Libyan secret files to be made public, says envoy

[A report published today on the website of the London Evening Standard contains the following:]

Yvonne Fletcher's alleged killers will face justice in Libya, the country's top diplomat said today.

In an exclusive interview, Mahmud Nacua told the Standard: "They will face justice in Libya, not in Britain.

"Libya is an independent country, it has its constitution, it has its law, its lawyers."

He also said that "secret files" on the 1984 murder of Pc Fletcher, the Lockerbie bombing and Gaddafi-sponsored assassinations in London will soon be made public.

Relatives demand evidence linking despot to Lockerbie handed over

[This is the headline over an article in today's edition of The Herald.  It reads in part:]

Libya’s new Government must hand over evidence it claims proves Gaddafi’s involvement in the Lockerbie bombing, relatives of those killed have demanded.

Many expressed regret that the brutal dictator could now never reveal what he knew of the atrocity.

But the Libyan rebels faced calls to release all information they hold about the worst terrorist attack ever committed on UK soil, including evidence that led the head of the new Government to claim he had proof of Gaddafi’s guilt.

The calls came as the National Transitional Council (NTC) claimed Gaddafi’s death had “drawn a curtain” over his crimes.

That view appeared to be at odds with that of the Coalition Government, who said contact with the Libyans over Lockerbie was “ongoing”.

There was outrage last month when the NTC claimed that the Lockerbie case was closed.

It followed a request from the Crown Office for help with its inquiries into the bombing.

Following the outcry, however, the rebels changed their mind, saying they would help Scottish prosecutors.

But Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, suggested they were being less than forthcoming.

He said the relatives of those who died had received no help from the NTC, and called on the organisation to disclose everything it knows.

Earlier this year Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the NTC and Gaddafi’s former justice minister, said he had evidence of the dictator’s involvement in the bombing.

Dr Swire said: “The leader of the NTC has claimed that he has evidence implying Gaddafi’s guilt in the Lockerbie atrocity.

“If so maybe we should see it and be able to assess it.”

An “opportunity has been lost” to find out the truth about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 22, 1988, which claimed 270 lives, he said.

Father Patrick Keegans, the priest in Lockerbie at the time of the disaster, agreed.

“It really would have been preferable if he had been captured alive to have been able to bring some light and truth to bear on what happened with Pan Am 103,” he said. “Some governments will be relieved because they may have been implicated.”

But Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Camp Zeist trial which convicted Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al Megrahi of the Lockerbie bombing, and who believes that the Libyan is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, said: “I don’t think this really makes a difference to the Lockerbie case.

“If people are expecting that lots of new information will now become available, I simply don’t think that is going to happen.

“You have got to appreciate where I am coming from on this, that Megrahi wasn’t involved [in Lockerbie] and I have seen no convincing evidence that Libya was involved.”

Speaking about Gaddafi, he said: “There is absolutely no debate that he was heavily engaged in terrorist activities and he may well have known about how Lockerbie happened through his contacts to terrorists.”

A Crown Office spokesman said they “stood ready” to investigate any new leads.

But another family member of one of the victims said that standing ready was not enough.

Pamela Dix, who lost her 35-year-old brother Peter in the Lockerbie bombing, said: “It must be a very chaotic time in Libya at the moment and of course this [the Lockerbie bombing] is not going to be a high priority for the authorities there just now.

“But when it has settled down I do not want the Scottish Government just to stand ready. I want them to be pro-active and not just wait to see what emerges.”

She added: “I think it is too soon to tell what difference this will make with the Lockerbie situation. It might be the case that Gaddafi knew a great deal about what happened. I don’t know yet if it changes anything for the families who have lost loved ones.

“However, what I would say is that if he did know something, he is unlikely to be the only one who did. “We are still advocating full disclosure of the facts.” (...)

Under the conditions of his release, Megrahi, who was released from Scotland to Libya after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, must keep regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. In light of Gaddafi’s death, a spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Our position with regards to the monitoring of Megrahi remains the same.”

