People in authority who are relying on Lockerbie fatigue

[What follows is the text of an article by Christine Grahame MSP headlined Al-Megrahi is home. And he is innocent that was published in The Independent on this date in 2009:]

I became involved with Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi quite by accident. Like many people I had been suffering from Lockerbie fatigue. For me, and for you, I suppose, life had moved on from that horrendous crime over 20 years ago and the imprisonment of the Libyan murderer. That was that.

At least it was, until I agreed, by chance, to sponsor the showing of a Dutch documentary about the Lockerbie bombing at Parliament. I invited all MSPs and researchers, and indeed the press corps, to see this film. One MSP and one member of the press came, and I really only saw it because I felt obliged to attend. But that film changed my perspective. From that casual moment, and from much that I have learned since, I am convinced not only that Megrahi was not found guilty "beyond reasonable doubt", the test in Scots law, but that he is an innocent man.

He is not a saint, of course – he had a history with Libyan intelligence – but his hands are clean over Lockerbie. For you should recall that five months before the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on that dark, wild December night just before Christmas in 1988, an American military cruiser, the Vincennes, shot down an Iranian passenger plane carrying 290 pilgrims. No one has been charged, let alone prosecuted, over that, even though it was all captured on film.

It is reasonable to deduce that when an American plane carrying, as some believed, military personnel back home to their religious festival, is blasted out of the sky, the finger of suspicion should not point first at Libya. Iran, maybe. However, Iran had to be kept on side because of the Iraq/Kuwait conflict. The Iran/Syria connection was soon dropped, and so Libya was indeed blamed. Here was a credible culprit.

To successfully frame a nation, pick one like Libya, in which all the baddies of the Middle East are personified in a recognisable hate figure like Gadhafi. If you want to frame a man, pick one with a feasible track record. Then first sell it to the world through the press and, hey presto!

But back to that film, which has not yet been seen here. After watching this disconcerting documentary, which challenged the reliability of key evidence, I got into conversations that night with Dr Jim Swire, with a forensic police scientist who had to label those bodies scattered across hundreds of acres of dark wintry hillside, with Father Patrick Keegans, the priest who lived in Sherwood Crescent (the only person who survived in that street) and with others. None of them supported the case against al-Megrahi.

Since then I have met the man at the centre of it all on several occasions. Our first meeting took place on a blustery morning some months ago. Afterwards I was confronted by a crowd of reporters who waited until I emerged one hour later from speaking to a man so detested, so reviled by many that death in prison from cancer would be too good for him.

He was sitting in front of a laptop, across the table in a room set aside of lawyers and their clients. His English was excellent and I remember trying to impress upon him that I was there for the duration, and not just this one visit. I told him that if I thought for one minute he was guilty I would walk out of the room. But he was intent on scrolling through the pages of the trial, pausing now and then to emphasise a point. Perhaps he was listening.

On subsequent visits we could go straight to the point, and deal with "prisoner transfer": to qualify he would have to abandon the appeal which could allow him to clear his name. We also talked more of his family and the growing need, as his health worsened, as it clearly was doing, to be with them. It was then that his composure was momentarily lost; the emotion and tension were tangible. But although his priority was to be with them in his last days, he told me he did not want his name to go down in history as the Lockerbie bomber. He told me, in short, that he did not do it. I told him again that I thought he was innocent.

Let me make one thing clear: I understand the hatred some feel for him, particularly the US relatives of the dead. It is, however, misplaced and it is in order to unravel for them the true story of Lockerbie, as much as to liberate an innocent man, that I and others worked hard for his compassionate release. This would have allowed the appeal process to be exhausted and evidence-led. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission considered there was evidence vital enough for it to consider that there might have been a miscarriage of justice. That evidence, particularly relating to the identification of al-Megrahi linking him directly to the bombing has never and will now never be tested in a Scottish court.

My final meeting with him was on 23 July. He requested that it be private and I have kept my word till now. Apart from discussing his deteriorating health, increasing frailty and his family, we discussed at length his compassionate release. He wanted my advice. I told him I thought he had nothing to lose because if it was rejected he could abandon his appeal and take the prisoner transfer route. I advised him to consult his legal team.

