Amal Clooney representing Abdullah al-Senussi

[The following are excerpts from an article published yesterday on The World Post website, hosted by The Huffington Post:]

While Amal Clooney's resumé reads like most human rights activists' wildest dreams (stints working for the UN, heads of states, and ambassadors are not easy to come by) the term "human rights lawyer" is somewhat misunderstood by the public to mean "saint." (...)

Clooney's client list includes not only the ostensible "good guys" like former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, but also very questionable characters like the King of Bahrain and Abdullah al Senussi. (...)

Abdullah al Senussi, another one of Clooney's clients, served as Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief and was captured in Libya in 2011. The International Criminal Court charged him with crimes against humanity in 2011 for his role in Gaddafi's brutal government as well as the Lockerbie bombing. [RB: I can find no evidence that charges have been brought against Senussi in relation to Lockerbie.] Clooney's decision to continue to work on his defense drew some fire after she became engaged to her current spouse, as if her professional life might take a backseat to her then-fiancé's humanitarian image. Clooney's primary role in the case appears to be appealing the decision to hold the trial in Libya's domestic courts, however, claiming her client's right to meet with his lawyers was denied by the ICC.

Clooney herself justified her choice to work on behalf of al Senussi, saying that everyone has a right to a defense lawyer (extremely true) and criticizing the International Criminal Court for violating the rights of her client. Even though this may seem ironic, given the charges of human rights violations against al Senussi, due process is an integral, essential part of the international legal structure, and failures to uphold due process undermine the entire system. When it comes to those accused of war crimes or human rights violations, this includes the right to a defense, which Clooney provided professionally and convincingly in al Senussi's case. What's more, Clooney, while being many other laudable things, is also a lawyer, and lawyers make their living and reputation from acting as both prosecution and defense.

Clooney's defense of al Senussi and legal advising to [Bahraini King Hasan bin Isa] al Khalifa is part of her success as a lawyer, and defense as well as prosecution is essential to ensure the functioning of international human rights law. It is a reminder that human rights lawyers are still lawyers, professionals who need to make a career by playing both sides of the courtroom.

Libyan spy chief linked to Lockerbie sought by ICC

[This is the headline over a report published in today’s edition of The Scotsman.  It reads in part:]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered Libya to hand over Abdullah al-Senussi -- the man suspected of having orchestrated the Lockerbie bombing.

Experts believe that Senussi, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s former spy chief, has information that could help the US and UK establish the full facts about the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, in which 270 people died. But the order places the Hague-based court on a collision course with Libya’s new rulers, who say Gaddafi-era leaders in their custody should face local justice over charges of mass-
killings and other atrocities.

Senussi is suspected of having been responsible for recruiting Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in connection with the bombing, who died in May last year following his release from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009 by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill.

Both Senussi and Megrahi were members of one of Libya’s biggest tribes, the Magarha.

Yesterday, ICC judges said Libya must extradite Senussi over his alleged role in orchestrating reprisals against protesters in the 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.

“Libya remains under obligation to comply with the surrender request,” the judges said.

They also insisted that he should be allowed to see his lawyer, adding they would decide later how to respond if the north African state continues to hold Senussi. The court has the power to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council. (...)

Despite having risen from relatively low beginnings, Senussi became one of Libya’s most powerful individuals. His marriage to Gaddafi’s sister-in-law saw him brought into the ruling circle, taking on various senior roles including deputy chief of external security.

He was also said to be a close adviser to Saif al-Islam, according to leaked US embassy documents.

The former intelligence chief is thought to have information about Libyans kidnapped and assassinated in Europe and elsewhere during Gaddafi’s rule, and the financing of terrorist organisations, especially in Africa.

[A similar report in The Guardian can be read here.  It contains the following paragraph:]

Senussi's lengthy service as spy chief means he may be in possession of crucial information relating not only to the Lockerbie bombing but also to the 1984 shooting of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London, as well as arms shipments to the IRA.

A step closer to justice

[This is the headline over a report in today’s edition of the Maltese newspaper The Times.  It reads in part:]

Abdullah al-Senussi was Muammar Gaddafi’s right-hand man, a spy chief and executioner, but he returned to Libya as a man under arrest this week.

The news of his extradition from Mauritania, where he fled during the conflict that toppled the Gaddafi regime last year, was welcomed by Libyans living in Malta.

Abdalla Kablan believes that putting Mr Senussi on trial for the crimes he committed will provide some form of closure for the families of his victims.