Mahmud Nacua, charge d’affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, suggested the new regime would offer full disclosure to the families.

“When we are stable all the files of the crimes that have been committed by Gaddafi will open,” he said. “Everything will be known to the world what happened in the time of Gaddafi.”

'That's for Lockerbie': Press cheers Kadhafi demise

[This is the headline over a report on the UK press's treatment of the death of Gaddafi published by the Agence France Presse news agency. It reads in part:]

The death of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is a triumph which serves as a warning to other Middle East dictators, but concerns linger over the embattled nation's future, media said Friday.

Newspapers also lauded Britain's role in bringing about the long-serving ruler's downfall, but public opinion appeared to be more muted.

"That's for Lockerbie", populist tabloid The Sun ran as its headline, above a picture of Kadhafi's dead body, in reference to the 1988 bombing of a US passenger jet over a Scottish town which killed 270 people.

The Times' editorial praised the "bravery of the Libyan people" and the "equally honourable" actions of Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for the "swift and timely aid offered in their struggle."

The Rupert Murdoch-owned title also recognised the "bravery, restraint and determination" of Britain's armed forces, who helped avert a massacre "on the scale of Srebrenica" in the once-besieged town of Benghazi.

However, only 42 percent of Guardian readers who took part in an online poll said they were proud of Britain's involvement in Kadhafi's fall from grace.

Uncertainties remain over the circumstances of Kadhafi's demise, but The Times reasoned his death was the preferable outcome as a trial "would probably have revealed little that the world did not already know".

Fellow broadsheet The Daily Telegraph suggested the death had helped redraw the political map of the restive region.

Kadhafi's ousting, along with those of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, had "undeniably transformed the politics of the Arab world, and we will need to adjust accordingly," its editorial said.

"For those despots still clinging to power in the region, notably Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the bloodied corpse of Kadhafi should serve as a chilling incentive to political reform," it added.

The left-leaning Guardian agreed that "there could have been no more prophetic sight for the tyrants who remain" than that of Kadhafi's body being carried away on a truck.

"This may well be the fate that awaits Assad or Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, and they must now know it," the paper's editorial continued.

Looking to the future, the paper urged Libya's new leaders "to remake a future which guarantees both human rights at home and independence from foreign interference.

"This is a tall order in a country with no democratic tradition and lots of oil," it cautioned. "The next chapter in the history of Libya has now begun."

The Times advised Britain to "offer the hand of friendship to the National Transitional Council (NTC)", the republic's provisional government.

It also called for perseverance in the face of the "squalls of conflicting ambitions, exaggerated popular expectations and Islamist manoeuvrings" which now appear inevitable.

[A summary of international media reaction can be found on the website of The Tripoli Post.

One of the reports in today's edition of The Herald contains the following:]

David Cameron described it as a “momentous day” in which all of the dictator’s victims should be remembered, including those killed in the Lockerbie bombing, PC Yvonne Fletcher, gunned down outside the Libyan embassy in London, and all those killed by the IRA using Libyan Semtex explosives.

For its part Libya’s interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), claimed Gaddafi’s death had “drawn a curtain” over his crimes.

But it faced immediate pressure from victims to disclose all the evidence it has on his involvement in atrocities, including the Lockerbie bombing.

Despite a claim earlier this year from the head of the NTC he had proof of Gaddafi’s guilt over Lockerbie, that information has never been disclosed to families, said Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing.

An MP also claimed last night the death of the Libyan leader paved the way for the settlement of legal claims by IRA victims.

[A report in The Scotsman contains the following:]

Family members of those who died in the 1988 bombing, described the former dictator’s death as a “missed opportunity” to hold him to account.

Reverend John Mosey, who lost his 19-year-old daughter Helga in the attack, said: “I would much rather that Gaddafi had remained alive so that he could be tried, because I am a great believer in the law. Had he remained alive, we might also have been able to get some answers to the many questions that still remain over Lockerbie.” 

