Conservative Party contortions over Megrahi petition

[What follows is the text of an article by Justice for Megrahi's secretary, Robert Forrester, that was due to appear in the the Scottish edition of today's Sunday Express. I cannot find it on the newspaper's website (which is pretty selective in its coverage) but it probably does appear in the print edition:]

The Justice Committee's consideration of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) petition, calling for an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie/Zeist affair, held on Tuesday 18th February, was by far the most animated session yet on the subject. Reaching almost operatic proportions, it generated valiant, bravura performances from both Christine Grahame MSP (SNP Convener of the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament) and John Finnie MSP (Independent) in the teeth of determined pressure to close the petition: this opposition emanated largely from Margaret Mitchell MSP (Conservative).

The principal argument used against maintaining the JFM petition, PE 1370, open was the feeling that the Justice Committee was wandering away from its strict remit with regard to the petition proper by conflating it with JFM's allegations of criminality against police officers, forensic investigators and legal officials.

Margaret Mitchell's position is an interesting development in that the principal Conservative Party member on the Justice Committee when JFM received its first unanimous vote by the committee to keep 1370 open (11th December 2012) was the late David McLetchie MSP. JFM had, up until that moment, rather regarded Mr McLetchie an arch foe. However, he was most vocal in his support of the petition: backing up earlier statements made by John Finnie. The catalyst behind his change of heart was in fact that he had been attracted by the new dynamic brought to the petition not only by the lodging with the then Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary of the JFM allegations themselves but also by the manner in which the JFM allegations were being treated by the authorities. This referred to the Justice Directorate's release of our private and confidential letter to Cabinet Secretary for Justice MacAskill to the Crown Office and the ensuing media attacks on JFM launched by Chambers Street, culminating in Lord Advocate Mulholland's outbursts to Magnus Linklater on the anniversary of the 103 tragedy in 2012.

It is now, therefore, most curious that the Conservative Party appears to doing a complete volte-face on essentially the same principle that encouraged Mr McLetchie to support 1370. In the current situation, both JFM and the Justice Committee are being confronted by an outrageously dismissive attitude by Police Scotland and the Crown Office with respect to the JFM allegations. As Mr Mcletchie recognised at the time, the petition and the allegations had become inextricably entwined as a result of the attitudes of the authorities to the allegations.

This situation has not altered one jot. In fact, the attitude of Police Scotland and the Crown Office towards JFM is now even more parlous than it ever has been following the freezing of the investigation into three highly contentious allegations, so why has the position of the Conservative Party changed? Something of a mystery. Or, perhaps Margaret Mitchell’s viewpoint is simply her own and not necessarily her party’s. Perhaps she sees herself as a champion of the Crown Office and Police Scotland where Mr Mcletchie wisely spied a political opportunity in supporting the JFM’s mutually complementary petition and allegations. Perhaps he saw JFM as an irritant to First Minister Salmond and his longstanding Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Mr MacAskill. They can hardly be overjoyed today by the fact that Petition PE 1370 has now entered it’s fourth year on the parliamentary books on top of the results of a public opinion poll in the Scottish Sunday Express of 4th September 2011 (Sample: 500. 52% expressed the view that there ought to be an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing, 34% disagreed and 14% were unsure).

Ultimately though, the strength of Christine Grahame's anger at the behaviour of Police Scotland, and John Finnie's reasoned presentation of the current, developing environment vis-à-vis JFM’s petition and the now 9 JFM allegations won the day: with the Justice Committee decision that letters would be sent to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland Sir Stephen House and Detective Superintendent Johnstone asking them, amongst other things, to account for the seemingly blasé and dismissive conduct of Police Scotland.

It now remains to be seen whether or not Margaret Mitchell will, before her next consideration of this petition, experience the same political epiphany that David McLetchie did.

Transparent chicanery

On this date three years ago, I posted an item on this blog about an article that had just appeared in The Sunday Post. Here is the article:

And here is what I said about it:

“The Crown Office statement at the end of the article is laughable. The Lord Advocate was caught out being economical with the truth (to put it at its mildest) over the grounds on which the first appeal failed. The Crown Office responds by referring to what was argued in the second appeal before it was abandoned just prior to Abdelbaset Megrahi's repatriation. Talk about diversionary tactics! That the Scottish prosecution system is in the hands of people who are capable of such transparent chicanery is profoundly worrying.”

