A report in today's edition of The Scotsman predicts that the convener of the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee will be Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart. The remainder of the membership of the committee will be chosen today, once the Parliament has agreed to motion S4M-00165:
"Name of Committee: Public Petitions
"Remit: Set out in Rule 6.10
"Number of members: 7
"Convenership: The Convener will be a member of the Scottish Labour Party and the Deputy Convener will be a member of the Scottish National Party."
The deputy convener is to be the SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Sandra White.
Among the business bequeathed to the new Public Petitions Committee is the Justice for Megrahi petition, PE 1370.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Megrahi's solicitor on threat to UK Supreme Court
[The following are excerpts from a report in today's edition of The Herald:]
Kenny MacAskill wants to cancel Scottish funding for the UK Supreme Court.
The Justice Secretary has ordered civil servants to investigate whether the Scottish Government can pull the financial plug on Britain’s most senior justices over what he sees as the threat they pose to centuries-old Scots Law.
Scotland currently contributes just under £500,000 a year to the London-based court but it is far from clear if the Scottish Government could stop its cheque.
The unprecedented threat to do so underlines just how angry Mr MacAskill is over two humiliating defeats at the UK Supreme Court, including last week’s decision to overturn the conviction of Nat Fraser for murdering his wife Arlene. (...)
Some lawyers last night warned that Mr MacAskill, an experienced defence solicitor, was risking a major constitutional crisis just by giving the impression of trying to undermine the finances of the UK Supreme Court.
Professor Tony Kelly, who acted for human rights group Justice in backing the Cadder appeal, said: “This is a politician interfering with the judicial branch of government. That is simply constitutionally impermissible. [RB: Tony Kelly is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde.]
“It’s an attack on judicial independence which we have never seen the like of in the UK. We have a politician issuing threats against a court because he does not like its decisions.”
Mr Kelly added: “I don’t see any evidence that the Supreme Court has committed any grievous error. If there were English judges importing English doctrines into Scots Law, I am sure there would be a raft of evidence for Nationalist politicians. But there isn’t.”
Solicitor-advocate John Scott said he did not believe withdrawing funding from the Supreme Court would have any impact on the court’s jurisdiction over Scottish matters.
He said: “This is just political tub-thumping. It is a bit like somebody withholding part of their taxes because they don’t want to pay for nuclear weapons. It doesn’t work like that.”
Kenny MacAskill wants to cancel Scottish funding for the UK Supreme Court.
The Justice Secretary has ordered civil servants to investigate whether the Scottish Government can pull the financial plug on Britain’s most senior justices over what he sees as the threat they pose to centuries-old Scots Law.
Scotland currently contributes just under £500,000 a year to the London-based court but it is far from clear if the Scottish Government could stop its cheque.
The unprecedented threat to do so underlines just how angry Mr MacAskill is over two humiliating defeats at the UK Supreme Court, including last week’s decision to overturn the conviction of Nat Fraser for murdering his wife Arlene. (...)
Some lawyers last night warned that Mr MacAskill, an experienced defence solicitor, was risking a major constitutional crisis just by giving the impression of trying to undermine the finances of the UK Supreme Court.
Professor Tony Kelly, who acted for human rights group Justice in backing the Cadder appeal, said: “This is a politician interfering with the judicial branch of government. That is simply constitutionally impermissible. [RB: Tony Kelly is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde.]
“It’s an attack on judicial independence which we have never seen the like of in the UK. We have a politician issuing threats against a court because he does not like its decisions.”
Mr Kelly added: “I don’t see any evidence that the Supreme Court has committed any grievous error. If there were English judges importing English doctrines into Scots Law, I am sure there would be a raft of evidence for Nationalist politicians. But there isn’t.”
Solicitor-advocate John Scott said he did not believe withdrawing funding from the Supreme Court would have any impact on the court’s jurisdiction over Scottish matters.
He said: “This is just political tub-thumping. It is a bit like somebody withholding part of their taxes because they don’t want to pay for nuclear weapons. It doesn’t work like that.”
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
A milestone
In the period of just under three years and eight months since I started recording statistics for this blog, there have been a quarter of a million visits. Currently there are well over 6000 visits a month from over 3000 unique visitors. It is my ambition that an independent inquiry into the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi will be launched before we reach the half million mark.