Rev Mosey believes Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – the man convicted over the Lockerbie bombing – is innocent of the crime, and Gaddafi could have shed light on who was responsible.

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, is similarly minded.

He said: “I would have loved to have seen Gaddafi appear in front of the International Criminal Court both to answer charges against his gross treatment of his own people and of citizens murdered abroad by his thugs.

“But I would also have loved to have heard about what Gaddafi knew about the Lockerbie atrocity.”

Jim Swire's reaction when it was thought Gaddafi had been taken alive

[What follows is the text of a commentary written by Dr Jim Swire for The Herald at a time when it was thought that Colonel Gaddafi had been captured alive. A revised version, prepared once it was confirmed that he had been killed, should appear in tomorrow's edition of the newspaper.]

At the time of writing it appears that Colonel Gaddafi should survive his injuries, though there will be many around him now with scores to settle. 

His record of torture and execution, (usually with no trial) among his own people, and abroad, is appalling, but cannot justify his own summary execution now. His safe extraction from Libya and hand over to the International criminal Court for trial for his crimes against his own people would be a huge endorsement of  responsible attitudes by Libya's Interim Council. 

It is true that in the days of Lady Thatcher and President Reagan in 1986, a attempt was made to assassinate Gaddafi, using the USAF. This attempt demolished part of his family’s house but missed him. It was the root cause of enduring loathing by Gaddafi supporters, and the families of those who did die in that raid, for all things American. It was a cause for seeking revenge. Incidentally, it cost the lives of as many Americans, flying F111s, as had died in the disco bombing.

'The consequence of the use of violence is the death of innocent people' 

In 1986 Reagan was trying to get revenge for the bombing of a disco in Berlin, which was alleged to have been caused by Libyans and which had killed one or two Americans. 

If it turns out that Gaddafi was trying to get revenge for 1986 by supporting the Lockerbie mass murders, then we need to hear that brought out in a fair court. 

If on the other hand he is able to supply evidence that Iran/Syria were behind the Lockerbie killings, as seems much more likely, despite the Zeist verdict, then Iran too would have been acting out of revenge for the shoot down of one of her airbuses in 1988 only six months before Lockerbie with the death of 290 pilgrims, after which the awarding of a medal to Captain Rogers of the USS Vincennes which had fired the missiles galvanised the calls for revenge from the land of the Ayatollahs...

Whichever way you look revenge is there, deeply imbedded in human nature. Let us avoid adding to it now. But remember proudly that Scotland did exercise compassion in the release of the Libyan Baset al Megrahi, yes, let’s be proud of that

My prayer is that Gaddafi will survive to stand trial in the ICC and that he will be enabled to assemble evidence and witnesses, not only about his domestic activities but also about his knowledge of Lockerbie.

Now that we have the ICC , a legacy supported by the late Robin Cook, though disliked by America, we have a superior instrument for the delivery of justice at the international level, not revenge over the dreadful murders at Lockerbie. Gaddafi’s case in the ICC might be able to throw some light on the truth about that. Fair trial is the civilised alternative to revenge.

This may be a time to remember Nelson Mandela’s 
wise words when the Lockerbie trial court was announced “No one country should be complainant, prosecutor and judge”.

Were the UK and US acting as ‘one country' at Zeist? A trial of Gaddafi at the ICC might throw light on that as well.

The ICC gives us the best route to avoiding the natural lust for revenge, and to avoid national preconceptions as to who is or is not guilty of what crimes. Let us pray that Gaddafi can be protected from revenge by elements in Libya and elsewhere. Humanity would gain most from a fair trial in this court. 

[By way of contrast, here is the text of the press release from the Scottish Government:]

Commenting on the confirmed reports that Colonel Gaddafi is dead, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond said:

"Gaddafi was a brutal dictator, who exploited his country and brutalised the Libyan people for over four decades - he lived by the sword, and has met his just-deserts. We now look forward to the end of conflict in Libya, and the emergence of a free and democratic country.