The next day he applied for compassionate release. Stupidly, I thought there was a good chance that after his death at home his appeal could still be pursued, by his family. But, like al-Megrahi, I am a tiny cog in an elaborate mechanism. Last week he abandoned his appeal. His counsel advised the court that he believed that to do so would "assist" with his "applications".

The previous week I had received an email from a whistleblower in the Justice Department telling me that the Libyan officials were being told in no uncertain terms that he must drop his appeal or there would be no compassionate release.

Al-Megrahi was a desperate man, but I believe there are other desperate men and women – in the US Justice Department and in Whitehall, – all with their own reasons for wanting that appeal to be ditched. Now he is home, but he is still, officially, a guilty man.

Those who believe him guilty are crying foul. So are those of us who believe him innocent. And then there are those who are happily sipping their claret, their eyes on a comfortable unblemished retirement. As for any inquiry, that's out there in the long grass. They are people in authority who are relying on Lockerbie fatigue setting in again. It mustn't.

Father Pat Keegans censored

[What follows is from an item originally posted on this blog on this date in 2009:]

Ayr priest barred from Lockerbie memorial service in Virginia

[This is the headline over a report in the [Daily Record]. It reads in part:]

An Ayr priest’s words were this week censored from a memorial service in the USA for the victims of the Lockerbie terror attack.

Canon Patrick Keegans was parish priest at Lockerbie when the attack occurred.

And he has spoken at previous services at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where there is a memorial cairn.

Canon Keegans had sent over an address to be read on Monday – the 21st anniversary of the atrocity.

But it wasn’t read out, after the leader of the American victims’ group took exception to part of it.

Canon Keegan proclaimed the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi took ‘courage’ and was the ‘right decision’.

And he further said that although few in America believe Megrahi to be innocent, the victims of the bombing ‘deserve’ justice.

But Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am 103, saw the excerpt of Canon Keegans’ address, printed by The Herald newspaper.

And he said: “Fr Keegans’ remarks, as printed in the newspaper, were deemed to be very inappropriate for this memorial service." (...)

Canon Keegans’ address also included moving and poignant tributes to victims on the ground and in the air.

And he told the Post this week: “I felt that in view of what has happened this year, I should say the things I did.

“I thought it right to present my view, and the view of many in Scotland.

“I believe in freedom of speech, but Mr Duggan’s censorship of my words has given them greater impact.”

Media reports of launch of Justice for Megrahi campaign

[What follows is excerpted from an item originally posted on this blog on this date in 2008:]

The Scottish "heavy" daily newspapers have good coverage of yesterday's launch of the Justice for Megrahi campaign.

The Scotsman concentrates on the experiences of the parish priest of Lockerbie at the time of the disaster, Father Pat Keegans. The report reads in part:

'Father Patrick Keegan, 62, said he believed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was innocent and should be freed on compassionate grounds before an appeal against his conviction.

'"I wrote to Mr Megrahi offering him my support, telling him that I was convinced he was innocent, and that I would willingly offer support to him and his family," said Fr Keegan, who was living in Lockerbie at the time of the bombing, just yards from where a wing section of the Pan Am flight crashed in 1988.

'Describing the Libyan and his family as "victims" of the bombing, Fr Keegan said he believed there had been a mellowing of opinion, even among those previously convinced of his guilt.'

The comments from members of the public that follow the story are also well worth reading.

Lucy Adams in The Herald has an article headed "Priest claims police interference in aftermath of Lockerbie bomb". It reads in part:

'As the Justice For Megrahi campaign was launched yesterday, Father Patrick Keegan, the priest in Lockerbie at the time, revealed that he had been visited by police during the inquiry and asked to keep to the official line - that Libya was responsible. (...)

'"I really became convinced of his innocence when the whole thrust of the case shifted from Syria and Iran to Libya alone. Interference in my own life by the investigation team convinced me.

