[Following the publication of his most recent letter in The Scotsman, Dr Jim Swire emailed a follow-up letter to the editor. Since it has not been published yesterday or today, I am taking the liberty of posting it here:]
I am grateful to you for being so objective as to publish my letter yesterday which questions the position of a famous previous editor of your own paper, Magnus Linklater over the Lockerbie investigations and trial.
Mr Linklater is also a frequent contributor to The Times of London, where on 13th August 2012, following the EIBF discussion previously mentioned, he published a piece in which he alleged, under the heading Has Scotland really swallowed this crazy conspiracy?
that the contention of the panelists at the EIBF that an alternative scenario involving Iran and Heathrow airport was this 'crazy conspiracy'.
On that panel was the author and Megrahi defence team member John Ashton. One thing Mr Linklater chose to ignore is that it is thanks to this man that we now know that a fragment of circuit board allegedly from Libya which had found its way into a Scottish police evidence bag, could in fact never have been part of one of the designated Libyan timers. This fragment had become the key forensic plank supporting the extraordinary story that the bomb had originated from Malta, courtesy of just such a long-running timer supplied by the Libyans.
The Ashton findings are not mere allegations, they are backed by responsible academic scientific authorities who have compared the fragment with the real Libyan timer boards and found that the differences are irreconcilable.
This can be read in Mr Ashton's book Megrahi: You are my Jury (Birlinn, Edinburgh). There is much else in that book that I commend to Mr Linklater's attention. He may note the clever title: their Lordships at Zeist had no jury to decide on the verdict
It is the task of a prosecuting authority under criminal law to establish a case beyond reasonable doubt.
For me as a lay but technically educated person attending this trial throughout, that was never achieved at the time and it lies in ruins now. I do not believe and have never suggested that their Lordships were in any way operating improperly or part of a 'crazy conspiracy' as Linklater seems to think we are suggesting.
But it does seem to me that they were entitled to weigh up a case where all the relevant evidence was properly shared with the defence by the prosecution, and where the integrity of the evidence chain would have been kept sacrosanct.
There is no scrap of evidence as to where else that fragment might have come from amongst the wreckage of my daughter's flight, other than from the bomb itself. Not one scrap.
It therefore looks as though someone managed to insert a fragment of circuit board into a police evidence bag, and someone contrived to alter the label on that bag to ensure that the investigating forensic officer would find it. Neither person has been identified.
The knowledge that Heathrow had been broken into 16 hours before Lockerbie, close to where the cases for the Lockerbie flight were loaded the following evening, was known to the Scottish police from January 1989, but concealed from the court which tried Megrahi until after the verdict.
Thus the unfortunate judges were trying a case where a key piece of evidence had been intruded evidently in order to deceive, and a major tranche of the defence's alternative hypothesis has been denied to them and to the court by the suppression of the Heathrow break-in evidence.
How right the UN's special observer Professor Hans Koechler (also on the EIBF panel) was to say that this trial was not justice, and our own SCCRC to conclude that a major miscarriage of justice might have occurred here.
What I would like would be for Mr Linklater to study particularly the trial transcripts and Megrahi: You are my Jury, as we the 'crazy conspirators' have many times done. When he has, he will be very welcome to join us in calling not for an investigation by the involved police force itself, as at present offered, but for a full and independent inquiry, particularly into the behaviour of the Crown Office.
For us, the relatives in the UK, it is truth that matters. We just want to know who killed our families and why those families were not protected. For the Scottish public, meaningfully questioning the integrity and competence of their prosecuting service should be mandatory
Present complacent attitudes in Scotland seem to be protecting the real perpetrators of this dreadful atrocity.
I am grateful to Professor Robert Black QC of Edinburgh for supplying the link to Mr Linklater's Times article. His blog lockerbiecase.blogspot.com is in my opinion the best reference source on this dreadful case. Professor Black is of course emeritus Professor of Scots law.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Parties unite in backing over Pan Am probe
[This is the headline over a report by Greg Christison in the Scottish edition of today’s Sunday Express. The report does not appear to feature on the newspaper’s website, but it reads as follows:]
Alex Salmond is under pressure to launch an inquiry into claims that legal officials and police perverted the course of justice over the Lockerbie bombing.
Campaigners have submitted eight allegations to Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.
The Justice for Megrahi (JFM) group was told to pass evidence to the force, even though its own officers are named in the report.
The Crown Office will also have a role, despite the most serious allegations being levelled against its own prosecutors.
On Tuesday, Holyrood’s Justice Committee voted that a petition from JFM calling for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie investigation should be kept open until the matter is cleared up.
Independent member John Finnie, said the Crown Office is being allowed to “act as judge and jury while accused.”
He added: “Any organisation – and I include the Crown Office – must have mechanisms to deal with events like this.
“Clearly, the Justice Committee needs to understand whether there are some of the mechanisms already in place or can be put in place to ensure that these very legitimate concerns of great public interest are addressed.”
During the meeting, SNP convener Christine Grahame, who is also a member of the JFM group, was joined by Labour, Lib Dem and Tory MSPs.
JFM secretary Robert Forrester said: “At previous meetings, the Justice Committee split down party lines, but this time they voted unanimously to keep our petition open. And that’s a reflection that the Government – namely Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – afforded us only one option with our allegations.
“When we asked him to appoint an independent investigator to study our allegations he recommended us to refer them to the very people we were complaining about.
“It was clear that [the committee] regarded this as a highly questionable way in which to treat our allegations. In other words, it appeared the Justice Committee thought our request for an independent investigator was justifiable, absolutely normal and understandable.
“It has put a considerable amount of pressure on the Government to hold an inquiry.”
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who died in May, is the only man ever convicted of the bombing, which killed 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, in December 1988.
He always maintained his innocence, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission ruled there may have been a “miscarriage of justice” in his trial.
A Scottish Government spokesman yesterday insisted the complaints are “a matter for a court of law”, while the Crown Office declared the accusations “defamatory” and said they had already been rejected in court.
A spokesman added: “If such evidence is produced, Dumfries and Galloway Police will investigate in accordance with well-established procedures in Scotland.”
* JFM, whose members believe the bomb was planted on Pan Am Flight 103 at Heathrow, will outline their allegations in next weekend’s Scottish Sunday Express.
Alex Salmond is under pressure to launch an inquiry into claims that legal officials and police perverted the course of justice over the Lockerbie bombing.