"Regarding the ongoing Lockerbie investigation, the Crown Office have always said that the Lockerbie atrocity remains an open case. The only person convicted, Al Megrahi, acted in his capacity as a Libyan intelligence agent - he was found guilty of an act of state-sponsored terrorism and did not act alone.

"Therefore, our police and prosecution authorities stand ready to investigate and follow any new lines of inquiry that may be emerging in Libya at the present moment - just as Scotland's justice system has dealt with all aspects of the Lockerbie atrocity over the last 23 years according to the precepts of Scots Law, and no other factor."

Swire: Gadaffi death ensures “continuing difficulty” in securing Pan Am 103 truth

[This is the headline over a news item just published on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.  It reads as follows:]

Dr Jim Swire has said that the apparent death of Colonel Gadaffi in Libya will present “continuing difficulty” in reaching the truth about the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

Swire believes Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was not responsible for the destruction of the airliner, and is concerned that UK assistance in killing Gadaffi may serve the aims of those who “are determined that there shall be continuing difficulty discovering the whole truth” of the event. 

 “There is a lot of information still to come out. I shall be very interested in what information becomes reliably available about the manner of his death now, whether it was a NATO strike, a special forces action or direct action by the interim council, because there are a lot of people walking about on the face of this planet who I believe are determined that there shall be continuing difficulty discovering the whole truth about why Pan Am 103 was knocked out of the sky that night in 1988," he told Sky News.

“There is much still to be resolved about that issue, and Gadaffi, whether he was involved or not, might have been able to clear a lot of points up about that.

“If it is true now that he is dead we may have lost an opportunity for getting closer to the truth.

“A lot of information has accrued to us since the trial of Megrahi and much of that information is vividly contrasting to what was led and accepted by the court." 

Susan Cohen reacts to report of Gadhafi’s death

[A report just published on the CBS New York website reads as follows:]

Ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was killed when rebels stormed his hometown Thursday, according to the Libyan government.

Gadhafi was alleged to be behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 back in 1988.

The 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. The plane was bound for John F Kennedy International Airport. Among those on board was 20-year-old Theodora Cohen.

Her mother, Susan Cohen, lives in Cape May Court House, New Jersey.

“I’m just hoping, hoping it’s true,” she told CBSNewYork.com. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this. If this is true this is going to be the happiest day of my life since Dec 20, 1988. Lockerbie happened on Dec 21st. This would be a great day. A tyrant has fallen. If this is true, that is a wonderful thing.”

“I have waited many years for this,” Cohen said. “It doesn’t bring closure. Closure doesn’t exist. Closure is a myth. It will not bring closure. But it is helpful. It does bring a sense of having some justice. I can say in the morning, ‘Theo… he’s gone. He’s dead.’ There’s justice.”

Cohen applauded the recent United States operations in Libya.

“I will certainly give President Obama credit. It has been just horrible, Gadhafi has gotten away with the most horrible crimes for years,” she said.

“If this is true I want to thank the Libyan people, because they… if they had not done this, I think we would still be back in a so-called ‘alliance’ with Moammar Gadhafi. It never should’ve happened.” 

Cohen was referring to the recent warming of relations between the US and Libya, which started when the Libyan leader gave up his nuclear program during the George W Bush administration.

“You can not deal with him. You can not make deals with him. All the governments knew what was happening to the Libyan people… the human rights violations… but they turned a blind eye to  it because it was all about the oil.”

“I will be in grief, and pain and suffering for the rest of my life… but it makes a difference to know that he is gone. I hope he’s dead,” Cohen said.

[Further reactions from US relatives are to be found in this report on The Daily Beast website.  That delightful human being, Frank Duggan, president of the group Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc (not himself a Lockerbie relative) is quoted as follows:]

"May he rest in pieces. It's not just the Pan Am families who are celebrating, it's people all over the world who are glad this monster is gone."