Monday, 30 May 2011
A review of Lockerbie - Unfinished Business at Langholm
[I am grateful to journalist Carol Hogarth for allowing me to post this review of the Langholm performance of David Benson's play:]
Having been in the audience for David Benson's play at the Buccleuch Centre in Langholm last night, and knowing others who saw it at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries last week, I just wanted to let you both know how well it has been received in this area. Last night's audience ... was gripped and visibly moved by what they saw and heard, and the Q&A and discussion after the interval could have gone on all night.
Some fascinating stories and information came from the audience. I know there are many in this area who are reluctant to talk about the disaster now, but clearly there are still some who feel willing and able to.
Even for someone like me who, as a local journalist, has tried to follow the story closely for more than 20 years, seeing and hearing the evidence presented in such a clear and compelling manner was extremely thought provoking. Benson's skill at having balanced the heavy weight history with the truly personal is an incredible achievement.
I wish I'd seen more local politicians and media representatives in the audience - or perhaps they all saw it in Edinburgh last summer, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt!
Having been in the audience for David Benson's play at the Buccleuch Centre in Langholm last night, and knowing others who saw it at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries last week, I just wanted to let you both know how well it has been received in this area. Last night's audience ... was gripped and visibly moved by what they saw and heard, and the Q&A and discussion after the interval could have gone on all night.
Some fascinating stories and information came from the audience. I know there are many in this area who are reluctant to talk about the disaster now, but clearly there are still some who feel willing and able to.
Even for someone like me who, as a local journalist, has tried to follow the story closely for more than 20 years, seeing and hearing the evidence presented in such a clear and compelling manner was extremely thought provoking. Benson's skill at having balanced the heavy weight history with the truly personal is an incredible achievement.
I wish I'd seen more local politicians and media representatives in the audience - or perhaps they all saw it in Edinburgh last summer, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt!
Message from "Moussa"
From: koumossa@gmail.com
Dear Friend,
I am Moussa Koussa former Libyan foreign minister.l have a transaction of $44,500,000m to bring to your attention if only you would be interested, kindly respond to this email: koumossa@gmail.com for more details. $44.5m.
Thank.
Moussa Koussa.
[The above is the text of an e-mail that I have just received. It distresses me that Moussa Koussa, whom I have met six or seven times, does not appear to remember my name.]
Dear Friend,
I am Moussa Koussa former Libyan foreign minister.l have a transaction of $44,500,000m to bring to your attention if only you would be interested, kindly respond to this email: koumossa@gmail.com for more details. $44.5m.
Thank.
Moussa Koussa.
[The above is the text of an e-mail that I have just received. It distresses me that Moussa Koussa, whom I have met six or seven times, does not appear to remember my name.]
Camp Zeist a "pantomime"
[What follows is a paragraph from an editorial in yesterday's edition of Scotland on Sunday:]
Why has Gaddafi suddenly become Britain's public enemy number one? Historically, he clearly merited that title by arming the IRA. Gaddafi's Semtex was used in the Harrods bombing in 1983, the Enniskillen bomb in 1987 and the Omagh outrage as recently as 1998; those attacks killed 46 people. Nearer home, the Lockerbie bombing murdered 270 innocent travellers, crew and Scottish residents. Yet at no point did Britain try to overthrow or kill Gaddafi. Appeasement was the order of the day, as when Scottish justice was put through the pantomime of setting up an offshore court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, at a cost to taxpayers of £60m, to try Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, later released to Tripoli in a similar climate of conciliation.
[There's really nothing like journalistic oversimplification, is there? It's clearly not just the Scottish criminal justice system that's in need of rigorous overhaul.]
Why has Gaddafi suddenly become Britain's public enemy number one? Historically, he clearly merited that title by arming the IRA. Gaddafi's Semtex was used in the Harrods bombing in 1983, the Enniskillen bomb in 1987 and the Omagh outrage as recently as 1998; those attacks killed 46 people. Nearer home, the Lockerbie bombing murdered 270 innocent travellers, crew and Scottish residents. Yet at no point did Britain try to overthrow or kill Gaddafi. Appeasement was the order of the day, as when Scottish justice was put through the pantomime of setting up an offshore court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, at a cost to taxpayers of £60m, to try Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, later released to Tripoli in a similar climate of conciliation.
[There's really nothing like journalistic oversimplification, is there? It's clearly not just the Scottish criminal justice system that's in need of rigorous overhaul.]