Campaigners have submitted eight allegations to Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.
The Justice for Megrahi (JFM) group was told to pass evidence to the force, even though its own officers are named in the report.
The Crown Office will also have a role, despite the most serious allegations being levelled against its own prosecutors.
On Tuesday, Holyrood’s Justice Committee voted that a petition from JFM calling for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie investigation should be kept open until the matter is cleared up.
Independent member John Finnie, said the Crown Office is being allowed to “act as judge and jury while accused.”
He added: “Any organisation – and I include the Crown Office – must have mechanisms to deal with events like this.
“Clearly, the Justice Committee needs to understand whether there are some of the mechanisms already in place or can be put in place to ensure that these very legitimate concerns of great public interest are addressed.”
During the meeting, SNP convener Christine Grahame, who is also a member of the JFM group, was joined by Labour, Lib Dem and Tory MSPs.
JFM secretary Robert Forrester said: “At previous meetings, the Justice Committee split down party lines, but this time they voted unanimously to keep our petition open. And that’s a reflection that the Government – namely Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill – afforded us only one option with our allegations.
“When we asked him to appoint an independent investigator to study our allegations he recommended us to refer them to the very people we were complaining about.
“It was clear that [the committee] regarded this as a highly questionable way in which to treat our allegations. In other words, it appeared the Justice Committee thought our request for an independent investigator was justifiable, absolutely normal and understandable.
“It has put a considerable amount of pressure on the Government to hold an inquiry.”
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who died in May, is the only man ever convicted of the bombing, which killed 270 people when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, in December 1988.
He always maintained his innocence, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission ruled there may have been a “miscarriage of justice” in his trial.
A Scottish Government spokesman yesterday insisted the complaints are “a matter for a court of law”, while the Crown Office declared the accusations “defamatory” and said they had already been rejected in court.
A spokesman added: “If such evidence is produced, Dumfries and Galloway Police will investigate in accordance with well-established procedures in Scotland.”
* JFM, whose members believe the bomb was planted on Pan Am Flight 103 at Heathrow, will outline their allegations in next weekend’s Scottish Sunday Express.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Lockerbie, Hillsborough, Finucane
[In today’s edition of The Scotsman a letter is published from Dr Jim Swire. It reads as follows:]
The unanimous decision of the Holyrood justice committee on 11 December, to keep open petition 1370 from JFM (Justice for Megrahi) calling for an independent inquiry into the handling of the Lockerbie case, came at an opportune moment.
The powerful allegations of criminality lodged with justice secretary Kenny MacAskill by the same group in September had been referred for investigation to Dumfries and Galloway Police, the force which had responsibility for the investigation which led to the verdict – a stark contrast with the call embodied in the petition for an independent inquiry.
The material which emerged from Hillsborough concerning the deliberate altering of police statements to incriminate football fans and exonerate the police, and the astonishing involvement of MI5, the Northern Ireland police, the British Army intelligence units and others over the brutal murder of Pat Finucane, must place the Dumfries and Galloway chief constable in a deeply invidious position in assessing his own force’s previous performance in the Lockerbie investigation.
At a discussion group at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year, titled “A spectacular miscarriage of justice?”, Magnus Linklater alone claimed that the idea of a conspiracy concerning the Lockerbie case was not credible. [RB: Mr Linklater’s subsequent article in The Times can be read here.]
It was clear that even then, the bulk of the audience did not agree with him. Yes, he is a respected former editor of your estimable newspaper, but I wonder whether he now regrets his intervention.
[Ian Bell's powerful article in today's edition of The Herald Britain's shameful role in rendition in the dock is also very much in point.]
The unanimous decision of the Holyrood justice committee on 11 December, to keep open petition 1370 from JFM (Justice for Megrahi) calling for an independent inquiry into the handling of the Lockerbie case, came at an opportune moment.
The powerful allegations of criminality lodged with justice secretary Kenny MacAskill by the same group in September had been referred for investigation to Dumfries and Galloway Police, the force which had responsibility for the investigation which led to the verdict – a stark contrast with the call embodied in the petition for an independent inquiry.
The material which emerged from Hillsborough concerning the deliberate altering of police statements to incriminate football fans and exonerate the police, and the astonishing involvement of MI5, the Northern Ireland police, the British Army intelligence units and others over the brutal murder of Pat Finucane, must place the Dumfries and Galloway chief constable in a deeply invidious position in assessing his own force’s previous performance in the Lockerbie investigation.
At a discussion group at the Edinburgh Book Festival this year, titled “A spectacular miscarriage of justice?”, Magnus Linklater alone claimed that the idea of a conspiracy concerning the Lockerbie case was not credible. [RB: Mr Linklater’s subsequent article in The Times can be read here.]
It was clear that even then, the bulk of the audience did not agree with him. Yes, he is a respected former editor of your estimable newspaper, but I wonder whether he now regrets his intervention.
[Ian Bell's powerful article in today's edition of The Herald Britain's shameful role in rendition in the dock is also very much in point.]
Friday, 14 December 2012
Jim Swire criticises Donald Trump over Lockerbie bomber jibe
[The following is an excerpt from a report published today on the STV News website:]
A man whose daughter was killed in the Lockerbie bombing has criticised US billionaire Donald Trump for using the tragedy in his latest attack on Scotland’s First Minister.
In an advert, placed by Golf International Golf Links, the tycoon links Alex Salmond’s stance on wind turbines to the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
The advert has appeared in The Press and Journal and The Courier.
Mr Trump strongly opposes wind power and is currently locked in a battle with Alex Salmond over a proposed offshore wind farm which would be within sight of his golf course in Aberdeenshire.
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing in December 1988, said the tragedy had “no place in a confrontation between an entrepreneur who is interested in making money in Scotland and the government”.
He said: “We all know what Trump’s interest is and this is obviously to further his entrepreneurial practice.
“I don’t agree with the text because I don’t agree al-Megrahi was a terrorist at all. Whether his boss did [it] I don’t know. But I’m satisfied al-Megrahi didn’t.
“Donald Trump’s attempt to blacken the name of the Scottish Government and convince people the Highlands will turn into one vast wind park has very little to do with Lockerbie. Other than the government has refused a proper investigation into the issues.