Transcript of Hillary Clinton's Lockerbie remarks in Tripoli

[A transcript of the press conference held on 18 October by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Libyan TNC Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril has today been issued by the Department of State.  Mrs Cinton's remarks on Lockerbie read as follows:]

And we have made, of course, our strong views known about Megrahi, and I have said, many times, that we believe that he should never have been released. I raised this issue again with the leadership here. We – and we recognize the magnitude of all the issues that Libya is facing, but we also know the importance of the rule of law, and they have assured us they understand how strongly the United States feels about this and all the sensitivities around this case. We will continue to pursue justice on behalf of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. This is an open case in the United States Department of Justice, and we will continue to discuss it with our Libyan counterparts.

[Mr Jibril did not address the issue in his remarks.]

US Secretary of State to raise Lockerbie during Libya visit

[A report published this evening on the Fox News website reads in part:]

The Obama administration on Tuesday increased US support for Libya's new leaders as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made an unannounced visit to Tripoli and pledged millions of dollars in new aid, including medical care for wounded fighters and additional assistance to secure weaponry that many fear could fall into the hands of terrorists. (...)

Officials said Clinton would also raise the case of the Lockerbie bombing with Libyan officials. Last month, Scotland asked Libya's new authorities to help track down those responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town. It killed 270 people, most of them American.

The only person charged with the bombing -- former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi -- was freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because of illness. His release infuriated the families of many Lockerbie victims.

The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Clinton's public events in Tripoli, which also were to include meetings with civic leaders that have been kept secret for security reasons.

[A news agency report published on the website of The Sydney Morning Herald contains the following:] 

The case also came up of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only man convicted for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people when it blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Megrahi, who was said to have terminal cancer, was released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and said to have only three months left to live.

Clinton was asked if Megrahi, who is still alive and in Libya, should go back to jail. Rather than answer the question directly, she said: "I have said many times he should never been released."

She added that the US "will continue to pursue justice" on behalf of the Lockerbie victims.

Pan Am 103 families lodge objection to BAFTA over nomination for "actionable" STV documentary

[This is the headline over a news item published this afternoon on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.  It reads in part:]

The UK relatives of families killed in the Pan Am 103 event have lodged an objection with BAFTA over its nomination in the current affairs category for the documentary "The Lockerbie Bomber- Sent Home to Die", claiming that the film's "facile acceptance of the theory that the Lockerbie bomb had been carried on an Air Malta flight (KM180) was actionable."

The film drew criticism from Dr Jim Swire and MSP Christine Grahame at the time of its broadcast amidst claims that its central thesis had already been challenged in civil court, resulting in an out of court settlement to Air Malta from Granada TV. Grahame issued a press statement at the time claiming the film was "deeply misleading."

This morning the UK families have written to BAFTA and challenged the investigative merit of the film, which they say "could not be regarded as investigative journalism", and have said "it will not look like an honourable move" for the programme to be given recognition by BAFTA.

"May I point out that this programme was based upon the official version of how the Lockerbie bombing came about and who was responsible, without any apparent attempt to question what we, as citizens, are expected to accept from 'the authorities'. As such, it seems that this programme could not be regarded as investigative journalism, which one would have expected from a documentary on such a subject," a letter to BAFTA sent this morning read. (...)

"Obstructed as we are by those in official positions who have a great deal to lose if the truth of this gross deception becomes public, we are involved in a search simply for the truth as to who murdered our loved ones, and why they were not prevented from doing so in the face of all the warnings extant back in 1988.

"Of course STV have every right to air whatever programmes they choose within the law, but to give your accolade to them for this programme would be detrimental to the interests of those who still need to know who really murdered their families, and why they were not prevented from doing so.

"In this search we have the support of human rights within the law, as well as, surely, the common humanity of ordinary people to support our right to these truths. When the truth comes out, as eventually it always does, it will not look like an honourable move to have given recognition to such a programme.

"BAFTA (Scotland) might give an evening of joy to STV, we have a lifetime to face without those we loved, and we intend to get to the real facts, to which we have every right." 

