lockerbie: Unfinished Business:
“David Benson gives a well-crafted, commanding performance which has powerful moments of intensity as the audience awaits each development and discovery of Jim Swire’s. It is a thoroughly researched piece that underscores the integrity of a father and justice campaigner whose intelligent reasoning leads to the conclusion that justice is yet to be achieved.”
[From a report on the Amnesty International website.
A stellar review of the play can be read here on the Edinburgh Guide website.]
Lockerbie: Unfinished Business, written & performed by David Benson and directed by Hannah Eidinov, is also based on a true story, this time of Jim Swire, father and justice campaigner. Performed at the Gilded Balloon Teviot, the play follows his quest for the truth after the death of his daughter in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Freedom of Expression Award judge Stephanie Knight said of Lockerbie: Unfinished Business:
“David Benson gives a well-crafted, commanding performance which has powerful moments of intensity as the audience awaits each development and discovery of Jim Swire’s. It is a thoroughly researched piece that underscores the integrity of a father and justice campaigner whose intelligent reasoning leads to the conclusion that justice is yet to be achieved.”
[From a report on the Amnesty International website.
A stellar review of the play can be read here on the Edinburgh Guide website.]
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