“The discussion and investigation [about Lockerbie] has no place in a confrontation between an entrepreneur who is interested in making money in Scotland and the government who failed to investigate the infinitely more important questions over why people were killed in 1988.”
Megrahi, 60, was sentenced to life in prison for the 1988 bombing of a US airliner which claimed 270 lives.
He was released from jail in August 2009 on companionate ground as he was after doctors say he is likely to die within three months as he suffered from advanced prostate cancer. Megrahi died in May this year.
The advert, which features a picture of a wind farm in California, states: “Tourism will suffer and the beauty of your country is in jeopardy!
“This is the same mind that backed the release of terrorist al-Megrahi, 'for humane reasons' -- after he ruthlessly killed 270 people on Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Take action. Write, demonstrate and protest Alex Salmond.”
[A similar report on the MSN News website can be read here; and a report in Saturday's edition of The Scotsman here.]
A man whose daughter was killed in the Lockerbie bombing has criticised US billionaire Donald Trump for using the tragedy in his latest attack on Scotland’s First Minister.
In an advert, placed by Golf International Golf Links, the tycoon links Alex Salmond’s stance on wind turbines to the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
The advert has appeared in The Press and Journal and The Courier.
Mr Trump strongly opposes wind power and is currently locked in a battle with Alex Salmond over a proposed offshore wind farm which would be within sight of his golf course in Aberdeenshire.
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing in December 1988, said the tragedy had “no place in a confrontation between an entrepreneur who is interested in making money in Scotland and the government”.
He said: “We all know what Trump’s interest is and this is obviously to further his entrepreneurial practice.
“I don’t agree with the text because I don’t agree al-Megrahi was a terrorist at all. Whether his boss did [it] I don’t know. But I’m satisfied al-Megrahi didn’t.
“Donald Trump’s attempt to blacken the name of the Scottish Government and convince people the Highlands will turn into one vast wind park has very little to do with Lockerbie. Other than the government has refused a proper investigation into the issues.
“The discussion and investigation [about Lockerbie] has no place in a confrontation between an entrepreneur who is interested in making money in Scotland and the government who failed to investigate the infinitely more important questions over why people were killed in 1988.”
Megrahi, 60, was sentenced to life in prison for the 1988 bombing of a US airliner which claimed 270 lives.
He was released from jail in August 2009 on companionate ground as he was after doctors say he is likely to die within three months as he suffered from advanced prostate cancer. Megrahi died in May this year.
The advert, which features a picture of a wind farm in California, states: “Tourism will suffer and the beauty of your country is in jeopardy!
“This is the same mind that backed the release of terrorist al-Megrahi, 'for humane reasons' -- after he ruthlessly killed 270 people on Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Take action. Write, demonstrate and protest Alex Salmond.”
[A similar report on the MSN News website can be read here; and a report in Saturday's edition of The Scotsman here.]
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Trial of Obeidi and Zwai adjourned again
[What follows is taken from a report published earlier this week in the Libya Herald:]
Also in court today in a separate case were former foreign minister Abdel-Ati al-Obeidi and former Secretary General of the General People’s Congress Mohammed Zwai. They are accused in connection with the $2.7 billion in compensation payments for families of those killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, charges they both deny.
The case, already adjourned, was also again adjouned, until 7 January.
[Background material can be found in this blog post.]
Also in court today in a separate case were former foreign minister Abdel-Ati al-Obeidi and former Secretary General of the General People’s Congress Mohammed Zwai. They are accused in connection with the $2.7 billion in compensation payments for families of those killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, charges they both deny.
The case, already adjourned, was also again adjouned, until 7 January.
[Background material can be found in this blog post.]
Further performances of "The Lockerbie Bomber"
[What follows is taken from the website of Tryst Theatre:]
[A review by Vronsky of the first performance of this play can be read here.]
Tryst will perform The Lockerbie Bomber in the Alman Theatre [Alloa] on January 17-19.
The bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie killed 270 people and was the worst terrorist atrocity in the UK. Now, for the first time, the horrific tragedy is brought to the stage in this new work which lifts the veil of secrecy thrown over the bombing by successive Governments and security services.
The harrowing play, which is dedicated to the memory of the victims of Lockerbie and their families, is set in the present day and looks at the bombing from three different perspectives – the victims’ families, journalists investigating the case and the UK and US security services engaged in covering up what happened. It links Grangemouth, Greenock, Glasgow and Guantanamo Bay in the gritty and fast-moving 75-minute piece.
The play was specially written for Tryst and its six actors Jim Allan, Alan Clark, Carol Clark, Rhona Law, Craig Murray and Brian Paterson.
Director Alan Clark said: “Almost twenty-four years to the day, Lockerbie still looms large over Scotland and there are still unanswered questions over what happened that December night and who is ultimately responsible for two hundred and seventy murders. As one of the characters says: “A few people, high up in the US and UK Governments, know exactly what happened, but they’re never going to tell us.”"
Writer Kenneth N. Ross said: “I wrote the play, my first, as a reminder that the 270 victims and their families still await justice. The more I researched and delved, the clearer it became that Scottish justice and successive Governments have failed them terribly. Like all Scots, I was appalled by Lockerbie. And like a lot of Scots, I personally believe there’s been a miscarriage of justice and a cover-up.”
And he added: “It has scenes which will shock and disturb but compared to the horrors that happened at Lockerbie that night, it’s nothing.”
The play has been seen and welcomed by members of the Justice for Megrahi group. Founded in November 2008, the high-profile campaign maintains that the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing was a miscarriage of justice and its main objective is to have Mr al-Megrahi’s conviction quashed.
One of its members is retired Police Superintendent Iain McKie who was at the premiere. “This is a challenging and thought-provoking play that brings the human suffering and political chicanery behind the tragedy of Lockerbie to vivid and dramatic life. It should be required viewing for every Scot as a reminder of a disaster that has become an indelible stain on the reputation of Scotland and its justice system."
The Lockerbie Bomber is on at the Alman Theatre [Alloa] on January 17-19 at 8pm. Tickets, £10, are available form the Alman Box Office on 07929 561 331.
[A review by Vronsky of the first performance of this play can be read here.]