'"A police officer asked to come along and speak to me. I listened to him for quite a while and then I said: Have you come here to ask me to be silent? He said that the point was that when you speak people listen and we would appreciate it if you could follow our line of Libya alone.

'"I complained to the Lord Advocate about it at the time and got a very bland response. The very fact that they interfered and took the trouble to come to talk to me made up my mind that I was on the right track. Other people had similar experiences."' (...)

The Press and Journal has a good account by Joe Quinn. The BBC News website's report of the launch can be read here.

[RB: Eight years later, the Justice for Megrahi campaign is still alive and kicking.]

“I was convinced he was innocent”

[What follows is the text of a report that appeared in The Scotsman on this date in 2008:]

A priest who witnessed the aftermath of the Lockerbie bombing yesterday called for the man convicted of it to be freed.

Father Patrick Keegans, 62, said he believed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was innocent and should be freed on compassionate grounds before an appeal against his conviction.

"I wrote to Mr Megrahi offering him my support, telling him that I was convinced he was innocent, and that I would willingly offer support to him and his family," said Fr Keegans, who was living in Lockerbie at the time of the bombing, just yards from where a wing section of the Pan Am flight crashed in 1988.

Describing the Libyan and his family as "victims" of the bombing, Fr Keegans said he believed there had been a mellowing of opinion, even among those previously convinced of his guilt.

Fr Keegans spoke out during the launch of the "Justice for Megrahi" campaign, to lobby for the release of Megrahi on compassionate grounds. The group includes Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of the victims of the bombing.

Piled stones to mark a covenant

[What follows is the text of the speech delivered by President Bill Clinton at the dedication of the Lockerbie memorial cairn at Arlington National Cemetery on this date in 1995:]

Sir Hector, Jane Schultz, George Williams, Reverend Keegans, Reverend Miller, Reverend Neal, Rabbi Goldberg; to Members of Congress and the administration, the diplomatic corps; to our honored friends from Scotland; most of all, to the members of the family of Pan Am 103. Thank you, Sir Hector, for your good words. And thank you and the Lockerbie Trust for this beautiful cairn which I accept on behalf of the people of the United States.

This simple monument speaks with a powerful voice. Each of its 270 Lockerbie stones tells of the loss beyond measure, a child or a parent, a brother or a sister stolen away through an act of unspeakable barbarism. Almost 7 years have now passed since that bomb cut short the lives of all 250 passengers of Pan Am 103 and the 11 villagers below. I know that I can speak for all the American people when I say that we have not forgotten and the families of the victims are still not alone in your sorrow.

Since Pan Am 103, there have been other attacks of terrorism on our own soil, the bombing of the World Trade Center, the tragedy in Oklahoma City. After each, our Nation has drawn closer, and some of the families here of the victims at Lockerbie have helped in that process. I thank all of you who reached out to those who were grieving most recently in Oklahoma City.

Despite the passage of time, nothing has dimmed our recollection of that day when death commanded the heavens. Nothing has diminished our outrage at that evil deed. Today the people of the United States understand terrorism better. We know it can strike anyone, anywhere. We know that each act of terrorism is a terrible assault on every person in the world who prizes freedom, on the values we share, on our Nation and every nation that respects human rights.

Today, America is more determined than ever to stand against terrorism, to fight it, to bring terrorists to answer for their crimes. We continue to tighten those sanctions on states that sponsor terrorism, and we ask other nations to help us in that endeavor.

We are strengthening our ability to act at home and around the world. Recently, we have been successful in apprehending terrorists abroad and in preventing planned terrorist attacks here in the United States. We are redoubling our efforts against those who target our liberties and our lives. And just a few days ago in the United Nations, I asked the nations of the world to join me in common cause against terrorism.

In the case of Pan Am 103, we continue to press for the extradition of the two Libyan suspects. We want to maintain and tighten the enforcement of our sanctions, and we want to increase the pressure on Libya. This cairn reminds us that we must never, never relax our efforts until the criminals are brought to justice.