[This story has now -- Wednesday, 19th October --  been picked up by various newspapers.  The Herald's report can be read here and The Scotsman's here. The Firm reports STV's reaction to the controversy as follows:]

STV, who produced and broadcast the film "The Lockerbie Bomber: Sent Home to Die" also issued a brief statement in defence of the film, acknowledging that the documentary did not address any of the concerns that have been raised regarding the legitimacy of the conviction of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi since his trial concluded in 2001.

"We are confident that the recent STV documentary reported the facts of the case, as legally established in court,” the statement said.

BAFTA nomination for “biased, misleading” Pan Am 103 documentary

[This is the headline over a news item published today on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.  It reads as follows:]

A documentary broadcast on the anniversary of the return of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi to Libya entitled: “The Lockerbie Bomber - Sent Home to Die” has been nominated for a BAFTA award in Scotland.

The film, produced by Donald John MacDonald and David Cowan, has been nominated in the current affairs category.

At the time of its broadcast MSP Christine Grahame, convener of the Justice Committee and Dr Jim Swire wrote to STV warning them that the film repeated unfounded allegations against Air Malta, implicated in the discredited Crown case.

 In 1993 the airline won an out of court settlement against Granada TV who also claimed a bag containing a bomb had been transported, unaccompanied, on one of their flights.

“I was extremely disappointed when I saw the STV documentary and the one-sided and biased manner in which they recounted the events surrounding the atrocity," she said.

"There remains very serious doubts over the safety of the conviction, but the STV film apparently chose to focus on the controversial and highly disputed claims of the senior investigators. There were a number of misleading statements made in the film, but I think the most worrying from STV's perspective will be the unfounded allegation that the case alleged to have carried the bomb, was transported, unaccompanied, on an Air Malta flight.”

Grahame added that Air Malta sued Granada TV for making “the same unfounded allegation”, highlighting that the airline was able to prove that all 55 bags that were loaded onto the flight to Frankfurt were ascribed to passengers.

Granada TV settled the claims out of court and paid costs to Air Malta. Following the STV broadcast Air Malta indicated they were considering taking similar legal action against STV.

Dr Jim Swire also wrote to STV warning, inviting the corporation to review a transcript of the Zeist trial.

"Had I been aware of what you proposed to air, I would of course have warned you,” he wrote.

“Perhaps it would be best to broadcast a correction to your viewers in the circumstances, but you may wish to 'legal' that." 

[Further blog posts about this documentary can be found here, here and here.]

Lockerbie and how victims forgave

[This is the headline over an article by Rob Virtue published today on the Wharf.co.uk website.  It reads as follows:]

A father who lost his daughter in the Lockerbie disaster was in Canary Wharf to talk about how he forgave those responsible for the attack and then backed calls to compensate east London victims of Libyan-sponsored terrorism.

The Rev John Mosey was speaking at St Peter's Barge on West India Quay last week.

He recalled the day of the terrorist attack on the Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988. He said when he and his family saw it unfold on television he had no idea his 19-year-old daughter Helga was on the plane.

"I remember saying how awful this was," he said. "We're usually observers in other people's disasters - it doesn't happen to us. But sometimes it does.

"Then they said the flight number which meant little to me but my wife said 'that's Helga's plane'.

"The silence was broken by my son shouting 'no, no, no' at the television and my wife just saying 'Helga, Helga, Helga'.

"She said at the time when her little girl needed her the most she couldn't be there for her."

He soon gave his forgiveness to those responsible - although he has strong doubts the man tried, sentenced and subsequently released, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was anything more than a fall guy.

Mr Mosey later received compensation as part of a package the United States agreed with the Libyan state. 

Most of his settlement has been used to set up charities in Helga's name and these are present in 12 countries.

He is now calling on victims of the IRA, which Gaddafi supplied Semtex to for explosives, to also be compensated by the Libyan state. [RB:  Here is a clarification from John Mosey: "His claim that I called for Libya to compensate other victims is false. What I said was that I thought it would be a good thing if such victims were compensated by the perpetrators."]