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Forthcoming Lockerbie novel by James Robertson
[What follows is taken from 50 books we’re looking forward to in 2013 posted yesterday on the Bookmunch website:]
The Professor of Truth by James Robertson
His novel The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy’s Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award, and his most recent And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Book of the Year Award 2010. So The Professor of Truth which concerns a university professor Alan Tealing’s search to get to the bottom of the Lockerbie bombing that killed his wife and daughter should be something to really get our teeth into…
[James Robertson is, in my view, Scotland’s most distinguished living novelist. He is a veteran supporter of Justice for Megrahi’s campaign for an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie investigation and the prosecution and conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi. His 2011 Saltire Society Lecture The Lockerbie affair and Scottish society can be read here.]
The Professor of Truth by James Robertson
His novel The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy’s Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award, and his most recent And the Land Lay Still was the winner of the Saltire Book of the Year Award 2010. So The Professor of Truth which concerns a university professor Alan Tealing’s search to get to the bottom of the Lockerbie bombing that killed his wife and daughter should be something to really get our teeth into…
[James Robertson is, in my view, Scotland’s most distinguished living novelist. He is a veteran supporter of Justice for Megrahi’s campaign for an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie investigation and the prosecution and conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi. His 2011 Saltire Society Lecture The Lockerbie affair and Scottish society can be read here.]
Justice Committee keeps Megrahi petition open
[I am delighted that the first item to be posted on this blog during my current sojourn in South Africa should be the following report from Justice for Megrahi secretary, Robert Forrester, on yesterday’s proceedings before the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee:]
The long and the short of it is that, insofar as I could assess, there was a full house of Justice Committee members present at the session and, quite unlike previous occasions, the vote did not split down party lines. They voted unanimously to maintain PE1370's status as open. JFM could not have been gifted a more welcome seasonal reward for its labours from the Justice Committee. It was clear from the contributions at today's session that the members of the Justice Committee viewed the Scottish Government's approach to dealing with our allegations as a significant factor in their decision to keep the petition open. In fact, it is fair to say that had we not lodged our allegations when we did, there was a very strong possibility that the petition would now be languishing in the history books as having been a valiant but failed attempt to seek redress on this tragic issue. Moreover, had the government not done what they did (namely, informing JFM that if we wished to have our allegations investigated, we, perversely, were going to be limited to submitting them to the very bodies we were complaining about), the Justice Committee may not have been quite as unified in their position as they ultimately were.
A complementary relationship has come into being where not only are the petition and the allegations justified and substantial in their own individual rights but they mutually support each other. In their resolve today, the Justice Committee put the ball firmly back in the Crown's court. There has been a full month of deafening silence from this quarter since JFM handed over our forty-one page supporting document to officers from Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. We believe we have presented the police and the Crown Office with eight soundly argued and compelling allegations many of which take a very different approach to past discussions on the shortcomings of Zeist. The Justice Committee have now put a firm, unanimous and unambiguous parliamentary seal of approval on this campaign. The convenor and all their members deserve our equally unanimous gratitude.
Thanks must also go to the JFM Signatories (John Mosey, Tessa Ransford, James Robertson and Christina Dunwoodie), who were able to make it along to the hearing today to accompany the JFM Committee members. It was the best turnout we have had since the petition was launched two years ago.
[A report in today's edition of the Maltese newspaper The Times can be read here; and one in The Herald here.]
The long and the short of it is that, insofar as I could assess, there was a full house of Justice Committee members present at the session and, quite unlike previous occasions, the vote did not split down party lines. They voted unanimously to maintain PE1370's status as open. JFM could not have been gifted a more welcome seasonal reward for its labours from the Justice Committee. It was clear from the contributions at today's session that the members of the Justice Committee viewed the Scottish Government's approach to dealing with our allegations as a significant factor in their decision to keep the petition open. In fact, it is fair to say that had we not lodged our allegations when we did, there was a very strong possibility that the petition would now be languishing in the history books as having been a valiant but failed attempt to seek redress on this tragic issue. Moreover, had the government not done what they did (namely, informing JFM that if we wished to have our allegations investigated, we, perversely, were going to be limited to submitting them to the very bodies we were complaining about), the Justice Committee may not have been quite as unified in their position as they ultimately were.
A complementary relationship has come into being where not only are the petition and the allegations justified and substantial in their own individual rights but they mutually support each other. In their resolve today, the Justice Committee put the ball firmly back in the Crown's court. There has been a full month of deafening silence from this quarter since JFM handed over our forty-one page supporting document to officers from Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary. We believe we have presented the police and the Crown Office with eight soundly argued and compelling allegations many of which take a very different approach to past discussions on the shortcomings of Zeist. The Justice Committee have now put a firm, unanimous and unambiguous parliamentary seal of approval on this campaign. The convenor and all their members deserve our equally unanimous gratitude.
Thanks must also go to the JFM Signatories (John Mosey, Tessa Ransford, James Robertson and Christina Dunwoodie), who were able to make it along to the hearing today to accompany the JFM Committee members. It was the best turnout we have had since the petition was launched two years ago.
[A report in today's edition of the Maltese newspaper The Times can be read here; and one in The Herald here.]
Monday, 10 December 2012
Christopher Brookmyre joins Justice for Megrahi campaign
[This is the headline over a report just published on the website of Scottish lawyers’ magazine The Firm. It reads as follows:]
The celebrated Scots author Christopher Brookmyre and the Artistic Director of Edinburgh Grand Opera, Christina Dunwoodie have both joined the Justice for Megrahi campaign group.
They join signatories to a petition for calling for an inquiry into the Pan Am 103 affair including John Pilger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Tam Dalyell and Jock Thompson QC.
The petition will be heard again by the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee tomorrow.
"It is extremely important that this matter remains a ‘live’ issue within the Scottish Parliament so that it cannot be arbitrarily closed down by the very people we believe might have culpability in the matter," the committee said in a statement.
"It is vital that clear and unambiguous answers are forthcoming from the appropriate authorities. In light of the integral relationship between PE1370 and the allegations we have lodged with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, we would request that the Justice Committee maintain the status of PE1370 as ‘open’ whilst decisions are made in respect of these allegations.
"It is obvious that we have raised many important questions that the ongoing Crown Office/police enquiry has failed to answer."
The celebrated Scots author Christopher Brookmyre and the Artistic Director of Edinburgh Grand Opera, Christina Dunwoodie have both joined the Justice for Megrahi campaign group.
They join signatories to a petition for calling for an inquiry into the Pan Am 103 affair including John Pilger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky, Tam Dalyell and Jock Thompson QC.