I thank those who have spoken before for their reference to this hallowed ground. It is fitting that this memorial to the citizens of 21 nations has been erected here in the sacred place of our Nation, surrounded by so many who fell fighting for our freedom. It is fitting, too, that this cairn was chosen as the embodiment of our common concern, not only because of the strong bonds that have grown up between the people of Scotland and America out of this tragedy but because this cairn was built stone by stone.

From the time of the Bible, men and women have piled stones to mark a covenant between them as the patriarch Jacob did with Laban. So let us take this cairn as the sign of our bond with the victims of Pan Am 103 to remember the life they brought into so many lives, to work to bring justice down on those who committed the murders, to keep our own people safe, and to rid the world of terrorism and never to forget until this job is done.

We must all labor for the day, my fellow Americans and citizens of the world, when, in the words of the Psalm, "we shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday."

The days are now shortening, and December 21st approaches once again. I hope, to those of you who are members of the families, that the honor done your loved ones here today brings you some solace. And I pray that when this anniversary day comes again you will have a measure of peace. Your country men and women are with you in spirit and in determination.

God bless you. God bless Scotland. And God bless the United States of America.

---

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:37 pm at Arlington National Cemetery. In his remarks, he referred to Sir Hector Monro, who presented the memorial cairn; Jane Schultz, chief organizer of the memorial; George H Williams, president, Victims of Pan Am Flight 103; Rev Patrick Keegans, Rev John Miller, and Rev Alan Neal, who gave the blessing; and Rabbi Jacob Goldberg, who gave the benediction.

Lockerbie priest to retire

[This is the headline over a report in today’s edition of The Herald. It reads as follows:]

The Catholic priest who found himself at the centre of the Lockerbie disaster has been ordered by doctors to step down from the pulpit or permanently lose his voice.

Canon Patrick Keegans was the parish priest in the town in 1988 and lived on Sherwood Crescent, which was destroyed as sections of Pan Am flight 103 fell from the sky killing 11 people in the street, as well as all those in the plane.

His house was the only property on the street to be left largely unscathed. He later campaigned against the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. But in recent days the administrator of St Margaret’s cathedral in Ayr has been told by his consultant to rest his voice completely with immediate effect.

A statement on the cathedral website states: “The Canon’s vocal cords are damaged and he will lose his voice permanently if he does not follow the doctor’s advice. With rest his voice will heal, but it will not recover enough for him to engage in any public speaking. Canon Keegans, therefore, will be retiring from parish ministry.”

[What follows is taken from a report published this afternoon on the website of The Press and Journal:]

The Catholic priest of Lockerbie who survived when 11 neighbours were killed in the Pan Am 103 atrocity has been ordered by doctors to step down from the pulpit – or permanently lose his voice due to a throat problem.

Canon Patrick Keegans, 70, was widely praised for the tireless help he gave bereaved families in the aftermath of the disaster but is sadly now having to retire on health grounds. (...)

Canon Keegans was at home with his mother when the wreckage of the bombed flight obliterated nearly every other property in the Sherwood Crescent area of Lockerbie in December 1988. (...)

As Lockerbie’s then newly-appointed parish priest, the young Canon Keegans had the grim task of helping police to identify the bodies of dead parishioners in the days after the disaster.

In an act of defiance, he soon moved back into his home in the street to show that the people of Lockerbie could cope with the effects of the tragedy.

Like many of the families of those on board the flight, he later opposed the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi for carrying out the attack and believed him to be an innocent scapegoat.

Canon Keegans is still in regular touch with the families affected by the disaster.

He said: “Lockerbie has always been and will remain part of my life forever. I’m still involved with the families both here and in America.

“I was very keen to see justice done but I think the authorities were so desperate to convict Megrahi and were too quick to dismiss other avenues of investigation.

“I love Lockerbie but I couldn’t live there forever, the disaster would have controlled my life and I couldn’t allow it to do that.”

