[What follows is the text of a motion tabled in the Scottish Parliament by Christine Grahame MSP:]
Motion Number: S4M-05301
Lodged By: Christine Grahame
Date Lodged: 03/01/2013
Title: ♦ 25 years on from Lockerbie, the Time is Right for a UK-led Inquiry
Motion Text:
That the Parliament notes that 2013 marks 25 years since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie; believes that many questions remain as to whether the conviction of Abdelbaset al Megrahi is secure; understands that, in terms of section 28 of the Inquiries Act 2005, the scope for a Scottish Government inquiry is restricted to only those matters fully devolved to Scotland; agrees with calls for a full public inquiry into UK and international issues such as the prisoner transfer agreement between Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi and the $2 million reportedly paid (together with a new identity) to the shop-keeper,Tony Gauci, who is considered to be the prime witness; further notes the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) findings that there may have been a miscarriage of justice and what it considers was the unsatisfactory abandonment of appeal proceedings, which left the SCCRC case untested; understands that the Scottish Government has pledged to co-operate fully with any UK-led inquiry, and agrees with calls for the UK Government to instigate that inquiry without further delay in order that, not least, the victims’ families and the residents of Lockerbie can finally be free of speculation.
[Ms Grahame has written to Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg requesting him to support this call for a UK-led inquiry. A report in today’s edition of The Herald reads as follows:]
Holyrood’s Justice convener is urging Nick Clegg to put his weight behind a public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing.
The Herald reported yesterday that Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie had renewed his call for an inquiry into the Megrahi conviction.
Now Christine Grahame has written to the Deputy PM pressing for that to be a full UK public inquiry.
Citing factors such as British Government and CIA involvement in the investigation, she states: "Under the Inquiries Act 2005 (Section 28) any inquiry undertaken by the Scottish Ministers must deal only with matters wholly within their devolved competence.
"This would restrict it to such a degree, in my view, that it would not be satisfactory, given there are political and international issues which remain unresolved."
Last August, Mr Clegg criticised the release of Abdelbaset al Megrahi two years previously on compassionate grounds as he fought cancer, although he lived on in Tripoli for 21 months.
Ms Grahame, who is a member of the Justice for Megrahi campaign, wrote to Mr Clegg: "It seems that you harbour no doubts over this conviction, but that does not chime with the sentiments, as I read them, of Willie Rennie.
"It may be that your views have shifted with the passage of time and more revelations which cast the conviction as questionable.
"You, as Deputy Prime Minister, have it within your power to deliver that public inquiry and if you do, the Scottish Government has it on record that it would support any such inquiry."
Friday, 4 January 2013
"A Lockerbie public inquiry could not be justified"
[This is the headline over a letter from Christopher Frew published in today’s edition of The Herald. It reads as follows:]
You report on a new plea by the Liberal Democrats for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing and back it up in your leader as "a welcome step towards shining new light on exactly what led to the death of 270 people on December 21, 1988" ("New plea by LibDems for Lockerbie public inquiry", The Herald, January 3).
There are two possible strands to such an inquiry: first, with the co-operation of the Libyan government, a clarification of its role. This may, we hope, be forthcoming.
The second strand would be the earlier sequence of events following the shooting down by the US battlecruiser Vincennes of the Iran Air flight 655 on July 3, 1988, causing the loss of 290 crew and passengers, most bound for Mecca and the Hajj.This was the first focus of US suspicion and, I gather, the CIA acknowledged that the terrorist group PFLP-GC, led by Ahmed Jabril, had offered its services to the Iranian government to avenge the Iranian deaths.
The first strand may (or may not) lead to the conclusion that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was not guilty of participating in the bomb plot to down Pan Am Flight 103, but it is very unlikely, if not impossible, to establish an alternative explanation without the full co-operation of the US Government and security services, notably the CIA. I suggest that, in the light of intense US public hostility to the possibility that Megrahi might not be guilty, as well as the conspiracy of silence which might be exposed by an alternative explanation, I am not convinced that the time and expense of a full public inquiry could be justified.
[Mr Frew is completely mistaken about the nature and scope of the inquiry that the Scottish Liberal Democrats have called for. It is not an inquiry into who was responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103, but an “inquiry into the Lockerbie prosecution”. Such an inquiry, which is also the goal of Justice for Megrahi’s Scottish Parliament petition PE1370, requires the co-operation of no-one outside the United Kingdom. Nothing -- other than governmental intransigence and Crown Office fear of the outcome -- impedes the Scottish Government in setting up an inquiry into the Scottish investigation of Lockerbie and the Scottish prosecution and conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi.]
You report on a new plea by the Liberal Democrats for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing and back it up in your leader as "a welcome step towards shining new light on exactly what led to the death of 270 people on December 21, 1988" ("New plea by LibDems for Lockerbie public inquiry", The Herald, January 3).
There are two possible strands to such an inquiry: first, with the co-operation of the Libyan government, a clarification of its role. This may, we hope, be forthcoming.
The second strand would be the earlier sequence of events following the shooting down by the US battlecruiser Vincennes of the Iran Air flight 655 on July 3, 1988, causing the loss of 290 crew and passengers, most bound for Mecca and the Hajj.This was the first focus of US suspicion and, I gather, the CIA acknowledged that the terrorist group PFLP-GC, led by Ahmed Jabril, had offered its services to the Iranian government to avenge the Iranian deaths.
The first strand may (or may not) lead to the conclusion that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was not guilty of participating in the bomb plot to down Pan Am Flight 103, but it is very unlikely, if not impossible, to establish an alternative explanation without the full co-operation of the US Government and security services, notably the CIA. I suggest that, in the light of intense US public hostility to the possibility that Megrahi might not be guilty, as well as the conspiracy of silence which might be exposed by an alternative explanation, I am not convinced that the time and expense of a full public inquiry could be justified.
[Mr Frew is completely mistaken about the nature and scope of the inquiry that the Scottish Liberal Democrats have called for. It is not an inquiry into who was responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103, but an “inquiry into the Lockerbie prosecution”. Such an inquiry, which is also the goal of Justice for Megrahi’s Scottish Parliament petition PE1370, requires the co-operation of no-one outside the United Kingdom. Nothing -- other than governmental intransigence and Crown Office fear of the outcome -- impedes the Scottish Government in setting up an inquiry into the Scottish investigation of Lockerbie and the Scottish prosecution and conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi.]
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Lockerbie: Case for a full public inquiry intensifies
[This is the headline over the first leader in today’s edition of The Herald. It reads as follows:]
The new Libyan Government's pledge to release documents relating to the Lockerbie bombing is a welcome step towards shining new light on exactly what led to the death of 270 people on December 21, 1988.
Despite the declaration by the Libyan ambassador to the UK Mahmud Nacua that all files would be open and everyone would know what happened with that crime, it is not clear how much information pertaining to the Gaddafi regime remains. Mr Nacua said it would be at least a year before Libya would be in a position to release whatever information it holds. This is frustrating for all those affected, especially for the families of those who died. But having heard so much conflicting evidence and suggestions for so long, the priority must now be truth rather than speed.
Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat leader at Holyrood, believes the prospect of new material increases the need for a public inquiry. This newspaper, which has revealed many significant developments in the Lockerbie case over a number of years, has consistently called for a public inquiry.