Sunday, 29 May 2011
"Why is the US fighting so hard to silence Megrahi?"
[Over the past twenty-four hours, a substantial number of visitors to this blog have come via the Daily Paul website, which describes itself as "inspired by Ron Paul" US Republican congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas and the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party movement. The item on the website reads as follows:]
Is Obama's trip to Britain tied to damning Lockerbie legislation? Why is the US fighting so hard to silence Megrahi?
Current Events
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/snp-plans-law-change-over-lockerbie-files-2284523.html
We did see the same thing when India was wanting to extradite [David] Headley, Obama made a trip to India.
Another excellent account from an insider who helped orchestrate the trial, Robert Black:
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/
Is Obama's trip to Britain tied to damning Lockerbie legislation? Why is the US fighting so hard to silence Megrahi?
Current Events
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/snp-plans-law-change-over-lockerbie-files-2284523.html
We did see the same thing when India was wanting to extradite [David] Headley, Obama made a trip to India.
Another excellent account from an insider who helped orchestrate the trial, Robert Black:
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.com/
A review of Lockerbie - Unfinished Business at Dumfries
[The following is taken from an item posted yesterday on Tootlepedal's Blog.]
In the evening, we went to the Buccleuch Centre for the third time in two days, this time to see a one man play. It was a very well researched play based on the experiences of Jim Swire who has been campaigning for many years to get, at the very least, an enquiry into the Lockerbie disaster that is actually making some effort to arrive at the truth unlike the rather farcical trial that was held. It was a very well judged piece of work and well acted. I had not known what to expect at all but I found it very moving and at the same time intensely enraging. It has been very hard over the past two years to see pontificating politicians and journalists referring to Al Megrahi as a mass murderer when it is fairly plain that he wasn’t the perpetrator of the crime at all and this play just reminded you of how poorly the whole affair reflects on Britain in general and Scottish Justice in particular. Not to mention the Americans.
In the evening, we went to the Buccleuch Centre for the third time in two days, this time to see a one man play. It was a very well researched play based on the experiences of Jim Swire who has been campaigning for many years to get, at the very least, an enquiry into the Lockerbie disaster that is actually making some effort to arrive at the truth unlike the rather farcical trial that was held. It was a very well judged piece of work and well acted. I had not known what to expect at all but I found it very moving and at the same time intensely enraging. It has been very hard over the past two years to see pontificating politicians and journalists referring to Al Megrahi as a mass murderer when it is fairly plain that he wasn’t the perpetrator of the crime at all and this play just reminded you of how poorly the whole affair reflects on Britain in general and Scottish Justice in particular. Not to mention the Americans.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Instinctive hostility
[The following is a paragraph from a letter in today's edition of The Scotsman about the First Minister's reaction to Nat Fraser's successful appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The same comment could with justice be made in relation to the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi.]
When the merits of the Scottish legal system are questioned (internally or externally) Scotland's legal hierarchy and its nationalist politicians respond with an almost instinctive hostility that immediately obscures the rational basis of any external scrutiny that overturns a decision by the Scottish courts.
[Two interesting letters on the same subject appear in today's edition of The Herald under the heading It’s right to be proud of Scots law but justice must come first.]
When the merits of the Scottish legal system are questioned (internally or externally) Scotland's legal hierarchy and its nationalist politicians respond with an almost instinctive hostility that immediately obscures the rational basis of any external scrutiny that overturns a decision by the Scottish courts.
[Two interesting letters on the same subject appear in today's edition of The Herald under the heading It’s right to be proud of Scots law but justice must come first.]
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Making curiosity uncool…
[This is the heading over an item posted today on bensix's blog Back Towards The Locus. It contains the following:]
I’ve noted how media critics of “conspiracy theories” aren’t just opposed to grandiose, unfounded claims but to suspicion of official or quasi-official narratives. Here are some notes on how the charge of “conspiracy theory” works to discredit this scepticism.
For example, with regards to the Pan Am attack, Geoffrey Robertson wasted no time in dismissing sceptics of Megrahi’s guilt…
"If Megrahi was guilty of the Lockerbie bombing (and, conspiracy theories aside, the evidence justified the verdict), then Gaddafi must have given the order…"
I will say this for Robertson: he’s remarkably efficient. What’s the point of explaining the biased procedure, dodgy witnesses and meager evidence of the prosecution when you can dismiss all scepticism as the work of minor nutjobs?