Megrahi petition to be considered by new Justice Committee after May election

[The Minute of Proceedings for yesterday’s meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee records its decision on Justice for Megrahi’s petition seeking an independent inquiry into the conviction of Megrahi as follows:]

Petition PE1370: The Committee considered the petition by Dr Jim Swire, Professor Robert Black QC, Robert Forrester, Father Patrick Keegans and Iain McKie on Justice for Megrahi. The Committee agreed to write to Police Scotland seeking further information regarding the progress of Operation Sandwood, to keep the petition open and to recommend that a future justice committee gives further consideration to it.

[RB: A press release issued by Justice for Megrahi shortly before the meeting can be read here.]

Priest claims police interference in aftermath of Lockerbie bomb

[This is the headline over a report published in The Herald on this date in 2008. It reads as follows:]

A new campaign for compassionate release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing comes with a claim of police interference at the start of the investigation.

As the Justice For Megrahi campaign was launched yesterday, Father Patrick Keegans, the priest in Lockerbie at the time, revealed that he had been visited by police during the inquiry and asked to keep to the official line - that Libya was responsible.

Fr Keegans and Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the tragedy that killed 270 people on December 21, 1988, yesterday launched the campaign calling for the people of Scotland to show compassion towards the man convicted of the bombing and allow his release on bail.

Speaking yesterday to launch the campaign, they revealed that they will be writing to MSPs and heads of all religious groups to garner support.

The launch comes just days after The Herald published the first interview with the wife and family of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the Libyan serving a life sentence in HMP Greenock for the bombing.

Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Aisha Megrahi said: "Please release him so he can spend what few days he has left at home with his family."

Just two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the UK's deadliest terrorist attack, she described her heartbreak at discovering that her husband is suffering from terminal cancer and of being able to see him for only 30 minutes a week, in line with prison rules.

Last month, appeal court judges ruled that Megrahi should not be let out on bail while his lengthy appeal continues, provoking fears that he will die in jail before his case can be heard. Lawyers are now expected to apply to Scottish ministers to seek his release from prison on compassionate grounds.

The campaign team, which includes Professor Robert Black, one of the architects of the original trial at Camp Zeist, hopes to influence public opinion to aid such a move.

Fr Keegans, who witnessed the aftermath of the bombing, spoke yesterday of his conviction that Megrahi is innocent and said he was moved to speak out after reading of the family's suffering in The Herald.

"My conscience has moved so much over the past two days that I wrote to Mr Megrahi offering him my support, telling him that I was convinced he is innocent and that I would willingly offer support to him and his family," said the priest.

"I can only imagine what his wife and family go through when visiting him for just half an hour a week and the constant wondering whether when they say goodbye - whether it will be the last.

"I really became convinced of his innocence when the whole thrust of the case shifted from Syria and Iran to Libya alone. Interference in my own life by the investigation team convinced me.

"A police officer asked to come along and speak to me. I listened to him for quite a while and then I said: Have you come here to ask me to be silent?' He said that the point was that when you speak people listen and we would appreciate it if you could follow our line of Libya alone'.

"I complained to the Lord Advocate about it at the time and got a very bland response. The very fact that they interfered and took the trouble to come to talk to me made up my mind that I was on the right track. Other people had similar experiences."

Dr Swire, who yesterday visited Megrahi in prison for the second time, said he noticed a change in the Libyan's appearance.

"As a doctor I am certain that if he were out and with his family rather than in custody, then he would be able to live much longer," he said. "He is clearly a man who is not physically well."

He paid tribute to Megrahi's family for their loyalty, which had extended to the Libyan's daughter Ghada deciding to get married in Barlinnie prison when her father was held there.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: "While the appeal is ongoing all that is appropriate for us to do is comment in court on the evidence."

The campaign group plan to mark the 20th anniversary of the disaster later this month with a service in the chapel of Heathrow Airport.