However, the change of regime in Libya presents an opportunity for further investigation. The Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, who has made contact with the new regime, is hopeful of being able to send Scottish police officials to Tripoli to gather evidence that would reopen the wider plot to bring down PanAm 103. In particular, the extradition to Libya of Abdullah al-Senussi, the infamous head of Gaddafi's intelligence service at the time of the Lockerbie bombing, offers the prospect of obtaining previously unknown information.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi remains the only person convicted of the atrocity. Twenty-four years after the bombing, there remain so many unanswered questions and so many doubts about his conviction that his death in May last year, after being released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds, cannot be the end of the matter.
Although his first appeal was unanimously rejected, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) subsequently found a number of grounds which justified the case being referred back to the Court of Criminal Appeal. However, in 2009 the appeal process was abandoned and Megrahi was released from prison due to a diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Dropping the appeal was not a requirement for compassionate release but details of the SCCRC report revealed by The Herald last year intensified suspicion that he may have been urged to do so. What is not in dispute is that he could not have acted entirely alone. A new criminal investigation, assuming the co-operation of the authorities in Tripoli, will be essential to discover whether the operation was wider than Libya.
Grave disquiet about the handling of the Megrahi case continues. The concerns that Britain's worst-ever terrorist atrocity may additionally have become Scotland's greatest ever miscarriage of justice are now so deep-seated that a full public inquiry is required to establish the truth and restore faith in the justice system.
The new Libyan Government's pledge to release documents relating to the Lockerbie bombing is a welcome step towards shining new light on exactly what led to the death of 270 people on December 21, 1988.
Despite the declaration by the Libyan ambassador to the UK Mahmud Nacua that all files would be open and everyone would know what happened with that crime, it is not clear how much information pertaining to the Gaddafi regime remains. Mr Nacua said it would be at least a year before Libya would be in a position to release whatever information it holds. This is frustrating for all those affected, especially for the families of those who died. But having heard so much conflicting evidence and suggestions for so long, the priority must now be truth rather than speed.
Willie Rennie, the Liberal Democrat leader at Holyrood, believes the prospect of new material increases the need for a public inquiry. This newspaper, which has revealed many significant developments in the Lockerbie case over a number of years, has consistently called for a public inquiry.
However, the change of regime in Libya presents an opportunity for further investigation. The Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, who has made contact with the new regime, is hopeful of being able to send Scottish police officials to Tripoli to gather evidence that would reopen the wider plot to bring down PanAm 103. In particular, the extradition to Libya of Abdullah al-Senussi, the infamous head of Gaddafi's intelligence service at the time of the Lockerbie bombing, offers the prospect of obtaining previously unknown information.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi remains the only person convicted of the atrocity. Twenty-four years after the bombing, there remain so many unanswered questions and so many doubts about his conviction that his death in May last year, after being released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds, cannot be the end of the matter.
Although his first appeal was unanimously rejected, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) subsequently found a number of grounds which justified the case being referred back to the Court of Criminal Appeal. However, in 2009 the appeal process was abandoned and Megrahi was released from prison due to a diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Dropping the appeal was not a requirement for compassionate release but details of the SCCRC report revealed by The Herald last year intensified suspicion that he may have been urged to do so. What is not in dispute is that he could not have acted entirely alone. A new criminal investigation, assuming the co-operation of the authorities in Tripoli, will be essential to discover whether the operation was wider than Libya.
Grave disquiet about the handling of the Megrahi case continues. The concerns that Britain's worst-ever terrorist atrocity may additionally have become Scotland's greatest ever miscarriage of justice are now so deep-seated that a full public inquiry is required to establish the truth and restore faith in the justice system.
New plea by LibDems for Lockerbie public inquiry
[This is the headline over a report in today’s edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]
The case for a full public inquiry into the conviction of the man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing has become more urgent following a pledge by the Libyan Government to release documents relating to the atrocity, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has claimed.
Willie Rennie, who is also demanding the Crown Office demonstrates the 1988 atrocity is still being investigated, said recent comments by Mahmud Nacua, the Libyan ambassador to the UK, that Tripoli would release material added fuel to his demands for a public inquiry.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who was found guilty of 270 counts of murder, had won the right to appeal his conviction but gave up the legal challenge as part of the requirements of his early release from prison in 2009. He died in May last year at home in Tripoli.
Mr Nacua said documents relating to the atrocity would be released as soon as time, security and stability permitted.
He said: "All files will be open and everyone will know what happened."
Mr Rennie said: "A week after the Libyan Government has said it is prepared to release all its files in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, Scottish Liberal Democrats have still not had a response to our demands for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie prosecution.
"I can see no reason why we can't go ahead with that now. The First Minister has the opportunity to shine a light on to the conduct of the Crown Office, which for years has been left blemished by the six separate grounds of appeal identified by the Government's own Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission [SCCRC].
"On matters that relate to the integrity, fairness and justice of the Scottish justice system, it is simply not good enough to leave this to a family in Tripoli."
But a Scottish Government spokesman said: "Issues relating to the conviction of Mr al Megrahi must be a matter for a court of law – he was convicted in a court of law, his conviction was upheld on appeal, and that is the only appropriate place for his guilt or innocence to be determined.
"It remains open for relatives of Mr al Megrahi to ask the SCCRC to refer the case to the Appeal Court, which ministers would be entirely comfortable with.
"The Lockerbie case remains a live investigation, and Scotland's criminal justice authorities have made clear that they will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry." (...)
Mr Rennie wrote to the Lord Advocate in August seeking assurances the Lockerbie bombing was still being "rigorously and actively investigated".
The Crown Office said: "We can confirm the Lord Advocate has met the Libyan Prime Minister on two occasions, once in Tripoli and later in London. Since the meeting, the Libyan PM has been provided with the information he requested on a number of issues relating to the conduct of the proposed investigation in Libya.
"The Lord Advocate has recently written to the new Libyan PM and the Foreign Office, at the request of the Crown, is in contact with the Libyan Government to progress the request for Scottish police officers to travel to Libya for inquiries into the involvement of others in this act of state-sponsored terrorism."
The case for a full public inquiry into the conviction of the man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing has become more urgent following a pledge by the Libyan Government to release documents relating to the atrocity, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has claimed.
Willie Rennie, who is also demanding the Crown Office demonstrates the 1988 atrocity is still being investigated, said recent comments by Mahmud Nacua, the Libyan ambassador to the UK, that Tripoli would release material added fuel to his demands for a public inquiry.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, who was found guilty of 270 counts of murder, had won the right to appeal his conviction but gave up the legal challenge as part of the requirements of his early release from prison in 2009. He died in May last year at home in Tripoli.
Mr Nacua said documents relating to the atrocity would be released as soon as time, security and stability permitted.
He said: "All files will be open and everyone will know what happened."
Mr Rennie said: "A week after the Libyan Government has said it is prepared to release all its files in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, Scottish Liberal Democrats have still not had a response to our demands for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie prosecution.
"I can see no reason why we can't go ahead with that now. The First Minister has the opportunity to shine a light on to the conduct of the Crown Office, which for years has been left blemished by the six separate grounds of appeal identified by the Government's own Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission [SCCRC].