The petition will be heard again by the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee tomorrow.
"It is extremely important that this matter remains a ‘live’ issue within the Scottish Parliament so that it cannot be arbitrarily closed down by the very people we believe might have culpability in the matter," the committee said in a statement.
"It is vital that clear and unambiguous answers are forthcoming from the appropriate authorities. In light of the integral relationship between PE1370 and the allegations we have lodged with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, we would request that the Justice Committee maintain the status of PE1370 as ‘open’ whilst decisions are made in respect of these allegations.
"It is obvious that we have raised many important questions that the ongoing Crown Office/police enquiry has failed to answer."
Justice Committee consideration of Megrahi petition
[What follows is taken from a Justice for Megrahi press release:]
On Tuesday 11th December in the Scottish Parliament the Justice Committee will decide how it will move matters forward in respect of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) petition PE1370 calling for an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp Van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 In December 1988. This decision comes as serious criminal allegations against the Crown Office and police in respect of the Lockerbie investigation are under consideration by Dumfries and Galloway Police.
EVENTS
10.00 hrs Tuesday 11th December: Scottish Parliament Committee Room 2 – Justice Committee considers, among other matters, Petition PE1370 from Justice for Megrahi.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/Meeting%20Papers/Papers20121211.pdf
NOTE: It is estimated that the petition will be considered between 11/11.30 am. Dr Jim Swire, Revd John Mosey, Len Murray, Jock Thomson QC, Iain McKie, Tessa Ransford OBE, James Robertson and other members of the Justice for Megrahi Committee and its signatory membership will attend the meeting and will be available for interview in the main reception area after the meeting.
BACKGROUND
Justice for Megrahi in their most recent submission to the Justice Committee in respect of petition PE 1370, state: ‘It is extremely important that this matter remains a ‘live’ issue within the Scottish Parliament so that it cannot be arbitrarily closed down by the very people we believe might have culpability in the matter. It is vital that clear and unambiguous answers are forthcoming from the appropriate authorities. In light of the integral relationship between PE1370 and the allegations we have lodged with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, we would request that the Justice Committee maintain the status of PE1370 as ‘open’ whilst decisions are made in respect of these allegations. It is obvious that we have raised many important questions that the ongoing Crown Office/police enquiry has failed to answer.
[At just about the time that the Justice Committee is expected to reach this item on its agenda, I shall be landing in Cape Town. Further posts to this blog are not likely until Wednesday, 12 December.]
On Tuesday 11th December in the Scottish Parliament the Justice Committee will decide how it will move matters forward in respect of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) petition PE1370 calling for an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp Van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 In December 1988. This decision comes as serious criminal allegations against the Crown Office and police in respect of the Lockerbie investigation are under consideration by Dumfries and Galloway Police.
EVENTS
10.00 hrs Tuesday 11th December: Scottish Parliament Committee Room 2 – Justice Committee considers, among other matters, Petition PE1370 from Justice for Megrahi.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/Meeting%20Papers/Papers20121211.pdf
NOTE: It is estimated that the petition will be considered between 11/11.30 am. Dr Jim Swire, Revd John Mosey, Len Murray, Jock Thomson QC, Iain McKie, Tessa Ransford OBE, James Robertson and other members of the Justice for Megrahi Committee and its signatory membership will attend the meeting and will be available for interview in the main reception area after the meeting.
BACKGROUND
Justice for Megrahi in their most recent submission to the Justice Committee in respect of petition PE 1370, state: ‘It is extremely important that this matter remains a ‘live’ issue within the Scottish Parliament so that it cannot be arbitrarily closed down by the very people we believe might have culpability in the matter. It is vital that clear and unambiguous answers are forthcoming from the appropriate authorities. In light of the integral relationship between PE1370 and the allegations we have lodged with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, we would request that the Justice Committee maintain the status of PE1370 as ‘open’ whilst decisions are made in respect of these allegations. It is obvious that we have raised many important questions that the ongoing Crown Office/police enquiry has failed to answer.
[At just about the time that the Justice Committee is expected to reach this item on its agenda, I shall be landing in Cape Town. Further posts to this blog are not likely until Wednesday, 12 December.]
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Lockerbie bombing: the search for the truth
[This is the headline over a long article by Alasdair Soussi published today on the website of The National, an English-language newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates. It reads as follows:]
In the early afternoon of May 20, the only person ever convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie died at home in Libya. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had been released from a UK prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 after being found guilty of the December 21, 1988 terrorist atrocity, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 others on the ground.
Megrahi, who had been suffering from prostate cancer and was given only three months to live, was released by Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister, under controversial circumstances.
He arrived home to a hero's welcome at Tripoli airport after serving just eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.
The Libyan, whose co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted at trial, went on to live for two years and nine months, leading many to question the true extent of his illness. But, while seven months may have elapsed since Megrahi's death, and 24 years since the attack itself, many individuals are now convinced of the late Libyan's innocence.
Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, died on Flight 103, Robert Forrester, secretary of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) campaign and John Ashton, author of Megrahi: You Are My Jury, all believe that the Lockerbie dead were not the only casualties that cold December evening when, 38 minutes into its transatlantic flight from London Heathrow, the Clipper Maid of the Seas passenger jet exploded. Swire, Forrester and Ashton are all pushing for Megrahi's conviction to be quashed in the belief that the evidence used to try the Libyan in 2001 can be disproved.
The timer fragment used to detonate the bomb, said to have been found at the Lockerbie crash site and which the prosecution argued had been planted in a suitcase by Megrahi at Malta airport, is one such questionable item of evidence.
According to Ashton, the fragment, made of pure tin, could not have come from any product sold by the Swiss company Mebo in Libya, because it used tin-lead alloy at that time.
He bases his claims on two assertions: a sworn affidavit from the production manager of the firm that made the Mebo timer's circuit boards and expert opinion that refuted remarks made by two prosecution witnesses that the heat from the explosion could have burnt away the lead from the Lockerbie fragment, leaving just tin residue.
"The experts we spoke to did experiments, which disproved this supposition," says Ashton, who worked alongside Megrahi's legal team for three years as a researcher and claims that notes by a prosecution forensics expert, during his original examination of the circuit board fragment in 1991, reveal he was aware of a difference in the composition of the circuit board, but that his notes, which were handed to police on November 8, 1999, were not disclosed to Megrahi's defence until 10 years later.