Justice for Megrahi: we live to fight another day

[What follows is the text of a message sent today by Justice for Megrahi’s secretary, Robert Forrester, to JFM members and supporters following Tuesday’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee:]

The Justice Committee's consideration of JFM's petition 1370, calling on the Scottish Government to endorse for an independent inquriy into the investigation and legal processes involved in the Lockerbie/Zeist affair, held on Tuesday 18th February, was by far the most animated session of the Justice Committee that I have attended on the subject: reaching almost operatic proportions. It generated valiant, bravura performances from both Christine Grahame MSP (SNP Convener of the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament) and John Finnie MSP (Independent) in the teeth of determined pressure to close the petition: this opposition emanated largely from Margaret Mitchell MSP (Conservative).

The principal argument used against maintaining 1370 open was the feeling that the Justice Committee was wandering away from its strict remit with regard to the petition proper by conflating it with JFM's allegations of criminality against police officers, forensic investigators and legal officials. Margaret Mitchell's position is an interesting development in that the principal Conservative Party member on the Justice committee when JFM received its first unanimous vote by the committee to keep 1370 open (11th December 2012) was the late David McLetchie MSP. JFM had up until that moment rather regarded Mr McLetchie an arch foe. However, he was most vocal in his support of the petition: backing up earlier statements made by John Finnie. The catalyst behind his change of heart was in fact that he was attracted by the new dynamic brought to the petition not only by the lodging with the then Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary of the JFM allegations themselves but also by the manner in which the JFM allegations were being treated by the authorities. This referred to the Justice Directorate's release of our private and confidential letter to Cabinet Secretary for Justice MacAskill to the Crown Office and the ensuing media attacks on JFM launched by Chambers Street, culminating in Lord Advocate Mulholland's outbursts to Magnus Linklater on the anniversary of the 103 tragedy in 2012.

It is now, therefore, most curious that the Conservative Party appears to doing a complete volte-face on essentially the same principle that encouraged Mr McLetchie to support 1370. In the current situation, both JFM and the Justice Committee are being confronted by an outrageously dismissive attitude by Police Scotland and the Crown Office with respect to the JFM allegations (follow this link to our submission: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/General%20Documents/20140130_JFM_to_Committee.pdf, and this one to the email sent to myself by Detective Superintendent Stuart Johnstone, which was also sent as a last minute submission to the Justice Committee on Tuesday morning: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/General%20Documents/20140217_PS_to_JFM.pdf).

As Mr McLetchie recognised at the time, the petition and the allegations had become inextricably entwined  as a result of the attitudes of the authorities to the allegations. This situation has not altered one jot. In fact, the attitude of Police Scotland and the Crown Office towards JFM is now even more parlous than it ever has been, so why has the position of the Conservative Party changed? Something of a mystery, methinks.

Ultimately though, the strength of Christine Grahame's anger at the behaviour of Police Scotland, and John Finnie's reasoned presentation of the current, developing environment vis-à-vis JFM and the authorities, and 1370 and the now 9 JFM allegations, won the day. As  you will see from the reports below and from watching the recording of the session, it was decided that letters would be sent to Chief Constable of Police Scotland Sir Stephen House and Detective Superintendent Johnstone asking them, amongst other things, to account for the seemingly blasé, slipshod and dismissive conduct of Police Scotland. The Justice Committee also sanctioned a letter to the SCCRC to ask if the al-Megrahi family have made a referral for a third appeal against the Zeist conviction. For details, see the video link below.

We live to fight another day then. What is more, these new letters could well have the potential to be as significant as the one which the Public Petitions Committee sent to the Scottish Government which established that it did after all have the power to sanction an independent inquiry under the Inquiries Act of 2005.

The transcript is not yet available but soon will be. In the meantime, you can watch the session by following this link to Parliament TV:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/41409.aspx. The consideration of 1370 begins 1 hour, 8 minutes and 43 seconds into the session.  

See here below links to press reports:

http://www.holyrood.com/2014/02/msps-vent-frustration-at-police-inquiry-on-megrahi/

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/police-accused-of-dragging-heels-on-lockerbie-1-3310491

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/msps-keep-lockerbie-petition-open.1392736606

The Committee of JFM would like to express its deep gratitude to its members who turned up in person to back 1370 on Tuesday, and, as ever, to thank all of you for your unqualified support of the campaign, and the invaluable ideas and advice you offer us.

Don't forget that you can follow daily developments as they relate to the Lockerbie/Zeist case on our indomitable Professor Black's blog (http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/).

MSPs vent frustration at police investigation into Megrahi complaints

[This is the headline over a report published yesterday on the website of Holyrood magazine.  It reads as follows:]

MSPs have demanded answers from Scotland’s chief constable after expressing frustration over Police Scotland’s inquiry into alleged criminality in the original Lockerbie investigation.