"On matters that relate to the integrity, fairness and justice of the Scottish justice system, it is simply not good enough to leave this to a family in Tripoli."
But a Scottish Government spokesman said: "Issues relating to the conviction of Mr al Megrahi must be a matter for a court of law – he was convicted in a court of law, his conviction was upheld on appeal, and that is the only appropriate place for his guilt or innocence to be determined.
"It remains open for relatives of Mr al Megrahi to ask the SCCRC to refer the case to the Appeal Court, which ministers would be entirely comfortable with.
"The Lockerbie case remains a live investigation, and Scotland's criminal justice authorities have made clear that they will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry." (...)
Mr Rennie wrote to the Lord Advocate in August seeking assurances the Lockerbie bombing was still being "rigorously and actively investigated".
The Crown Office said: "We can confirm the Lord Advocate has met the Libyan Prime Minister on two occasions, once in Tripoli and later in London. Since the meeting, the Libyan PM has been provided with the information he requested on a number of issues relating to the conduct of the proposed investigation in Libya.
"The Lord Advocate has recently written to the new Libyan PM and the Foreign Office, at the request of the Crown, is in contact with the Libyan Government to progress the request for Scottish police officers to travel to Libya for inquiries into the involvement of others in this act of state-sponsored terrorism."
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Megrahi's death "closes dark chapter in Libya’s history"?
An article entitled Libya in 2012: Achievements and Challenges by Karen Dubrowska, formerly London correspondent of the Libyan government news agency Jana and now a freelance journalist, appears today on the website of The Tripoli Post. One paragraph reads as follows:
“The death of the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, seems to have closed a dark chapter in Libya’s history. Libya has agreed to release the Lockerbie files.”
It is disappointing that such a bland statement should be made; but it is perhaps understandable until such time as the present Libyan Government finally makes up its mind whether it is to its political advantage to admit or to deny Libyan responsibility for Lockerbie and hence to cast Megrahi as a tool of Gaddafi in his devilish schemes or as an innocent scapegoat in a Western stitch-up.
“The death of the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, seems to have closed a dark chapter in Libya’s history. Libya has agreed to release the Lockerbie files.”
It is disappointing that such a bland statement should be made; but it is perhaps understandable until such time as the present Libyan Government finally makes up its mind whether it is to its political advantage to admit or to deny Libyan responsibility for Lockerbie and hence to cast Megrahi as a tool of Gaddafi in his devilish schemes or as an innocent scapegoat in a Western stitch-up.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Why was compelling evidence of Heathrow insertion sidelined by police?
[What follows is an article by Dr Jim Swire that was published yesterday on the website of Scottish lawyers’ magazine The Firm:]
The Health and Safety Executive brought their highest censure down upon the UK Border Agency last week for the latter's arrogant and unsafe probing into an air cargo of munitions which had landed at Robin Hood airport. Because UKBA is a Government agency, the HSE could only impose a Crown Censure upon them, not even a fine, let alone a criminal prosecution for putting lives at risk.
UKBA had unpacked potentially lethal military materials without proper precautions, and both other aircraft or individuals might have been destroyed had there been an accident such as dropping of a single item.
Compare this with the night of 20/21 Dec 1988, when, on the night before the Lockerbie plane took off from Heathrow, an unidentified person broke into the airside portion of the that airport, close to where a dark-coloured hard-sided Samsonite suitcase, exactly similar to the one later confirmed to have contained the bomb was loaded into a Pan Am baggage container, close to the break-in site the following evening, prior to being put aboard the Maid of the Seas there for her final tryst with her fate.
Heathrow airport, although immediately warned of the break-in by its night security staff, and already aware of a heightened terrorist risk to aircraft at the time, whiled away the 16 golden hours before PanAm 103 took off, deciding that it must in fact have been a break-out by disgruntled airport/airline staff, wanting a quick way home that night. This explanation failed to convince the judges at the Zeist trial. Heathrow simply did not make any serious effort to discover whether this obviously potentially disastrous break-in might have been the portal by which a terrorist gained access to the 'secure' area of Heathrow airside that night.
16 hours after the uninvestigated break-in 270 people died in the disaster at Lockerbie.
It would of course have been possible to suspend all outgoing flights during those 16 golden hours, while the motive for the break-in and the search for the perpetrator and his possessions could have been rigorously pursued..
Closing the airport to departures for 16 hours of searching would have cost a great deal of money. How much did the disaster itself cost the country in terms not just of money, but of grief?
We do not know whether it was the fear of lost revenue, or arrogant belief in their security, or laziness or sheer unrealistic management which prevented Heathrow from making the obvious response to the break-in.
Surely whether or not the break-in does turn out to have been the portal of entry of the bomb, failing to act over the potential threat it offered at Heathrow was a far greater threat to life than UKBA's interference with military munitions. Yet so far as is known, no-one, neither HSE nor any other organisation has even criticised Heathrow for their breathtaking complacency that night of 20th/21st December 1988.
Thanks to a letter from the current Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway police, Patrick Shearer, we now know that the D & G police of the day had at least been made aware by the Metropolitan police by January/February 1989 of the details of this mysterious break-in.
We also know now that the Crown Office's prosecution case was fatally flawed. The fragment of circuit board they relied upon to convince the court that this was part of a Libyan timer from the bomb that destroyed PA103 could not be true. This of course makes the break-in of far greater possible significance: it may indeed have been the real portal of entry for the Lockerbie bomb. The fragment simply could not have been from one of those timers. Moreover there is no evidence of any other point of origin for the mysterious fragment from among the Lockerbie wreckage.
In a cruel twist of fate, the news of the break-in itself only became public on the very day of the 9/11 disaster in New York, thus hugely diminishing for the public the potential significance of the break-in. The world moved on that day to a new grief, leaving some of the bereaved Lockerbie families in stunned amazement that such an obviously potentially game-altering event as the break-in could have been kept from the Zeist court, from the relatives themselves and from the defence team.
Maybe it is not too late even now to charge the HSE to look into whether Heathrow's failure to investigate the break-in was a breach of airport safety, and more importantly a breach of the safety of the lives of those who died just 16 hours later, both aboard the plane, and on the ground below in Lockerbie..
I can assure the HSE that the failure to investigate this break-in is a cause of grief and anger to some Lockerbie relatives to this day, and that Heathrow is part of a privately owned company and therefore open to charges of criminal endangering of life, unlike the UKBA.
We can however now guess why the police, investigating on behalf of the Crown Office chose to set aside the Met's report about the break-in. Such a thing was irrelevant to their early formed hypothesis that the bomb must have come from the hands of Megrahi in Malta. The Chief Constable's letter records how the police not only set aside the possible relevance of Heathrow's break-in and disgraceful failure to take it seriously, but they did not even bring the existence of the break-in to the Crown Office's attention until 1999 (a decade after having received it from the Met), with the result that it was not known to Megrahi's defence team, nor indeed to the trial court, until after the Zeist court had convicted Megrahi.
We know that the prosecution story of the origin of the bomb having been from Megrahi's hand in Malta was fatally flawed.
Perhaps some of your learned readers can suggest how best to force the Crown Office/Scottish Government to launch a proper independent inquiry into how this case came to fail so disastrously.