These include those affected by the South Quay bombing of 1996, which killed two and seriously injured dozens more.

"People who are guilty of terrorist acts should pay compensation," he said. "It doesn't take away the pain or bring anyone back, it's a distraction in a way, but it brings good out of evil.

"We have set up groups such as a children's home in the Philippines. Social services there said if we weren't around, many of the children would be dead.

"The way I see it is we've got lots of daughters around the world that would be dead today if Helga was still alive. Some good can come of tragedy."

Talks are progressing with the transitional government in Libya to secure compensation for IRA victims following the state's past sponsorship of Irish terrorism.

The latest developments were discussed in a debate in the House of Lords [on 4 October].

Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Howell of Guildford said: "The National Transitional Council's chairman, Abdul Jalil, and Prime Minister [Mahmoud] Jibril have assured the Government they will work with the UK to resolve bilateral issues arising from the wrongs of the Gaddafi regime."

Lord Howell said a memorandum of understanding for compensation, signed by Jalil earlier this year, formed a "basis of future work".

It followed a question from Lord Empey about the progress of talks.

Lord Empey said: "What is required now is a vigorous and determined approach by the Government to ensure that this matter is resolved, and that United Kingdom citizens who have suffered as a direct result of what was nothing short of an act of war by the then Libyan regime can be properly compensated."

Lockerbie and legal malpractice

When I came across an item with the above heading during a blog search, I thought it might contain something interesting and relevant to the Zeist trial of Megrahi which, in my view (and, to a certain extent, that of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission as well), involved quite a bit of legal malpractice.  However, it relates instead to a civil action by one US Lockerbie relative in a Federal Court in New York against Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, the law firm that represented most of the relatives in their claims against Libya. And the civil action did not relate to the firm's conduct in representing its Lockerbie clients in those claims. The action was in any event dismissed on the issue of time bar, the plaintiff having delayed too long in raising the case.

Case against Megrahi ‘flimsy’

[This is the headline over an article published today on the Holyrood website.  It reads as follows:]

If the only man ever convicted of the Lockerbie bombing had been tried in a Scottish court he may not have been found guilty, according to former Middle East envoy Terry Waite. [RB: Megrahi was, of course, convicted in a Scottish court, albeit one that sat in the Netherlands. Presumably Mr Waite means a Scottish court sitting in Scotland with a jury; in which case he is correct.  Such a court would almost certainly not have convicted Megrahi.]

 

Waite, who spent five years in captivity in Beirut at the hands of Islamic Jihad, said the uproar triggered by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds has overshadowed the need for an investigation into whether or not he is guilty.

The former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury said the merits of the conviction are questionable.

He said: “The Megrahi case is extraordinarily complex and I don’t for one moment blame members of the public for being confused about it because even those who have tried to study the issue have been confused.

“The answer most people come up with in the end is we don’t really think we have the whole truth here, the true facts of this matter have not been revealed yet I think that is the general view.

“My own view is when I have tried to study the case, it seems the evidence on which he was convicted was very thin indeed and flimsy.

“It is doubtful whether in a Scottish court that man would have been convicted of that crime based on the evidence that was at Camp Zeist.” 

Megrahi was released from Greenock prison two years ago on compassionate grounds because he has terminal prostate cancer.

He is the only person to be convicted of the Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people.

Waite added: “The decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds was not an easy decision to make because it was mired in political controversy.

 “He [Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill] took a very courageous decision. But, I think more importantly, we still have to hear the full facts in this matter and one would hope that things will come out and we shall know more about this very distressing case.” 

The SNP last week accused former Prime Minister Tony Blair of being “economical with the truth” after claiming Megrahi had been excluded from the prisoner transfer agreement signed by his government and the previous Gaddafi regime when he left office in 2007.

[Terry Waite's remarks were made in connection with his 2011 SACRO Lecure delivered in Edinburgh on 4 October 2011.