Members of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee this morning agreed to write to Sir Stephen House requesting details on the number of officers working on the inquiry and what stage it is at.

It came as members opted to keep a petition by campaign group Justice for Megrahi, calling for the Scottish Government to launch a separate independent inquiry into the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, open.

The Scottish Government has maintained that it has no plans to instigate an inquiry and insisted a review would be best undertaken via an application to appeal in the courts. Megrahi was convicted of the bombing of Pan Am 103, which killed 270 people, over the town of Lockerbie a quarter of a century ago.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is also to be written as the Justice Committee seeks to ascertain whether family members of Megrahi have applied or inquired about a new appeal in the wake of recent media reports.

JfM has made a number of allegations regarding the original investigation into the Lockerbie air disaster, investigation of which has been put on hold due to a conflict with a parallel live criminal investigation.

In September, MSPs were told by Police Scotland a conflict between the two investigations was likely to be resolved in a “matter of weeks”.

However, a letter written to JfM, passed to the committee this morning, confirmed this is now likely to extend to the end of March.

Detective Superintendent, Stuart Johnstone, who has assumed the role of senior investigating officer, said it was inappropriate to provide details on how many officers are working on the inquiry or what stage it is at.

“I am unable to provide you with definitive updates in relation to these questions as they are currently being reviewed by myself, having just taken over as SIO, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment until this review has been concluded,” he said.

Independent MSP John Finnie said: “I think all of this is [an] extremely dismissive approach by the authorities to the Justice for Megrahi committee and I would suggest by default to this committee, which has an important oversight role. I think the timing of that letter is entirely cynical. What we’ve seen is procrastination and obstruction and I would ask whose interests are served by that.”

Convener of the committee, SNP MSP Christine Grahame, added: “I am very cross about this. You [John Finnie] talk about procrastination and obstruction. I call it long grass. If there is any strategy here with regard to the whole Megrahi issue it seems to me to kick things into the long grass, wear people out, hope that those who are pursuing this fall off their perches, and it all goes away.”

Grahame said it was time to go to the “top of the tree” and request a response from the Police Scotland chief constable within seven to ten days.

SNP MSP Sandra White expressed concerns that the committee had moved away from the original terms of the petition, which calls for ministers to open an inquiry into Megrahi’s conviction.

Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell suggested the committee was “going off on a tangent” and urged members to close the petition.

The Lockerbie bombing trail leads to Iran

This is the headline, translated from German, over a long review published yesterday on the website of Die Welt of the documentary Todesflug Pan Am 103 (Death Flight Pan Am 103) being broadcast on various dates on the ARTE channel. For those whose command of German is weak or non-existent, Google Translate does a reasonable job with this article.

MSPs attack police procrastination on inquiry into original Lockerbie probe

[A report on the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee’s consideration this morning of Justice for Megrahi’s petition PE1370 has been published on The Scotsman website. It reads as follows:]

Politicians have launched a scathing attack on Police Scotland’s inquiry into alleged criminality in the original Lockerbie bombing investigation.

The Scottish Parliament’s justice committee has said it will write to Chief Constable Sir Stephen House demanding answers, after accusing the force of “procrastinating and obfuscation” and attempting to “kick into the long grass” concerns about the conviction of Abdelbaset al Megrahi.

Christine Grahame MSP, committee convener, said she will also write to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) to see if Megrahi’s family have asked for a new appeal.

The campaign group Justice For Megrahi (JFM) has called for a Scottish Government inquiry and alleged criminal wrongdoing by police in the original investigation into the bombing of Pan Am 103, in December 1988, which killed 270 people.

John Finnie, an independent MSP and former police officer, said: “The Scottish Government has no plans to launch an inquiry - I find that unfortunate.

“These are allegations of criminality in a mass murder case.”

The committee had been handed a letter from senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Johnston, written to JFM, which was not able to say how many officers were working on this inquiry, or what stage it was at.

“I think this is a dismissive approach by an authority to JFM, and by definition to this committee.

“What we have seen is procrastination and obfuscation. I can’t see the Crown Office injecting any sense of urgency.”

The original petition had called for an inquiry into the conviction, but the SNP Scottish Government has made clear the only place it should be examined is in the courts.

Ms Grahame, an SNP MSP, said some form of action was now needed.

“You talk about obfuscation and procrastination, I call it kicking it into the long grass,” she told Mr Finnie.