“They can at least feel that their children can rest in peace because the man who inflicted the suffering will face the consequences of his crimes,” Dr Kablan said. (...)

He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in last year’s civil war and Libya’s decision to try him at home has raised question marks about the country’s ability to deliver a fair trial.

It is a concern expressed by Jim Swire, a British doctor and the father of Flora, one of the victims in the Lockerbie Pan-Am bombing in 1988.

Dr Swire has long maintained that Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the Lockerbie bombing, was innocent. Mr Megrahi died last May.

“Senussi is potentially a key figure who knows a lot and I would have preferred him being tried in front of the ICC because Libyan politicians are now very keen to blame everything on (Muammar) Gaddafi to clear their country’s name,” Dr Swire told The Times.

Mr Senussi had a lot to answer for the crimes he committed, Dr Swire added, but trying him in Libya risked distorting the truth.

The US and British governments believe that Mr Senussi may have orchestrated the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. Meanwhile France also wants to question him in connection with the bombing of a UTA passenger plane in 1989.

The architect of the original Lockerbie trial, Robert Black, was cynical over whether Mr Senussi could shed light on the 1988 tragedy.

“His extradition to Libya could help the Lockerbie inquiry, say most of the media today. Probably just as much as (former Foreign Affairs Minister) Moussa Koussa did, I say. And wouldn’t it be nice if there really were a Lockerbie inquiry, and not just a pretend one?

“The trouble is that the investigators’ minds are so closed that they just wouldn’t believe Senussi if he cleared Megrahi’s name.”

Dr Kablan believes this is a chance for Libya to show the world it has changed and criminals will now face justice in a functioning legal system.

Megrahi to Senussi "I am an innocent man"

[What follows is excerpted from an article published in The Wall Street Journal on this date in 2011:]

Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi maintained his innocence in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 throughout his trial and appeals—and did so in a private letter to Libya's intelligence chief, discovered on Monday in intelligence headquarters in Tripoli.

"I am an innocent man," Mr Megrahi wrote to Abdullah al-Senussi, a powerful official who was regarded as one of Col Moammar Gadhafi's closest aides, in a letter found by The Wall Street Journal. The letter, in blue ink on a piece of ordinary binder paper, was apparently written while Mr Megrahi was serving a life sentence in the UK.

In August 2009, after serving 8½ years, Mr Megrahi was released to Libya on compassionate grounds on the basis that he had terminal prostate cancer and only a few months to live. (...)

The letter to Mr Senussi was found in a steel, four-drawer filing cabinet in the intelligence chief's office in Tripoli. The cabinet had been forced open, apparently by rebels who shot holes in the lock. The office lay in shambles, but many of Mr Senussi's personal papers appeared untouched. There was no way to immediately confirm the authenticity of the letter. (...)

Mr Megrahi was sentenced by a Scottish court to life imprisonment in 2001. In the letter to Mr Senussi, Mr Megrahi mentions that he had been jailed for seven years, suggesting it was written sometime in early 2008 or late 2007, in the run up to the second appeal of his conviction.

It is unclear why he would have had reason to profess his innocence to Mr Senussi, who was in a position to already know details about the bombing. (...)

Mr Megrahi insisted he was innocent throughout his original trial and subsequent appeals. Even after his conviction, mystery and unanswered questions about who else may have been involved have surrounded the case.

In the letter, addressed to "My dear brother Abdullah," Mr Megrahi blamed his conviction on "fraudulent information that was relayed to investigators by Libyan collaborators."

He blamed "the immoral British and American investigators" who he writes "knew there was foul play and irregularities in the investigation of the 1980s."

He described in detail his latest legal maneuvering, focusing on the testimony by a Maltese clothes merchant that was critical to his conviction. The Maltese clothes merchant in question testified that Mr Megrahi had purchased clothes from him that were later found in the suitcase that contained the bomb that brought down Flight 103.

"You my brother know very well that they were making false claims against me and that I didn't buy any clothes at all from any store owner in Malta," Mr Megrahi wrote to Mr Senussi.

Mr Megrahi also had a message for "our big brother," a likely reference to Col Gadhafi, "that our legal affairs are excellent and we now stand on very solid ground."

"Send my regards to our big brother and his family and by the will of God we will meet soon and we will be victorious," he wrote. "I only hope that the financial support will continue in the coming period," he added.

Mr Megrahi eventually dropped his appeal as a condition of his application for extradition to Libya.

Libya may refuse to extradite Lockerbie suspects

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

Two men named by the Crown Office as suspects in the Lockerbie bombing would not be allowed to stand trial outside Libya, officials in Tripoli have indicated.