But we also now know courtesy of the Chief Constable's letter that it was due to decisions made early on by the D & G police that the case brought at Zeist now looks a poor second on a balance of probabilities against the likelihood of a Syrian type bomb from the PFLP-GC group having been introduced at Heathrow, with their inevitable approximately 38 minute flight times, via the Heathrow break-in.
It appears that the refusal thus far of the Crown Office and the Scottish Police to address the failures within the Lockerbie prosecution, ought, were the world a fairer place, to lay them all open to prosecution for endangering people's lives through the protection they are affording to those who really did murder 270 people at Lockerbie on 21st December 1988.
The Health and Safety Executive brought their highest censure down upon the UK Border Agency last week for the latter's arrogant and unsafe probing into an air cargo of munitions which had landed at Robin Hood airport. Because UKBA is a Government agency, the HSE could only impose a Crown Censure upon them, not even a fine, let alone a criminal prosecution for putting lives at risk.
UKBA had unpacked potentially lethal military materials without proper precautions, and both other aircraft or individuals might have been destroyed had there been an accident such as dropping of a single item.
Compare this with the night of 20/21 Dec 1988, when, on the night before the Lockerbie plane took off from Heathrow, an unidentified person broke into the airside portion of the that airport, close to where a dark-coloured hard-sided Samsonite suitcase, exactly similar to the one later confirmed to have contained the bomb was loaded into a Pan Am baggage container, close to the break-in site the following evening, prior to being put aboard the Maid of the Seas there for her final tryst with her fate.
Heathrow airport, although immediately warned of the break-in by its night security staff, and already aware of a heightened terrorist risk to aircraft at the time, whiled away the 16 golden hours before PanAm 103 took off, deciding that it must in fact have been a break-out by disgruntled airport/airline staff, wanting a quick way home that night. This explanation failed to convince the judges at the Zeist trial. Heathrow simply did not make any serious effort to discover whether this obviously potentially disastrous break-in might have been the portal by which a terrorist gained access to the 'secure' area of Heathrow airside that night.
16 hours after the uninvestigated break-in 270 people died in the disaster at Lockerbie.
It would of course have been possible to suspend all outgoing flights during those 16 golden hours, while the motive for the break-in and the search for the perpetrator and his possessions could have been rigorously pursued..
Closing the airport to departures for 16 hours of searching would have cost a great deal of money. How much did the disaster itself cost the country in terms not just of money, but of grief?
We do not know whether it was the fear of lost revenue, or arrogant belief in their security, or laziness or sheer unrealistic management which prevented Heathrow from making the obvious response to the break-in.
Surely whether or not the break-in does turn out to have been the portal of entry of the bomb, failing to act over the potential threat it offered at Heathrow was a far greater threat to life than UKBA's interference with military munitions. Yet so far as is known, no-one, neither HSE nor any other organisation has even criticised Heathrow for their breathtaking complacency that night of 20th/21st December 1988.
Thanks to a letter from the current Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway police, Patrick Shearer, we now know that the D & G police of the day had at least been made aware by the Metropolitan police by January/February 1989 of the details of this mysterious break-in.
We also know now that the Crown Office's prosecution case was fatally flawed. The fragment of circuit board they relied upon to convince the court that this was part of a Libyan timer from the bomb that destroyed PA103 could not be true. This of course makes the break-in of far greater possible significance: it may indeed have been the real portal of entry for the Lockerbie bomb. The fragment simply could not have been from one of those timers. Moreover there is no evidence of any other point of origin for the mysterious fragment from among the Lockerbie wreckage.
In a cruel twist of fate, the news of the break-in itself only became public on the very day of the 9/11 disaster in New York, thus hugely diminishing for the public the potential significance of the break-in. The world moved on that day to a new grief, leaving some of the bereaved Lockerbie families in stunned amazement that such an obviously potentially game-altering event as the break-in could have been kept from the Zeist court, from the relatives themselves and from the defence team.
Maybe it is not too late even now to charge the HSE to look into whether Heathrow's failure to investigate the break-in was a breach of airport safety, and more importantly a breach of the safety of the lives of those who died just 16 hours later, both aboard the plane, and on the ground below in Lockerbie..
I can assure the HSE that the failure to investigate this break-in is a cause of grief and anger to some Lockerbie relatives to this day, and that Heathrow is part of a privately owned company and therefore open to charges of criminal endangering of life, unlike the UKBA.
We can however now guess why the police, investigating on behalf of the Crown Office chose to set aside the Met's report about the break-in. Such a thing was irrelevant to their early formed hypothesis that the bomb must have come from the hands of Megrahi in Malta. The Chief Constable's letter records how the police not only set aside the possible relevance of Heathrow's break-in and disgraceful failure to take it seriously, but they did not even bring the existence of the break-in to the Crown Office's attention until 1999 (a decade after having received it from the Met), with the result that it was not known to Megrahi's defence team, nor indeed to the trial court, until after the Zeist court had convicted Megrahi.
We know that the prosecution story of the origin of the bomb having been from Megrahi's hand in Malta was fatally flawed.
Perhaps some of your learned readers can suggest how best to force the Crown Office/Scottish Government to launch a proper independent inquiry into how this case came to fail so disastrously.
But we also now know courtesy of the Chief Constable's letter that it was due to decisions made early on by the D & G police that the case brought at Zeist now looks a poor second on a balance of probabilities against the likelihood of a Syrian type bomb from the PFLP-GC group having been introduced at Heathrow, with their inevitable approximately 38 minute flight times, via the Heathrow break-in.
It appears that the refusal thus far of the Crown Office and the Scottish Police to address the failures within the Lockerbie prosecution, ought, were the world a fairer place, to lay them all open to prosecution for endangering people's lives through the protection they are affording to those who really did murder 270 people at Lockerbie on 21st December 1988.
Here's to 2013 and to getting to the truth behind Lockerbie
[I wish a very happy New Year to all readers of this blog. Here is what my friend Auntie Jo posted a few hours ago on the Friends of Justice for Megrahi Facebook page:]
A Happy Hogmanay from Scotland and a Happy New Year when the bells strike twelve. Here's to 2013 and to getting to the truth behind Lockerbie. We are making progress. Let's all decide what we can do as individuals to take forward the work of JFM. Let's storm our MSPs and MPs, let's challenge the media for allowing the clear evidence challenging that flawed verdict to be cast aside. Let's take them on. It can be done. Thank you to JFM for the efforts you make to keep those of us out here informed and right behind you! And thank you for these pages where we have met up with others from all over the place who share a common aim: justice. We know how much of your personal time that takes up and we are grateful. You have the Crown Office on the run and a Justice Minister who can't cope with the prospect of facing you up front. That means you are doing something right. You have all of them rattled. Together in 2013 we can all rattle them a bit more! To all: Slainte!
[And here are two snippets from today’s newspapers, catching up on the recent story in Scotland on Sunday and on Alan Clark’s play The Lockerbie Bomber:]
Families of Lockerbie bombing victims have accused a Scots author of being a “cheerleader” for the man convicted of the terrorist atrocity.
Best-selling writer James Robertson has campaigned to clear the name of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
And his latest novel, which is billed as being “inspired by the Lockerbie bombing”, tells the story of a university lecturer whose wife and daughter are killed in the terrorist atrocity in 1988.
The story mirrors the life of Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of the 270 victims.
American relatives of some of the victims claim Robertson is part of a “cottage industry of deniers” about Megrahi.