“It seems to me to be extraordinary in regards to the question how many officers are working on the inquiry, that (the letter states) I’m unable to provide you with definitive updates as it’s being reviewed by myself.

“How long does it take to work out how many officers are working on it and what stage it is at?

“I think we should write to the chief constable to ask him and require an answer within 10 days.” 

[A further report in the same newspaper can be read here. A report published on The Herald website reads in part:]

A Holyrood committee has rejected a call to close a petition demanding an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bomber's conviction.

Instead MSPs on the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee are hoping to find out if moves have been made that could lead to a further appeal on behalf of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

The committee is to contact the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) - an independent body which investigates where there are concerns about a possible miscarriage of justice.

Sir Stephen House, the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, will also be written to, as MSPs are worried allegations about the original Lockerbie investigation are being sidelined.

The Justice for Megrahi campaign, which put forward the petition calling for an independent investigation into the Libyan's conviction, has also made allegations of "criminality during the investigation of the Lockerbie disaster".

Detective Superintendent Stuart Johnstone has written to the group's secretary, Robert Forrester, saying a "conflict" with the live investigation into the case remains "unresolved".

Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell said these matters took the committee "off at a tangent" from the petition's original call for an inquiry in Megrahi's conviction.

She said: "We could close the petition today because the Scottish Government has said quite categorically it has no plans for a review.

"I would be inclined to close it today because we're going off at a tangent."

The committee rejected that, with independent MSP John Finnie saying such a move would be "inappropriate" when there was an "ongoing live criminal inquiry".

MSPs will write to the SCCRC to find out if it has been approached to review the case.

Committee convener Christine Grahame said they would be seeking to discover if "any application or inquiry has been made, an application by any member of the Megrahi family or anyone with an interest" to the SCCRC - which reviews cases before deciding whether or not to refer them on to the courts.

Ms Grahame added she was "very cross" with the lack of information regarding any investigation into Justice for Megrahi's allegations of criminality in the original Lockerbie investigation.

Mr Finnie said these were "allegations of serious criminality in what was a mass murder case", as he accused the authorities of "procrastination and obstruction" .

Ms Grahame said: "You call it procrastination and obstruction, I call it long grass. If there's any strategy here with regard to the Megrahi issue it seems to be to kick things into the long grass, wear people out, hope those who are pursuing this fall off their perches and it all goes away."

She said MSPs had been told by the police in September it would be "a matter of weeks" before they "would be able to confirm the investigation had fully commenced", but were still no further forward.

Ms Grahame hit out: "This is nonsense. I just think this is contemptuous of the committee. We are being told weeks, then it becomes months. Not good enough.

"I am concerned that if the Justice Committee is being treated in this rather off-hand fashion, goodness knows what is happening elsewhere."

She said: "I think we should be writing directly to the Chief Constable and asking him how many people are currently working on the inquiry and what the position is with regard to another inquiry. I think it's time we went to the top of the tree."

Megrahi: a victim of injustice not yet officially acknowledged

[What follows is the text of an editorial published today on the website of the United Arab Emirates’ Khaleej Times:]

The news that Omar Sheikh, convicted of the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, tried to commit suicide in his prison cell in Hyderabad has brought the British-Pakistani back in the limelight and reminded the world, now preoccupied with other issues, of the brutal incident in 2002 and its far from satisfactory aftermath.

Perhaps it should be taken as a sign that Sheikh’s case should be re-opened, especially with the misgivings that surfaced three years ago that the Sheikh arrest may be just the tip of the iceberg and there may be other major actors involved who are yet to be brought to justice. In some ways it is like a lesser shadow of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 that killed 270 people on the Pan Am Flight 103. Libyan Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was found guilty of having placed the bomb on board after a hurried investigation that had only the flimsiest evidence against him. Still avowing his innocence Megrahi would have probably died in prison but for his being diagnosed with terminal cancer and released in 2009 after a successful intervention by Muammar Gaddafi. However, the surfacing of classified documents later raised the strong possibility that the CIA had botched up the investigation and made a sacrificial victim of Megrahi to appease the American public outrage over the carnage. Now Megrahi, dead but not forgotten, is considered to be equally a victim of injustice though the West has not yet officially acknowledged its injustice to him.