[RB: Quite. Minor nutjobs like Benedict Birnberg, Ian Hamilton QC, Hans Koechler, Anthony Lester QC, Len Murray, Gareth Peirce and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, to name but a few.]
I’ve noted how media critics of “conspiracy theories” aren’t just opposed to grandiose, unfounded claims but to suspicion of official or quasi-official narratives. Here are some notes on how the charge of “conspiracy theory” works to discredit this scepticism.
For example, with regards to the Pan Am attack, Geoffrey Robertson wasted no time in dismissing sceptics of Megrahi’s guilt…
"If Megrahi was guilty of the Lockerbie bombing (and, conspiracy theories aside, the evidence justified the verdict), then Gaddafi must have given the order…"
I will say this for Robertson: he’s remarkably efficient. What’s the point of explaining the biased procedure, dodgy witnesses and meager evidence of the prosecution when you can dismiss all scepticism as the work of minor nutjobs?
[RB: Quite. Minor nutjobs like Benedict Birnberg, Ian Hamilton QC, Hans Koechler, Anthony Lester QC, Len Murray, Gareth Peirce and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, to name but a few.]
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
The Truth Never Dies by Charles Albert Booth
This is the title of a recently-published book on the Lockerbie disaster. It is described on, and can be ordered through, this website. An interview with the author can be read here.
Blair spinning again on Pan Am 103
[This is the headline over a report published today on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm. The first paragraph reads as follows:]
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has refused to address criticisms made by solicitor Gareth Peirce of his role in the repatriation of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, but has instead issued a two year old “response“ to The Firm on the basis that “none of the facts have changed”.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has refused to address criticisms made by solicitor Gareth Peirce of his role in the repatriation of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, but has instead issued a two year old “response“ to The Firm on the basis that “none of the facts have changed”.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Gareth Peirce: “layers and layers of deceit” in Pan Am 103 case
[Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm has just published on its website a long interview with Gareth Peirce, the solicitor for the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, and a related news item. What follows is an excerpt from the latter.]
Peirce says that the construction and maintenance of the discredited case against Megrahi has required active participation from those at all levels of the criminal justice system, with both tacit and overt support from the top of the political hierarchy.
“In the most notorious cases, everyone played their part, absolutely everybody,” she says.
“A big part of the blame lies within those who form the criminal justice system. It looks as if in the prosecution of the Lockerbie case, the defendants met the same fate, even to the extent of the same personnel featuring, in the person of the forensic scientists.”
The principal forensic analyst, Thomas Hayes, employed by the Crown to testify against Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was the same discredited analyst who was proven to have fabricated his evidence in the manufactured case against the Guildford Four.
He and Alan Feraday testified that the key forensic evidence, a fragment of circuit board, survived the explosion of Pan Am 103 and left traces of clothing connected to a shop in Malta. The owners of that shop provided the identification of Megrahi to the court, and were later found to have been paid in millions of dollars for their testimony. This testimony has been widely discredited by EU explosives consultant John Wyatt and others who claim that such an thing is not possible in physics.
“That was the most shocking revelation to me,” Peirce says.
“Exactly the same forensic scientists who produced the wrongful conviction of Guiseppe Conlon, the Maguire family and of Danny McNamee, and had been stood down for the role they played. Yet here they were. Without them, there wouldn’t have been a prosecution, far less a conviction in Lockerbie.
“What shocked me most was that I thought that all that had been gone through on Guildford and Birmingham, the one thing that had been achieved was that nobody would be convicted again on bad science. But yet in the Lockerbie case, it isn’t just the same bad science, it is the same bad scientists.”
In July 2007 former MEBO employee Ulrich Lumpert swore an affidavit claiming that he had manufactured the crucial circuit board evidence and passed it to named individuals charged with investigating the Pan Am 103 case during 1989.
“All of this is screaming out for an inquiry. The ingredients that make up the prosecution’s case are really so rotten. They can’t and they shouldn’t sustain the weight of a presumed safe finding. You can see that they are utterly contaminated. They have no integrity. The forensic findings lack all the ingredients that should make them safe. The continuity of exhibits is all over the place. The only other pillar on which it is held up is this non-identification. It is just a catastrophe. The whole edifice is rotten, and it is astonishing it was ever stood up in the first place.”