"So, we then had a very, very startling conclusion which was that the fragment was not from one of the circuit boards sold to Libya. That really destroys the case. The fragment was what tied Megrahi in as he had an association with Mebo, and which was the golden thread that tied [him] to Lockerbie. When you removed that you really had no case."
Swire believes that Ashton's evidence "blows the Malta-Megrahi story … out of the water" and has always harboured deep reservations that a device of this kind "would have been used in such a way that it would only clear Heathrow by 38 minutes".
This, contends Swire, is because such a detonation time fitted perfectly with the pressure-trigger bombing devices used by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC). Indeed, not only were the PFLP-GC the original prime suspects, but they were also incriminated by group member Mobdi Goben, in a lengthy deathbed confession.
For Swire, the evidence of the so-called "Heathrow break-in" - which took place just 16 hours before the bombing at a padlocked rubber door that gave access from landside to airside and down towards the airport's baggage area - was also mishandled.
It is his contention that Scottish police, who were in possession of the full facts surrounding the incident at Heathrow by February 1989 but didn't pass on details to the Crown Office in their case against Megrahi in 1991 - doing so only eight years later when they merely submitted unreferenced details of the break-in along with 14,000 other witness statements - "decided off their own bat that there was no evidence for anyone else being involved in the bombing and to suppress the Heathrow evidence in its entirety".
"The Crown Office, before the case started in court, knew perfectly well that the defence were going to lead [on] incrimination and were going to allege that the PFLP-GC had done this with one of their devices," says Swire, who claims that the appearance of the Lockerbie timer fragment was the result of "a major, major conspiracy of some unknown party to pervert the course of justice".
"In order to use a PFLP-GC device it would have to have been introduced at Heathrow or had to be treated by the terrorists in some way at Heathrow in order to activate it. Why? Because if you flew it in from Frankfurt it would have blown up on the way - on the feeder flight, Pan Am 103A. In that scenario, the evidence of the break-in ought to have been a crucial defence plank, but it wasn't because the defence didn't know about it."
With such assertions in mind, Forrester, on behalf of the JFM committee - which includes a Queen's Counsel, the parish priest in Lockerbie at the time of the disaster and a retired police superintendent, as well as Swire - wrote to Scotland's justice secretary on September 13, 2012, alleging six counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice pertaining to members of the Scottish police, the Crown and other involved parties. [RB: the original six counts have now been increased to eight.]
But, as Forrester admits, "major obstacles" exist in reaching JFM's goal of seeking justice for the 270 victims. This, despite a report from the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) - a non-departmental public body funded by the Scottish government - which upheld six grounds on which Megrahi could have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
Indeed, viable avenues to expose Megrahi's conviction to the above claims - and others that have surfaced - appear doom-laden. An appeal from the Megrahi family, which seems unlikely due to the present political climate in Libya, or, potentially, an appeal from the Lockerbie bereaved, could both be scuppered by a Scottish Parliament ruling, which, says Forrester, "allows the judiciary to reject applications for appeal that are submitted to it by the SCCRC".
A Scottish government- launched independent inquiry, for which JFM has petitioned hard since 2010, provides another potential opening, but Salmond has, thus far, remained steadfastly opposed to such a move. Even so, JFM remains undeterred and focused on what Ashton contends as the biggest miscarriage of justice in the modern age.
"This was the biggest criminal investigation in British history - and the biggest mass murder - but the real hidden thing in this and the real scandal was that not only was the wrong man convicted, but so too was the nation of Libya, because as a result of these indictments Libya was subjected to 12 years of sanctions … So, here you have an entire nation punished on the basis of evidence that was at best shaky and at worst fabricated."
In the early afternoon of May 20, the only person ever convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie died at home in Libya. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had been released from a UK prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 after being found guilty of the December 21, 1988 terrorist atrocity, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 others on the ground.
Megrahi, who had been suffering from prostate cancer and was given only three months to live, was released by Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister, under controversial circumstances.
He arrived home to a hero's welcome at Tripoli airport after serving just eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.
The Libyan, whose co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted at trial, went on to live for two years and nine months, leading many to question the true extent of his illness. But, while seven months may have elapsed since Megrahi's death, and 24 years since the attack itself, many individuals are now convinced of the late Libyan's innocence.
Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, died on Flight 103, Robert Forrester, secretary of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) campaign and John Ashton, author of Megrahi: You Are My Jury, all believe that the Lockerbie dead were not the only casualties that cold December evening when, 38 minutes into its transatlantic flight from London Heathrow, the Clipper Maid of the Seas passenger jet exploded. Swire, Forrester and Ashton are all pushing for Megrahi's conviction to be quashed in the belief that the evidence used to try the Libyan in 2001 can be disproved.
The timer fragment used to detonate the bomb, said to have been found at the Lockerbie crash site and which the prosecution argued had been planted in a suitcase by Megrahi at Malta airport, is one such questionable item of evidence.
According to Ashton, the fragment, made of pure tin, could not have come from any product sold by the Swiss company Mebo in Libya, because it used tin-lead alloy at that time.
He bases his claims on two assertions: a sworn affidavit from the production manager of the firm that made the Mebo timer's circuit boards and expert opinion that refuted remarks made by two prosecution witnesses that the heat from the explosion could have burnt away the lead from the Lockerbie fragment, leaving just tin residue.
"The experts we spoke to did experiments, which disproved this supposition," says Ashton, who worked alongside Megrahi's legal team for three years as a researcher and claims that notes by a prosecution forensics expert, during his original examination of the circuit board fragment in 1991, reveal he was aware of a difference in the composition of the circuit board, but that his notes, which were handed to police on November 8, 1999, were not disclosed to Megrahi's defence until 10 years later.
"So, we then had a very, very startling conclusion which was that the fragment was not from one of the circuit boards sold to Libya. That really destroys the case. The fragment was what tied Megrahi in as he had an association with Mebo, and which was the golden thread that tied [him] to Lockerbie. When you removed that you really had no case."
Swire believes that Ashton's evidence "blows the Malta-Megrahi story … out of the water" and has always harboured deep reservations that a device of this kind "would have been used in such a way that it would only clear Heathrow by 38 minutes".