Frank Duggan, of the US-based Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said: “If the book is inspired by the Lockerbie bombing and the author believes Megrahi was not guilty, it will not rise to the top of my reading list.
“I guess James Robertson takes the position that it was not Megrahi but some other Libyans who were guilty.” (...) [RB: I suspect that Mr Duggan’s guess is as misconceived as most of his Lockerbie statements.]
Robertson was unavailable for comment about his novel The Professor of Truth, which is out in June.
But he is convinced Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. -- Daily Record
A total of 270 people, including 20-year-old American Theodora, were killed when Pan Am flight 103 was blown out of the sky over the Dumfries-shire town in 1988.
But Clark includes Libyan Megrahi’s name in a dedication to the casualties of the horror attack.
Shaken Susan, of New Jersey in the US, said: “Megrahi murdered my daughter — he’s not a victim. It is repulsive to put Theodora’s name in with his.”
“Does he have any idea how horrible that is to the families? It’s despicable and so insulting to those who lost relatives.” Clark — who writes under the name Kenneth N Ross — directs and stars in the drama at Alloa’s Alman Theatre next month.
The plot centres on bereaved parents, investigative journalists and US government officers whose lives have all been affected by the bombing.
Clark, 59, of Larbert, Stirlingshire, insisted he hopes his debut play will help fuel calls for a public inquiry. He said: “I started with an open mind but after a year of painstaking research I came to the conclusion Megrahi was set up.
“The play is dedicated to the victims of the outrage and their families. I believe Megrahi is the 271st victim so he is included.” (...)
Clark’s play is backed by Dr Jim Swire, 76, whose daughter Flora died in the attack and who has campaigned for Megrahi’s conviction to be overturned.
He said: “I welcome the play as it tries to shed light on what happened when the investigation went off the rails. I believe Megrahi was wrongly identified.” -- The Sun
A Happy Hogmanay from Scotland and a Happy New Year when the bells strike twelve. Here's to 2013 and to getting to the truth behind Lockerbie. We are making progress. Let's all decide what we can do as individuals to take forward the work of JFM. Let's storm our MSPs and MPs, let's challenge the media for allowing the clear evidence challenging that flawed verdict to be cast aside. Let's take them on. It can be done. Thank you to JFM for the efforts you make to keep those of us out here informed and right behind you! And thank you for these pages where we have met up with others from all over the place who share a common aim: justice. We know how much of your personal time that takes up and we are grateful. You have the Crown Office on the run and a Justice Minister who can't cope with the prospect of facing you up front. That means you are doing something right. You have all of them rattled. Together in 2013 we can all rattle them a bit more! To all: Slainte!
[And here are two snippets from today’s newspapers, catching up on the recent story in Scotland on Sunday and on Alan Clark’s play The Lockerbie Bomber:]
Families of Lockerbie bombing victims have accused a Scots author of being a “cheerleader” for the man convicted of the terrorist atrocity.
Best-selling writer James Robertson has campaigned to clear the name of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
And his latest novel, which is billed as being “inspired by the Lockerbie bombing”, tells the story of a university lecturer whose wife and daughter are killed in the terrorist atrocity in 1988.
The story mirrors the life of Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of the 270 victims.
American relatives of some of the victims claim Robertson is part of a “cottage industry of deniers” about Megrahi.
Frank Duggan, of the US-based Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said: “If the book is inspired by the Lockerbie bombing and the author believes Megrahi was not guilty, it will not rise to the top of my reading list.
“I guess James Robertson takes the position that it was not Megrahi but some other Libyans who were guilty.” (...) [RB: I suspect that Mr Duggan’s guess is as misconceived as most of his Lockerbie statements.]
Robertson was unavailable for comment about his novel The Professor of Truth, which is out in June.
But he is convinced Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. -- Daily Record
A furious mum whose daughter was among the Lockerbie death toll has hit out at a play which makes the bomber a VICTIM of the airplane terror blast.
Outraged Susan Cohen, 74, branded writer Alan Clark’s show “despicable” for its claim that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was wrongly convicted in a cover-up over the murderous atrocity.A total of 270 people, including 20-year-old American Theodora, were killed when Pan Am flight 103 was blown out of the sky over the Dumfries-shire town in 1988.
But Clark includes Libyan Megrahi’s name in a dedication to the casualties of the horror attack.
Shaken Susan, of New Jersey in the US, said: “Megrahi murdered my daughter — he’s not a victim. It is repulsive to put Theodora’s name in with his.”
“Does he have any idea how horrible that is to the families? It’s despicable and so insulting to those who lost relatives.” Clark — who writes under the name Kenneth N Ross — directs and stars in the drama at Alloa’s Alman Theatre next month.
The plot centres on bereaved parents, investigative journalists and US government officers whose lives have all been affected by the bombing.
Clark, 59, of Larbert, Stirlingshire, insisted he hopes his debut play will help fuel calls for a public inquiry. He said: “I started with an open mind but after a year of painstaking research I came to the conclusion Megrahi was set up.
“The play is dedicated to the victims of the outrage and their families. I believe Megrahi is the 271st victim so he is included.” (...)
Clark’s play is backed by Dr Jim Swire, 76, whose daughter Flora died in the attack and who has campaigned for Megrahi’s conviction to be overturned.
He said: “I welcome the play as it tries to shed light on what happened when the investigation went off the rails. I believe Megrahi was wrongly identified.” -- The Sun
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Storm brews over ‘Lockerbie’ novel
[This is the headline over an article in today’s edition of Scotland on Sunday. It reads in part:]
Award-winning author James Robertson is courting controversy after basing his next novel on the events surrounding the Lockerbie terrorist bombing.
Robertson, recently hailed as “Scotland’s greatest living writer” by First Minister Alex Salmond, has been a constant supporter of the campaign to clear the name of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie murders, but who was released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds before his death earlier this year. Robertson has also used high-profile lectures to cast doubt on Megrahi’s conviction.
Now his latest novel, The Professor of Truth, due to be published in June and billed as being “inspired by the Lockerbie bombing”, tells the story of a university lecturer whose wife and daughter are killed in the terrorist bombing of a plane over Scotland 21 years earlier.
In an echo of the story of Dr Jim Swire, the Worcestershire GP whose daughter died in the real bombing, the academic is sure that the man convicted of the multiple murders was not responsible and that he has been deprived of justice.
The plot may revive accusations that Robertson uses his writing to provide “alternative” versions of history. One critic, Ian Smart, former head of the Law Society in Scotland, wrote that the author’s previous prize-winning novel, And The Land Lay Still, which charted the rise of Scottish nationalism, “was like reading one of those ‘alternative history’ books set in a world where the USA had lost the War of Independence or Hitler had been successful at Stalingrad”.
Robertson has also been criticised by US relatives of Lockerbie victims as being part of a “cottage industry of deniers” and of being a cheerleader for Megrahi. Frank Duggan, president of the US-based support group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said: “If the book is inspired by the Lockerbie bombing and the author believes Megrahi was not guilty despite what was found by your courts, I am afraid it will not rise to the top of my reading list.