Peirce says that the construction and maintenance of the discredited case against Megrahi has required active participation from those at all levels of the criminal justice system, with both tacit and overt support from the top of the political hierarchy.
“In the most notorious cases, everyone played their part, absolutely everybody,” she says.
“A big part of the blame lies within those who form the criminal justice system. It looks as if in the prosecution of the Lockerbie case, the defendants met the same fate, even to the extent of the same personnel featuring, in the person of the forensic scientists.”
The principal forensic analyst, Thomas Hayes, employed by the Crown to testify against Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was the same discredited analyst who was proven to have fabricated his evidence in the manufactured case against the Guildford Four.
He and Alan Feraday testified that the key forensic evidence, a fragment of circuit board, survived the explosion of Pan Am 103 and left traces of clothing connected to a shop in Malta. The owners of that shop provided the identification of Megrahi to the court, and were later found to have been paid in millions of dollars for their testimony. This testimony has been widely discredited by EU explosives consultant John Wyatt and others who claim that such an thing is not possible in physics.
“That was the most shocking revelation to me,” Peirce says.
“Exactly the same forensic scientists who produced the wrongful conviction of Guiseppe Conlon, the Maguire family and of Danny McNamee, and had been stood down for the role they played. Yet here they were. Without them, there wouldn’t have been a prosecution, far less a conviction in Lockerbie.
“What shocked me most was that I thought that all that had been gone through on Guildford and Birmingham, the one thing that had been achieved was that nobody would be convicted again on bad science. But yet in the Lockerbie case, it isn’t just the same bad science, it is the same bad scientists.”
In July 2007 former MEBO employee Ulrich Lumpert swore an affidavit claiming that he had manufactured the crucial circuit board evidence and passed it to named individuals charged with investigating the Pan Am 103 case during 1989.
“All of this is screaming out for an inquiry. The ingredients that make up the prosecution’s case are really so rotten. They can’t and they shouldn’t sustain the weight of a presumed safe finding. You can see that they are utterly contaminated. They have no integrity. The forensic findings lack all the ingredients that should make them safe. The continuity of exhibits is all over the place. The only other pillar on which it is held up is this non-identification. It is just a catastrophe. The whole edifice is rotten, and it is astonishing it was ever stood up in the first place.”
A sobering reflection
I gained thirty-five new Twitter followers (@rblackqc) in under 24 hours by twittering yesterday on the (non)applicability of English injunctions in Scotland (and incidentally on the arrogance and ignorance of English lawyers) rather than my usual subjects of the Lockerbie case and the wrongful conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi. How sad is that?
Sunday, 22 May 2011
London Councillor asks every MSP to back Pan Am 103 inquiry
[This is the headline over an exclusive report on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm. It reads as follows:]
A London Councillor has contacted every new MSP in the Holyrood Parliament requesting them to endorse the public inquiry into the Pan Am 103 debacle called for by the Justice for Megrahi Committee.
Councillor David Durant, who represents the city's borough of Havering, called on MSPs to "help the search for truth and prove your Parliament is worthy of the name Parliament by supporting this petition."
The petition has been placed into the legacy papers and will be heard for an unprecedented fourth time before the newly constituted Petitons Committee.
"There was never a public inquiry into Lockerbie, but one day the truth will be told. Perhaps sooner than expected following the stunning SNP victory in May?" Durant writes.
"The Public Petitions Committee will soon discuss PE1370 Justice for Megrahi and MSPs can help the search for truth and prove your Parliament is worthy of the name Parliament by supporting this petition."
A London Councillor has contacted every new MSP in the Holyrood Parliament requesting them to endorse the public inquiry into the Pan Am 103 debacle called for by the Justice for Megrahi Committee.
Councillor David Durant, who represents the city's borough of Havering, called on MSPs to "help the search for truth and prove your Parliament is worthy of the name Parliament by supporting this petition."
The petition has been placed into the legacy papers and will be heard for an unprecedented fourth time before the newly constituted Petitons Committee.
"There was never a public inquiry into Lockerbie, but one day the truth will be told. Perhaps sooner than expected following the stunning SNP victory in May?" Durant writes.
"The Public Petitions Committee will soon discuss PE1370 Justice for Megrahi and MSPs can help the search for truth and prove your Parliament is worthy of the name Parliament by supporting this petition."
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