This, contends Swire, is because such a detonation time fitted perfectly with the pressure-trigger bombing devices used by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC). Indeed, not only were the PFLP-GC the original prime suspects, but they were also incriminated by group member Mobdi Goben, in a lengthy deathbed confession.
For Swire, the evidence of the so-called "Heathrow break-in" - which took place just 16 hours before the bombing at a padlocked rubber door that gave access from landside to airside and down towards the airport's baggage area - was also mishandled.
It is his contention that Scottish police, who were in possession of the full facts surrounding the incident at Heathrow by February 1989 but didn't pass on details to the Crown Office in their case against Megrahi in 1991 - doing so only eight years later when they merely submitted unreferenced details of the break-in along with 14,000 other witness statements - "decided off their own bat that there was no evidence for anyone else being involved in the bombing and to suppress the Heathrow evidence in its entirety".
"The Crown Office, before the case started in court, knew perfectly well that the defence were going to lead [on] incrimination and were going to allege that the PFLP-GC had done this with one of their devices," says Swire, who claims that the appearance of the Lockerbie timer fragment was the result of "a major, major conspiracy of some unknown party to pervert the course of justice".
"In order to use a PFLP-GC device it would have to have been introduced at Heathrow or had to be treated by the terrorists in some way at Heathrow in order to activate it. Why? Because if you flew it in from Frankfurt it would have blown up on the way - on the feeder flight, Pan Am 103A. In that scenario, the evidence of the break-in ought to have been a crucial defence plank, but it wasn't because the defence didn't know about it."
With such assertions in mind, Forrester, on behalf of the JFM committee - which includes a Queen's Counsel, the parish priest in Lockerbie at the time of the disaster and a retired police superintendent, as well as Swire - wrote to Scotland's justice secretary on September 13, 2012, alleging six counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice pertaining to members of the Scottish police, the Crown and other involved parties. [RB: the original six counts have now been increased to eight.]
But, as Forrester admits, "major obstacles" exist in reaching JFM's goal of seeking justice for the 270 victims. This, despite a report from the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) - a non-departmental public body funded by the Scottish government - which upheld six grounds on which Megrahi could have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
Indeed, viable avenues to expose Megrahi's conviction to the above claims - and others that have surfaced - appear doom-laden. An appeal from the Megrahi family, which seems unlikely due to the present political climate in Libya, or, potentially, an appeal from the Lockerbie bereaved, could both be scuppered by a Scottish Parliament ruling, which, says Forrester, "allows the judiciary to reject applications for appeal that are submitted to it by the SCCRC".
A Scottish government- launched independent inquiry, for which JFM has petitioned hard since 2010, provides another potential opening, but Salmond has, thus far, remained steadfastly opposed to such a move. Even so, JFM remains undeterred and focused on what Ashton contends as the biggest miscarriage of justice in the modern age.
"This was the biggest criminal investigation in British history - and the biggest mass murder - but the real hidden thing in this and the real scandal was that not only was the wrong man convicted, but so too was the nation of Libya, because as a result of these indictments Libya was subjected to 12 years of sanctions … So, here you have an entire nation punished on the basis of evidence that was at best shaky and at worst fabricated."
Freeing Megrahi taints Scotland's US relationship
[This is the headline over a report in today’s edition of the Daily Express. It reads in part:]
A Scottish Government analysis of the most recent Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index yesterday admitted US perception “deteriorated significantly” over the last two years. The report offered no insight into the decline other than saying US respondents “were generally more critical than in 2010”.
Susan Cohen, 74, from New Jersey, who lost her only daughter, 20-year-old Theodora, said last night: “There is only one reason why Scotland’s reputation in the US has fallen – Megrahi. I don’t think there is any question at all.” (...)
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Clearly, Alex Salmond’s numerous US charm offensives have not paid off. Releasing a mass murderer such as Megrahi, claiming he only had months to live in the process, was clearly misguided.
“We still await a full explanation surrounding those circumstances, but the rest of the world has made up its mind.”
Mr MacAskill has repeatedly defended the decision to release Megrahi and recently told SNP conference delegates: “Friends, I am no US poster boy. And I am certainly no US lap dog.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman last night said: “Scotland is world-renowned for its warm welcome and its people. This report puts Scotland in the top 15 of all nations surveyed, demonstrating that our unique identity continues to be well recognised and perceived around the world.
“Scotland’s reputation ranks alongside and often ahead of other small Western nations such as Denmark, Finland, Ireland and New Zealand – despite not currently having the same constitutional status as these other countries.”
[A report in The Scotsman contains the following:]
Scotland’s reputation in the US has suffered a “significant deterioration” in recent years, prompting concerns the release of the Lockerbie bomber is continuing to damage the country’s reputation across the Atlantic. (...)
Opposition leaders now fear that a “collapse in confidence” in the crucial US market could damage Scotland’s economic recovery as its reputation for innovation, science and creativity struggles to make an impact internationally, according to a keynote report on nation “brands” published yesterday.
But the uncertainty over independence has not undermined the image of Scotland, which continues to have a “strong image” abroad generally and ranks 15th among 50 other leading nations that were examined as part of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation brands index.
The report examines six key measures of reputation, comprising exports, governance, culture, people and tourism as well as immigration and investment. (...)
Professor Murray Pittock, head of Glasgow University’s College of Arts, said: “I would tend to see this positively and also see positively the fact that Scotland is recognised as a national brand worldwide, whereas other places which see themselves as having constitutional issues like Catalonia and Quebec probably aren’t.”
Alex Salmond was last night accused of wrecking Scotland’s relationship with the America as it emerged that our country’s reputation has plummeted across the Atlantic.
Critics blamed the SNP’s decision to free Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds in August 2009 for a damaging fall in perception among Americans.
An international poll found that, while Scotland ranks 15th out of 50 of the world’s most highly regarded countries, it has slipped five places from eight to 13 in the United States.
A Scottish Government analysis of the most recent Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index yesterday admitted US perception “deteriorated significantly” over the last two years. The report offered no insight into the decline other than saying US respondents “were generally more critical than in 2010”.
But opposition politicians said it showed that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill’s decision to allow Megrahi to return home to Libya caused lasting damage with the US.
Megrahi was freed from his life sentence for the 1988 bombing which killed 270 people after doctors claimed terminal prostate cancer left him with just three months to live. But he survived until May this year and the Scottish
Government’s decision enraged families of the 189 US victims of the outrage.