This item has been picked up in a news report in Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm, which also quotes from a letter sent to the Crown Office by Dr Jim Swire seeking clarification about the Megrahi Reuters interview and whether access to it had truly been sought and, as some reports say, denied.]

Libya and Lockerbie: A questioned past, an uncertain future

[This is the heading over an item posted today on Caustic Logic's blog The Lockerbie Divide.  It reads in part:]

My two big thoughts on Lockerbie these days are:

1) It's odd how even the new government is willing to cause some friction with its European sponsors to insist the Lockerbie case is closed and no one's going to be re-tried or re-jailed. The oil is negotiable, and resistant loyalists can be slaughtered on sight, but apparently handing Mr al-Megrahi back to the Brits or anyone else is such a sore spot that they'd better not try it.

2) With no Gaddafi regime left to hang the crime on, and Iran coming into the limelight again, along with its proxy Syria, the truth may be allowed to emerge now of the Iranian-Syrian(?)-PFLP-GCplot that actually did destroy Pan Am 103. It would be for all the wrong reasons, however - mainly to "justify" the next regime change project(s) of an increasingly bold and desperate grab for the world's oil reserves.

Anyway, on the justifications for destoying Libya this year, old and new, I have discovered a prominent ally. I recently ran across a video interview, in French, with Yves Bonnet, a French terrorism expert and former high counter-terror official [RB: Director of the DST, 1982-1985].  From the text summary of the September 1 [2009] interview, and what I can make out, he's explaining how Gaddafi's Libya wasn't so bad from a terrorism point of view, and didn't do Lockerbie, at least. I can make out the name Ahmed Jibril being mentioned.

Bonnet is a co-founder of CIRET-AVT (International Center for Research and Study on Terrorism and Aid to Victims of Terrorism), along with a Belgian parliamentarian and a former Algerian government minister. With this intriguing genesis, CIRET-AVT has gone on to do unusually brilliant things. Along with another group (CF2R - Center for Research on Intelligence), they wrote a rare, really good report on the Libyan Civil War and the "uncertain future" of the country after the violent, NATO-backed Islamist uprising there (see "Un Avenir Incertain" in Libya)

Unlike most who traveled to Libya on fact-finding missions, their team actually talked with Tripoli and took them seriously, allowing their report to wind up making sense.

Crown Office blame Reuters for blocking Megrahi tape release: Reuters say they were not asked

[This is the headline over a report published today on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.  It reads as follows:]

The Crown Office is once again at the centre of a row over its handling of the Pan Am 103 case after it accused the Reuters news agency of refusing to hand over a copy of an interview with Abdelbaset Al Megrahi.

The interview has been at the centre of a translation row after different claims of the meaning of Megrahi's words were interpreted.

Relatives have told The Firm that they were working to secure access to the unedited interview. The Firm understands the UK relatives group have been told a declarator from the court is required. 

The issue has taken a bizarre twist after the Crown Office claimed that the Reuters news agency has refused to release its interview. The news agency has refuted the claim and says they have not been asked to provide the footage.

“We can confirm that Reuters have refused to provide a copy of the recent interview with Megrahi," the Crown Office claimed.

"We have instructed translation of the available footage meantime and are considering options in relation to the unreleased footage.”

However the Reuters news agency said the agency has not been asked to provide the footage at all.

 

"Reuters has been contacted by Dumfries and Galloway Police, but has not received a formal demand for any footage," the agency said.

"We will review any such formal request if we receive one."

Professor Robert Black QC previously accused the Crown Office of an "obstructionist wheeze" by protracting Megrahi's appeal process.

Former father of the House Tam Dalyell went further, accusing the organisation of suppressing information and telling "outright lies".

In 2009, current Justice Committee Convener Christine Grahame reported Crown Agent Norman MacFadyen to Lothian and Borders police amidst claims of improper handling of the evidence in the case.

It emerged earlier this year that the key witness in the Crown case had been bribed to provide his testimony linking Megrahi to the events of 21 December 1988.