From the beginning we have all sought justice and truth

[On this date in 2010 The Herald reported that Pat Keegans, parish priest of Lockerbie at the time of the Pan Am 103 disaster, had written to the families of US victims asking for their support in seeking an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie affair. The report no longer appears on the newspaper’s website, but a long excerpt can be read here. Canon Keegans’s letter reads as follows:]

Dear Families,

We met through an horrendous act of murder. We lost family members and friends through this heinous crime. In all that has happened over the years I have never lost sight of the great suffering inflicted upon you and have sought where possible to be a source of solace, healing and comfort. At the same time I have also been a challenge. Before the trial of Mr Megrahi and Mr Fahima I was saying to many of the families and to the media that I did not believe that the real perpetrators had been arrested and put on trial. During the trial and afterwards I was saying that the trial and the verdict would not stand up to scrutiny; it has not stood up to serious scrutiny. What I was voicing before, during and after the trial has now been voiced by many people at an international level. In his statement Cardinal O’Brien said this: “From the moment the verdict was announced, voices have been raised in protest. Over the years the clamour has grown amongst lawyers, politicians, academics and a growing number of ordinary citizens that the verdict amounted to a miscarriage of justice.”

I for my part would affirm that such voices cannot be discounted as the rantings and ravings of conspiracy theory fanatics or deranged and misguided people. Their voices merit a full, independent and public enquiry into all aspects of what we in Scotland call the Lockerbie Bombing.

I am aware that this is not a view commonly held by you; however, I would ask you to give your support, individually and/or as a group to a full, independent public enquiry. It is your strongly held view that the trial and verdict were valid. After all that has happened since the trial I would have to wonder if such a view is tenable. However, your certainty in the validity of the trial and conviction should allow you to accept that such an enquiry would vindicate your belief and you should have nothing to fear from it. At the same time your support for an enquiry would show your concern for the legitimate and sincere views consistently held by me and many others.

From the beginning we have all sought justice and truth. Whatever our views, it is clear that the full truth has not emerged; people who murdered our family members and friends are still at large. There has been a conviction which is not universally accepted but has been questioned by many. A full, public, independent enquiry into all aspects of the bombing would assist us in finding truth and justice for ourselves and all who have died.

Finally, I will continue to offer to you unconditionally, wherever it is accepted, any support, solace and comfort that I can give.

You are never far from my thoughts and prayers.

Yours sincerely,

Pat Keegans

"The perpetrators of this crime are still free after committing mass murder"

[What follows is an article from the website of Channel 4 News published on this date four years ago:]

Former foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who arrived in the UK from Libya last week, is believed to have been an intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 Lockerbie atrocity.

Scottish police and prosecutors requested an interview with him at a meeting with Foreign Office officials on Monday.

A statement issued by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: "We can confirm that officers of Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, supported by COPFS, today met Mr Moussa Koussa in relation to the ongoing investigation into the Lockerbie bombing."

No details of the meeting were released "in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation", a spokesman said.

Mr Koussa was head of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence agency from 1994 and a senior intelligence agent when PanAm flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was jailed for mass murder in 2001 but was returned to Tripoli in 2009 on compassionate grounds after doctors treating him for prostate cancer gave him an estimated three months to live.

The Boeing 747 jumbo jet was en route from London to New York when it exploded over Lockerbie.

Canon Patrick Keegans's house was hit by the falling debris which killed several of his neighbours.

Canon Keegans told Channel 4 News he was "surprised but pleased" by the development: "A lot of things have been held back from us regarding Megrahi and Lockerbie.

"He (Moussa Koussa) is bound to know something.

"I'm very doubtful about Megrahi's conviction and think the perpetrators of this crime are still free after committing mass murder."

But Canon Keegans told Channel 4 News he had doubts that the whole truth would come out.

"I think it's strange that the authorities have waited for a Libyan to come forward.

"Two years ago Hillary Clinton said the perpetrators would be pursued with vigour but as far as I see there has been no real attempt."

He continued: "I'm concerned that the authorities will find out new information but not tell the public because it would expose a flawed trial." (...)

Foreign Secretary William Hague told the Commons earlier this week that officials would encourage Mr Koussa to co-operate fully with all requests for interviews with investigating authorities.

He said on Monday: "We will encourage Moussa Koussa to co-operate fully with all requests for interviews with law enforcement and investigation authorities in relation both to Lockerbie as well as other issues stemming from Libya's past sponsorship of terrorism and to seek legal representation where appropriate."