Susan Cohen, 74, from New Jersey, who lost her only daughter, 20-year-old Theodora, said last night: “There is only one reason why Scotland’s reputation in the US has fallen – Megrahi. I don’t think there is any question at all.” (...)
Scottish Tory deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Clearly, Alex Salmond’s numerous US charm offensives have not paid off. Releasing a mass murderer such as Megrahi, claiming he only had months to live in the process, was clearly misguided.
“We still await a full explanation surrounding those circumstances, but the rest of the world has made up its mind.”
Mr MacAskill has repeatedly defended the decision to release Megrahi and recently told SNP conference delegates: “Friends, I am no US poster boy. And I am certainly no US lap dog.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman last night said: “Scotland is world-renowned for its warm welcome and its people. This report puts Scotland in the top 15 of all nations surveyed, demonstrating that our unique identity continues to be well recognised and perceived around the world.
“Scotland’s reputation ranks alongside and often ahead of other small Western nations such as Denmark, Finland, Ireland and New Zealand – despite not currently having the same constitutional status as these other countries.”
[A report in The Scotsman contains the following:]
Scotland’s reputation in the US has suffered a “significant deterioration” in recent years, prompting concerns the release of the Lockerbie bomber is continuing to damage the country’s reputation across the Atlantic. (...)
Opposition leaders now fear that a “collapse in confidence” in the crucial US market could damage Scotland’s economic recovery as its reputation for innovation, science and creativity struggles to make an impact internationally, according to a keynote report on nation “brands” published yesterday.
But the uncertainty over independence has not undermined the image of Scotland, which continues to have a “strong image” abroad generally and ranks 15th among 50 other leading nations that were examined as part of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation brands index.
The report examines six key measures of reputation, comprising exports, governance, culture, people and tourism as well as immigration and investment. (...)
Professor Murray Pittock, head of Glasgow University’s College of Arts, said: “I would tend to see this positively and also see positively the fact that Scotland is recognised as a national brand worldwide, whereas other places which see themselves as having constitutional issues like Catalonia and Quebec probably aren’t.”
Friday, 7 December 2012
Scottish Government solicited support for Megrahi release
[The following is taken from a report published this afternoon on the Daily Record website:]
Emails released under freedom of information legislation, have revealed how the Scottish Government asked public figures to endorse the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
The documents show that First Minister Alex Salmond's advisers emailed the former South African leader's office, as well as former Irish president Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu asking for them to consider issuing a public statement.
US businessman Donald Trump has already revealed that he was asked, but refused, to put his name to a prepared statement saying he was "certain" the release was made for good reasons.
The Government's requests came shortly after the controversial decision to grant compassionate release to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in August 2009.
Megrahi, who had cancer, died in May this year. He was sentenced to life in prison for the bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town in 1988, which claimed 270 lives.
A template email was sent to the offices of Mr Mandela and Archbishop Tutu, with personalised references to their involvement or interest in the case.
The email sent on August 26 2009 to the Nelson Mandela Foundation stated: "Given his ongoing close involvement in Mr Megrahi's case, it would be very helpful if Mr Mandela was able to issue a public statement outlining his views on the decision of the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. Please let me know if this is something which you would be able to arrange. My colleagues and I would be happy to discuss this if you require any further information."
Mr Mandela played a role in the handover of Megrahi to face trial in a special Scottish court in the Netherlands.
The response said that Mr Mandela does not want to be involved in public issues any more but that he "sincerely appreciates" the decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
The decision was "in line with his wishes", according to the email.
Archbishop Tutu's office was approached with a similar email which noted his "long-standing humanitarian concerns".
He agreed to the request and issued a statement in which he said there was "nothing wrong" with the decision to free Megrahi.
Mrs Robinson, Irish president between 1990 and 1997, was approached through the human rights organisation she founded. Her office declined the invitation.
The Trump Organisation said in October that an approach was made asking for the decision to be endorsed.
At the time, a spokesman for the organisation said: "As Americans and New Yorkers who have unfortunately suffered and seen terrorism first-hand, it was ludicrous. The answer was no."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government was perfectly entitled to seek support at home and abroad for this decision which was supported by some, including some relatives of Lockerbie victims, and opposed by others."
[A report on The Telegraph website can be read here; and one on the BBC News website here.]
Emails released under freedom of information legislation, have revealed how the Scottish Government asked public figures to endorse the release of the Lockerbie bomber.
The documents show that First Minister Alex Salmond's advisers emailed the former South African leader's office, as well as former Irish president Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu asking for them to consider issuing a public statement.
US businessman Donald Trump has already revealed that he was asked, but refused, to put his name to a prepared statement saying he was "certain" the release was made for good reasons.
The Government's requests came shortly after the controversial decision to grant compassionate release to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in August 2009.
Megrahi, who had cancer, died in May this year. He was sentenced to life in prison for the bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town in 1988, which claimed 270 lives.
A template email was sent to the offices of Mr Mandela and Archbishop Tutu, with personalised references to their involvement or interest in the case.
The email sent on August 26 2009 to the Nelson Mandela Foundation stated: "Given his ongoing close involvement in Mr Megrahi's case, it would be very helpful if Mr Mandela was able to issue a public statement outlining his views on the decision of the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. Please let me know if this is something which you would be able to arrange. My colleagues and I would be happy to discuss this if you require any further information."
Mr Mandela played a role in the handover of Megrahi to face trial in a special Scottish court in the Netherlands.
The response said that Mr Mandela does not want to be involved in public issues any more but that he "sincerely appreciates" the decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
The decision was "in line with his wishes", according to the email.
Archbishop Tutu's office was approached with a similar email which noted his "long-standing humanitarian concerns".
He agreed to the request and issued a statement in which he said there was "nothing wrong" with the decision to free Megrahi.
Mrs Robinson, Irish president between 1990 and 1997, was approached through the human rights organisation she founded. Her office declined the invitation.
The Trump Organisation said in October that an approach was made asking for the decision to be endorsed.
At the time, a spokesman for the organisation said: "As Americans and New Yorkers who have unfortunately suffered and seen terrorism first-hand, it was ludicrous. The answer was no."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government was perfectly entitled to seek support at home and abroad for this decision which was supported by some, including some relatives of Lockerbie victims, and opposed by others."
[A report on The Telegraph website can be read here; and one on the BBC News website here.]
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