“I know there is now a cottage industry of deniers, from books to films to stage productions, shilling [working on behalf of] for Megrahi. I guess James Robertson takes the position that it was not Megrahi, but it was some other Libyans who were guilty of these unspeakable murders. [RB: I suspect that Mr Duggan’s guess is as misconceived as most of his Lockerbie statements.] It is disheartening that Mr Robertson can give speeches to sold out audiences based on his version of the facts.” (...)
Robertson could not be contacted about his novel, but he has spoken several times previously about his belief that Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
In 2010, he said he was taking a stand on the issue because he feared that when Megrahi died, the truth would never be told.
“It is crucial for the relatives because they feel, 22 years after the event, that they still don’t know what happened and who was responsible,” he said.
“There is also a stain on the Scottish justice system, as this does not look or feel right. As long as the answers are not addressed this stain will not be removed.”
Then in 2011, addressing the Edinburgh Book Festival in a speech entitled “The Lockerbie Affair and Scottish Society”, he outlined six key reasons that pointed to Megrahi’s innocence saying: “The more I look, the more I am forced to the conclusion that if there is a conspiracy around Lockerbie, it is not one concocted by those who doubt the guilt of Mr Megrahi, but a conspiracy of silence in which the US, UK and Scottish governments are all, though not from shared motives, implicated.”
He also wrote to Salmond to express support for the calls of the UK relatives for a full and independent inquiry. He said he was disappointed to receive the standard response that the Scottish Government had no reason to doubt the safety of Megrahi’s conviction.
Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora was killed on Pan Am Flight 103, is also convinced that Megrahi was innocent of the murders. Last January, he travelled to Tripoli to meet and say goodbye to Megrahi, and was “entirely satisfied” he was not to blame for the bombing.
Swire said he had already read Robertson’s latest work. “I think the book is, as is usual with James Robertson’s work, an excellent read, and I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever and I’ve told him that. I feel entirely comfortable with the book.”
He added that parts of Robertson’s novel reminded him of the immediate aftermath of the bombing. “The first half was so close to the events that followed the Lockerbie disaster,” he said. “The second part is pure fiction, but perfectly interesting fiction to read.”
Professor of Truth will be published by Penguin and the promotional material reads: “Twenty-one years after his wife and daughter were murdered in the bombing of a plane over Scotland, Alan Tealing, a university lecturer, still does not know the truth of what really happened on that terrible night. Obsessed by the details of what he has come to call ‘The Case’, he is sure that the man convicted of the atrocity was not responsible, and that he himself has thus been deprived not only of justice but also of any chance of escape from his enduring grief.
“When an American intelligence officer, apparently terminally ill and determined to settle his own accounts before death, arrives on his doorstep with information about a key witness in the trial, a fateful sequence of events is set in motion.
“Alan decides that he must travel to Australia to confront this witness, whose evidence he has always disbelieved, in the hope that this might at last be the breakthrough for which he has waited so long.”
[Peter Biddulph has emailed me the following comment:]
I guess it is the fate of every questioning writer to be accused of siding with the enemy, and James Robertson (The Professor of Truth) is no exception.
John Le Carré's The Tailor of Panama exposed American brutality and state corruption and terrorism in Central America. As a former MI6 officer Le Carre knew well the inner workings of the Transatlantic relationship. He deserves respect for his eventual honesty.
Arther Miller's The Crucible resulted in accusations of being a Communist and blacklisting by Hollywood and several publishers.
John Steinbeck was accused of being a Communist sympathiser following the publication of The Grapes of Wrath during a phase of history when the word Communist equated to the leper's cry of "Unclean".
James is indeed in good company and should take courage from this traditional badge of honour.
Award-winning author James Robertson is courting controversy after basing his next novel on the events surrounding the Lockerbie terrorist bombing.
Robertson, recently hailed as “Scotland’s greatest living writer” by First Minister Alex Salmond, has been a constant supporter of the campaign to clear the name of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie murders, but who was released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds before his death earlier this year. Robertson has also used high-profile lectures to cast doubt on Megrahi’s conviction.
Now his latest novel, The Professor of Truth, due to be published in June and billed as being “inspired by the Lockerbie bombing”, tells the story of a university lecturer whose wife and daughter are killed in the terrorist bombing of a plane over Scotland 21 years earlier.
In an echo of the story of Dr Jim Swire, the Worcestershire GP whose daughter died in the real bombing, the academic is sure that the man convicted of the multiple murders was not responsible and that he has been deprived of justice.
The plot may revive accusations that Robertson uses his writing to provide “alternative” versions of history. One critic, Ian Smart, former head of the Law Society in Scotland, wrote that the author’s previous prize-winning novel, And The Land Lay Still, which charted the rise of Scottish nationalism, “was like reading one of those ‘alternative history’ books set in a world where the USA had lost the War of Independence or Hitler had been successful at Stalingrad”.
Robertson has also been criticised by US relatives of Lockerbie victims as being part of a “cottage industry of deniers” and of being a cheerleader for Megrahi. Frank Duggan, president of the US-based support group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said: “If the book is inspired by the Lockerbie bombing and the author believes Megrahi was not guilty despite what was found by your courts, I am afraid it will not rise to the top of my reading list.
“I know there is now a cottage industry of deniers, from books to films to stage productions, shilling [working on behalf of] for Megrahi. I guess James Robertson takes the position that it was not Megrahi, but it was some other Libyans who were guilty of these unspeakable murders. [RB: I suspect that Mr Duggan’s guess is as misconceived as most of his Lockerbie statements.] It is disheartening that Mr Robertson can give speeches to sold out audiences based on his version of the facts.” (...)
Robertson could not be contacted about his novel, but he has spoken several times previously about his belief that Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
In 2010, he said he was taking a stand on the issue because he feared that when Megrahi died, the truth would never be told.
“It is crucial for the relatives because they feel, 22 years after the event, that they still don’t know what happened and who was responsible,” he said.
“There is also a stain on the Scottish justice system, as this does not look or feel right. As long as the answers are not addressed this stain will not be removed.”
Then in 2011, addressing the Edinburgh Book Festival in a speech entitled “The Lockerbie Affair and Scottish Society”, he outlined six key reasons that pointed to Megrahi’s innocence saying: “The more I look, the more I am forced to the conclusion that if there is a conspiracy around Lockerbie, it is not one concocted by those who doubt the guilt of Mr Megrahi, but a conspiracy of silence in which the US, UK and Scottish governments are all, though not from shared motives, implicated.”
He also wrote to Salmond to express support for the calls of the UK relatives for a full and independent inquiry. He said he was disappointed to receive the standard response that the Scottish Government had no reason to doubt the safety of Megrahi’s conviction.
Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora was killed on Pan Am Flight 103, is also convinced that Megrahi was innocent of the murders. Last January, he travelled to Tripoli to meet and say goodbye to Megrahi, and was “entirely satisfied” he was not to blame for the bombing.
Swire said he had already read Robertson’s latest work. “I think the book is, as is usual with James Robertson’s work, an excellent read, and I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever and I’ve told him that. I feel entirely comfortable with the book.”
He added that parts of Robertson’s novel reminded him of the immediate aftermath of the bombing. “The first half was so close to the events that followed the Lockerbie disaster,” he said. “The second part is pure fiction, but perfectly interesting fiction to read.”