In Sheikh’s incident too there seems to be ground for re-opening the Daniel Pearl abduction and murder case. Three years ago, an independent investigation led by a friend and colleague of Pearl reported that the actual killer was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who was said to have plotted the 9/11 attacks in the US. Sheikh is said to have been involved in the American journalist’s abduction. So though Sheikh is a player in the case that dominated the media worldwide and later inspired a Hollywood film, there are other co-players whose involvement needs to be brought to light. The Pakistan government, like the US government after Lockerbie, was under intense pressure and had to act quickly to show the international community that rule of law prevailed in the country and it had successfully punished Pearl’s murderers. So the loose ends were ignored, including Sheikh’s reported association with the ISI. Now with his appeal pending for nine years, it seems the case is going nowhere and the truth may never be known completely. Perhaps the sequence of events would be revealed only in the future, like it was in the Lockerbie case.

Megrahi petition before Scottish Parliament Justice Committee today

A reminder that Justice for Megrahi’s petition PE1370 is on the agenda for today’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee.  The meeting starts at 10.45 GMT in Holyrood Committee Room 2.  Further details here. Members and supporters of Justice for Megrahi will be in attendance.  The proceedings can be viewed on Parliament TV.

25 years ago today Lockerbie investigators announced cause of downing of plane

[From the On This Day website for 16 February:]

1989 - Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, announced that a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player was the reason that Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down the previous December. All 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground were killed.

Lockerbie victim's father, Jim Swire, advises Donald Trump to 'educate himself' on disaster

[This is the headline over an article published today on the UK website of The Huffington Post.  It reads in part:]

After Donald Trump compared the development of wind farms in Scotland to the Lockerbie disaster, the father of one victim has spoken out. (...)

"Even the most casual observer would agree that the crashing of an aircraft onto the people and town of Lockerbie was a terrible disaster for Scotland," Dr Swire said in a letter sent to the Huffington Post UK.

"But it would at the least be insensitive to compare failure to achieve his aims over a golf course to the loss of all those innocent lives," he added, referring to Trump's comments.

In yet another attack on green energy schemes, Trump said “wind farms are a disaster for Scotland, like Pan Am 103." (...)

Dr Swire advised Trump to educate himself on the truth behind the 1988 incident, saying: "Loss of life cannot be measured in terms of money, nor can its loss be compensated for through money."

Since the day his daughter was killed, Dr Swire has been battling the official version of events, which held that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who died last year after returning to Libya from Scotland, was the guilty man.

Dr Swire is convinced that Megrahi was innocent, and describes the case against him as "rubbish", a course that has pitted him against many of the other relatives who hold the Libyan responsible.

The retired GP said he would be happy to help the billionaire tycoon become more informed. 

[Here is the full text of Dr Swire’s letter:]

Mr Trump's remarks are made against frustration at Scotland's refusal to agree to his demands over his golf course project.

This must of course be a project designed to make money for Mr Trump, that is how capitalism works, and few can be more efficient in the use of capitalist ideology than our American cousins.

But it is at the least insensitive to compare failure to achieve his aims to the loss of 270 innocent lives at Lockerbie.

Loss of life cannot be measured in terms of money, nor can its loss be compensated for through money.

However if Mr Trump wishes to look into the truth behind the Lockerbie disaster, which has I believe been obscured by Scotland's handling of the case against the Late Baset al-Megrahi, I would be happy to put his people in touch with those who have studied  that situation most closely and come to the conclusion that Scots law has failed on this issue.

Mr Trump's team might feel that the title of a recent book by John Ashton Scotland's Shame (Birlinn, Edinburgh) was of interest. They will find this book provides evidence of a major failure of our Scottish legal system, which we have yet to address.

Mr Trump needs to be careful however because his country the USA still believes that the late Baset al Megrahi and his country Libya, were responsible for the cruel slaughter at Lockerbie. If he will objectively research the issue I feel sure he will find that unfortunately we in Scotland got that horribly wrong and have yet to address our failure even all these years later.

Aljazeera's third Lockerbie documentary

A little bird tells me that Aljazeera’s new Lockerbie documentary, provisionally entitled If not Megrahi, then who? which was originally expected to be shown on or about the 25th anniversary in December 2013, will be broadcast worldwide on a series of dates commencing on either 25 February or 5 March 2014.   

Justice for Megrahi petition back before Justice Committee

At its meeting on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, one of the items on the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee’s agenda will be further consideration of Justice for Megrahi’s petition PE 1370.  A written submission to the Committee by JFM’s secretary, Robert Forrester, can be read here.  It deals with progress (or lack of it) on Police Scotland’s investigation of Justice for Megrahi’s allegations of criminal misconduct in the Lockerbie investigation and the prosecution and trial of Abdelbaset Megrahi. The clerk to the Committee's briefing note on the petition can be read here (document J/SA/14/6/3, paras 27 to 33).