Professor of Truth will be published by Penguin and the promotional material reads: “Twenty-one years after his wife and daughter were murdered in the bombing of a plane over Scotland, Alan Tealing, a university lecturer, still does not know the truth of what really happened on that terrible night. Obsessed by the details of what he has come to call ‘The Case’, he is sure that the man convicted of the atrocity was not responsible, and that he himself has thus been deprived not only of justice but also of any chance of escape from his enduring grief.
“When an American intelligence officer, apparently terminally ill and determined to settle his own accounts before death, arrives on his doorstep with information about a key witness in the trial, a fateful sequence of events is set in motion.
“Alan decides that he must travel to Australia to confront this witness, whose evidence he has always disbelieved, in the hope that this might at last be the breakthrough for which he has waited so long.”
[Peter Biddulph has emailed me the following comment:]
I guess it is the fate of every questioning writer to be accused of siding with the enemy, and James Robertson (The Professor of Truth) is no exception.
John Le Carré's The Tailor of Panama exposed American brutality and state corruption and terrorism in Central America. As a former MI6 officer Le Carre knew well the inner workings of the Transatlantic relationship. He deserves respect for his eventual honesty.
Arther Miller's The Crucible resulted in accusations of being a Communist and blacklisting by Hollywood and several publishers.
John Steinbeck was accused of being a Communist sympathiser following the publication of The Grapes of Wrath during a phase of history when the word Communist equated to the leper's cry of "Unclean".
James is indeed in good company and should take courage from this traditional badge of honour.
Saturday, 29 December 2012
“I pray we may all with honesty seek and learn the truth”
[What follows is the text of a letter to The Times by Dr Jim Swire. A week after it was sent, it has not been published and so I am taking the liberty of posting it here:]
I note your article from Mr Linklater concerning the security of the verdict reached against Mr Megrahi, regarding the murder of my daughter Flora and 269 others in the Lockerbie air disaster. [RB: Magnus Linklater is appointed CBE in today’s New Year Honours List.]
A brilliant medical student at Nottingham, Flora, who was only on her way to see her US boyfriend over Christmas, had just been accepted to continue her medical studies at Cambridge.
I have not enjoyed being accused by Mr Mullholland's Crown Office, as a member of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) group's committee, of deliberate lying over this case.
Nor do I admire the tastelessness of your newspaper in publishing this contentious article on the very day of the 24th anniversary of my innocent daughter Flora's brutal murder. I am far from alone among UK relatives in questioning the probity of the management of this terrible case.
There are at present allegations of criminality lodged by the committee of JFM against members of the Crown Office and the Scottish police force over the conduct of the Lockerbie investigation and trial.
I will not stoop to making allegations now in your pages against the Crown Office, the Lord Advocate, nor indeed Mr Linklater until the allegations have been objectively investigated.
Your readers should remember that Benedict Birnberg, Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield QC, David Wolchover, Len Murray, Ian Hamilton QC, Jock Thomson QC, John Scott QC and Emeritus Professor (of Scots law) Robert Black QC are among many other lawyers who question the probity of this verdict.
However, in the spirit of the season, I offer all who contributed to this article a happy 2013, in which I pray we may all with honesty seek and learn the truth. That is actually all that we the relatives are asking for.
[The article in today’s edition of The Times (behind the paywall) in which Mr Linklater’s honour is reported, contains the following paragraph:]
Mr Linklater remains one of most respected figures in Scottish journalism, with the skill and compassion to report sensitively on the tragedy of Lockerbie — “a story that has stayed with me ever since” — as well as the humour to deliver an agonised column about the iniquities of speed cameras.
I note your article from Mr Linklater concerning the security of the verdict reached against Mr Megrahi, regarding the murder of my daughter Flora and 269 others in the Lockerbie air disaster. [RB: Magnus Linklater is appointed CBE in today’s New Year Honours List.]
A brilliant medical student at Nottingham, Flora, who was only on her way to see her US boyfriend over Christmas, had just been accepted to continue her medical studies at Cambridge.
I have not enjoyed being accused by Mr Mullholland's Crown Office, as a member of the Justice for Megrahi (JFM) group's committee, of deliberate lying over this case.
Nor do I admire the tastelessness of your newspaper in publishing this contentious article on the very day of the 24th anniversary of my innocent daughter Flora's brutal murder. I am far from alone among UK relatives in questioning the probity of the management of this terrible case.
There are at present allegations of criminality lodged by the committee of JFM against members of the Crown Office and the Scottish police force over the conduct of the Lockerbie investigation and trial.
I will not stoop to making allegations now in your pages against the Crown Office, the Lord Advocate, nor indeed Mr Linklater until the allegations have been objectively investigated.
Your readers should remember that Benedict Birnberg, Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield QC, David Wolchover, Len Murray, Ian Hamilton QC, Jock Thomson QC, John Scott QC and Emeritus Professor (of Scots law) Robert Black QC are among many other lawyers who question the probity of this verdict.
However, in the spirit of the season, I offer all who contributed to this article a happy 2013, in which I pray we may all with honesty seek and learn the truth. That is actually all that we the relatives are asking for.
[The article in today’s edition of The Times (behind the paywall) in which Mr Linklater’s honour is reported, contains the following paragraph:]
Mr Linklater remains one of most respected figures in Scottish journalism, with the skill and compassion to report sensitively on the tragedy of Lockerbie — “a story that has stayed with me ever since” — as well as the humour to deliver an agonised column about the iniquities of speed cameras.
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Debate still raging
In his review of 2012 in today’s edition of The Scotsman, Tom Peterkin, Scottish Political Editor of Scotland on Sunday and The Scotsman, says this:
“After 1,004 days of freedom, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi finally succumbed to prostate cancer in Libya. The man convicted of the mass murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie atrocity went to his grave with the debate still raging about his rôle in the bombing.”
“After 1,004 days of freedom, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi finally succumbed to prostate cancer in Libya. The man convicted of the mass murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie atrocity went to his grave with the debate still raging about his rôle in the bombing.”
A message from Justice for Megrahi
[What follows is the text of a message sent on 24 December by Justice for Megrahi’s secretary, Robert Forrester, to JFM’s signatory members:]
I send you this by way of offering you some festive entertainment and signing off on what has proved to be a remarkably productive 2012. It commenced with the publication of John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury in February, continued with the lodging of our criminal allegations with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in September, and has ended with unanimous cross party support behind [keeping live] our petition for an inquiry into Lockerbie/Zeist at the Justice Committee's December 11th session.
As you are aware, the Crown Office began a media war against JFM and our allegations when it decided to become respondent to a letter which had not been addressed to the Crown (namely, our correspondence with the Justice Secretary requesting that he appoint an independent investigator to study our complaints with a view to commencing criminal proceedings against the individuals we had identified). Whilst JFM has always regarded 21st December as a date on which to respect the dignity and sensibilities of all the bereaved in their grief no matter whether they support the conviction or not, the Crown Office has without fail utilised the date to attempt to convince the public of the safety of the Zeist verdict. Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland did not fail to live up to the tradition of his predecessors in a front page article by Magnus Linklater (Scotland's supreme champion of the conspiracy theory) in the Times (Scotland) under the bizarre headline 'Pro-Megrahi backers flayed by new Lord Advocate'. To be fair to Mr Mulholland, he knew that the Scottish Sunday Express would be publicising an outline of our allegations today so probably felt he had to get his riding crop in first. Perhaps the allusion to flagellation in the headline reflects more accurately what has been taking place round at the Crown Office on Chambers Street since our allegations were submitted to the police on 9th November (...).
If you are a subscriber to The Times online see here the Linklater article:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article3637840.ece
If you are not a subscriber, it may be viewed here with additional comments from Prof Black:
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/pro-megrahi-backers-flayed-by-new-lord.html
For today's Scottish Sunday Express article see:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/366665 (or here: http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-claims-that-prove-lockerbie-case.html).
The JFM press briefing document outlining the eight allegations, which was provided to the Scottish Sunday Express for their article, is now available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/117745379/Allegations-Outline-for-Press-1.
In finishing, it is interesting to note that, whereas JFM was denied any independent scrutiny of our allegations by the Justice Secretary, in the Linklater article, Mr Mulholland mentions that he invited an outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the evidence and that this mysterious entity has concluded that the conviction was sound. Despite being pressed by the editor of the Scottish Sunday Express to divulge the identity of this 'independent' body - defined only by an indefinite article - the Crown Office has responded that it would not be appropriate to do so. The SCCRC and anyone concerned with any future appeal must be taking considerable interest in the fact that the Lord Advocate claims he is now employing the services of secret bodies to settle the matter in advance.
We clearly have much to talk about in 2013.
I send you this by way of offering you some festive entertainment and signing off on what has proved to be a remarkably productive 2012. It commenced with the publication of John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury in February, continued with the lodging of our criminal allegations with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in September, and has ended with unanimous cross party support behind [keeping live] our petition for an inquiry into Lockerbie/Zeist at the Justice Committee's December 11th session.
As you are aware, the Crown Office began a media war against JFM and our allegations when it decided to become respondent to a letter which had not been addressed to the Crown (namely, our correspondence with the Justice Secretary requesting that he appoint an independent investigator to study our complaints with a view to commencing criminal proceedings against the individuals we had identified). Whilst JFM has always regarded 21st December as a date on which to respect the dignity and sensibilities of all the bereaved in their grief no matter whether they support the conviction or not, the Crown Office has without fail utilised the date to attempt to convince the public of the safety of the Zeist verdict. Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland did not fail to live up to the tradition of his predecessors in a front page article by Magnus Linklater (Scotland's supreme champion of the conspiracy theory) in the Times (Scotland) under the bizarre headline 'Pro-Megrahi backers flayed by new Lord Advocate'. To be fair to Mr Mulholland, he knew that the Scottish Sunday Express would be publicising an outline of our allegations today so probably felt he had to get his riding crop in first. Perhaps the allusion to flagellation in the headline reflects more accurately what has been taking place round at the Crown Office on Chambers Street since our allegations were submitted to the police on 9th November (...).
If you are a subscriber to The Times online see here the Linklater article:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article3637840.ece
If you are not a subscriber, it may be viewed here with additional comments from Prof Black:
http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/pro-megrahi-backers-flayed-by-new-lord.html
For today's Scottish Sunday Express article see:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/366665 (or here: http://lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-claims-that-prove-lockerbie-case.html).
The JFM press briefing document outlining the eight allegations, which was provided to the Scottish Sunday Express for their article, is now available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/117745379/Allegations-Outline-for-Press-1.
In finishing, it is interesting to note that, whereas JFM was denied any independent scrutiny of our allegations by the Justice Secretary, in the Linklater article, Mr Mulholland mentions that he invited an outside counsel to conduct an independent review of the evidence and that this mysterious entity has concluded that the conviction was sound. Despite being pressed by the editor of the Scottish Sunday Express to divulge the identity of this 'independent' body - defined only by an indefinite article - the Crown Office has responded that it would not be appropriate to do so. The SCCRC and anyone concerned with any future appeal must be taking considerable interest in the fact that the Lord Advocate claims he is now employing the services of secret bodies to settle the matter in advance.
We clearly have much to talk about in 2013.
Lockerbie miscellanea
Here are three Lockerbie-related items that have come to my attention after my return from the Christmas festivities at Gannaga Lodge (and the restoration of telephone and internet connections which were broken in this part of the Roggeveld between the morning of 24th and the evening of 26th December).
24 Years After: Lockerbie and the So-called Libyan Connection is the title of a long article on the World Mathaba website. It contains much interesting material on the history of the Lockerbie affair, the political context, and the “evidence” against Libya.
One of Alex Miller's books of the year on the Morning Star website is John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury. This is what he says about it:
'This year saw the death of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted in 2001 of the bombing of Pan Am flight PA103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.
'John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury is based on extensive interviews with Megrahi and the author worked on Megrahi's legal team in 2006-9.
'The book clearly demonstrates that Megrahi was not - as often portrayed by the mainstream media - an unrepentant terrorist but very likely an innocent victim of a combination of geopolitical manoeuvres involving the US, Libya and Iran and a trial described by a UN observer as "not fair and not conducted in an objective manner".'
Families want truth of 'Libyan Lockerbie' is the headline over an Agence France Presse news agency report published on the News 24 website (and on many others). The following is a short excerpt:
‘The world has paid much attention to the Lockerbie bombing, which also killed 11 people on the ground in the Scottish town, but few know that another tragedy shook Libya almost exactly four years later.
‘Many in Libya believe Flight LN1103 was downed on 22 December 1992 on the orders of the Gaddafi regime in a bid to win international sympathy in the face of Western sanctions and to deflect attention from the Lockerbie anniversary.
‘For 20 years they grieved in silence and alone.
‘But the suspicion that the "accident" was manufactured persisted, feeding on details such as the similar dates and flight numbers, and the knowledge that the crew of the MiG allegedly involved in the crash both survived.’
24 Years After: Lockerbie and the So-called Libyan Connection is the title of a long article on the World Mathaba website. It contains much interesting material on the history of the Lockerbie affair, the political context, and the “evidence” against Libya.
One of Alex Miller's books of the year on the Morning Star website is John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury. This is what he says about it:
'This year saw the death of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted in 2001 of the bombing of Pan Am flight PA103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.
'John Ashton's Megrahi: You are my Jury is based on extensive interviews with Megrahi and the author worked on Megrahi's legal team in 2006-9.
'The book clearly demonstrates that Megrahi was not - as often portrayed by the mainstream media - an unrepentant terrorist but very likely an innocent victim of a combination of geopolitical manoeuvres involving the US, Libya and Iran and a trial described by a UN observer as "not fair and not conducted in an objective manner".'
Families want truth of 'Libyan Lockerbie' is the headline over an Agence France Presse news agency report published on the News 24 website (and on many others). The following is a short excerpt:
‘The world has paid much attention to the Lockerbie bombing, which also killed 11 people on the ground in the Scottish town, but few know that another tragedy shook Libya almost exactly four years later.
‘Many in Libya believe Flight LN1103 was downed on 22 December 1992 on the orders of the Gaddafi regime in a bid to win international sympathy in the face of Western sanctions and to deflect attention from the Lockerbie anniversary.
‘For 20 years they grieved in silence and alone.
‘But the suspicion that the "accident" was manufactured persisted, feeding on details such as the similar dates and flight numbers, and the knowledge that the crew of the MiG allegedly involved in the crash both survived.’
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