Earlier this month Nicola Sturgeon signalled her support for Abdullah al-Senussi and Mohammed Abouajela Masud to face justice in this country for the 1988 attack that led to the loss of 270 lives.

The pair — a former spy chief of the Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gadaffi and an explosives expert — are being held in a Tripoli prison for crimes committed during Libya’s 2011 revolution, respectively facing the death penalty and 10 years in prison.

As head of the Libyan external security service, Senussi is thought to have recruited Abdelbaset al- Megrahi, the only person so far convicted for Britain’s worst terrorist attack after Libya agreed to hand him over for trial. “Gadaffi sent Megrahi to be judged abroad but that was against the law because there was no agreement between our countries for extradition,” Jamal Zubia, head of the foreign media department in Tripoli, told The Sunday Times.

“I don’t think it would happen again. What Gadaffi did was shameful but now we must respect our laws and our state.”

Scottish investigators first tried to interview the men, along with six others, in 2009 but their request was rejected by Gadaffi. Scottish authorities have sent a new request to quiz the suspects. However, they have reportedly directed this to the internationally recognised parliament now based in the east of Libya, which has no power in the capital Tripoli — controlled by rival institutions for more than a year.

“The problem is that the Scottish court sent their demand to Tobruk, which shows they know nothing about Libya because they don’t realise the government is in Tripoli,” added Zubia. “They will be waiting maybe for ever for a reply from Tobruk because they can’t give permission for anyone to come to Tripoli and meet these prisoners.”

The Tripoli-based minister of justice, Mustafa al-Glaib, confirmed that no official request had been received by authorities in the capital. “What is circulating is media reports only. Until this time, we don’t even know for sure the names of the Libyans concerned, what the accusations are or what evidence there is against them,” he said.

“We will act according to Libyan law and we will not let the Libyan state be violated.”

The head of investigations for Libya’s general prosecutor’s office, Sadiq al-Sour, said if the UK or US made a request that was acceptable within Libyan law, it would be considered.

Senussi was given the death penalty on July 28 for a list of crimes including the killing of protestors and the distribution of weapons. The former head of a technical branch of Gadaffi’s external security agency, Masud is facing a 10-year sentence for arming vehicles with explosives and transferring these to Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution.

Both men are appealing against the sentences, given in a trial that was criticised for failing to meet international fair trial standards. Legal teams say the judgment on the appeals by Libya’s supreme court could take anything from two months to two years.

Ibrahim Aboisha, one of Senussi’s lawyers, said he had only heard about the renewed interest in the Lockerbie case from the media. “I have not discussed any pre-revolution matters with my client and I can’t just go straight to him and ask him about Lockerbie as it could come as a big shock,” he said. “I would first need to see any official requests and discuss the matter with his family.”

Senussi, who has appeared gaunt at the court hearings, has been held in solitary confinement since his extradition from Mauritania in 2012.

Masud’s lawyer declined to talk to the press, saying that he was concerned the West might have a hidden agenda in reopening the Lockerbie case.

Access to either Senussi or Masud is likely to be challenging for UK or US investigators. Both men are held in Tripoli’s high-security Hadba prison, along with other senior officials from the former regime, and Gadaffi’s playboy footballer son Saadi.

Lawyers, relatives, human rights organisations and the UN have all reported difficulties with visiting high-profile prisoners in the facility. Several inmates have made allegations of mistreatment, and video footage leaked on the internet earlier this year showed the former dictator’s son Saadi being tortured.

ICC arrest warrant for Abdullah Senussi

[The following are excerpts from a report in today's edition of The Guardian:]

Abdullah Senussi, Muammar Gaddafi's brother-in-law and intelligence chief, must have been an easy choice for the prosecutor of the international criminal court: his close association with the worst excesses of the Libyan regime goes back many years, and he reportedly played a key role in attempting to crush the Benghazi uprising when it began, in February.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, described Senussi as Gaddafi's "righthand man, the executioner". But Senussi was more than a hard man in one of the most repressive regimes in the post-cold war world: his brief extended to political and PR strategies after Gaddafi abandoned terrorism and his WMD programmes in 2003 and sought a complete makeover. (...)

Until now, Senussi's most notorious exploit was as mastermind of the bombing of a French airliner over Niger in 1989 in which 170 people were killed. That led to a 1999 case in which he was convicted in absentia in France. He has been unable to travel abroad freely since then.

In the 1980s, he headed Libya's external security organisation, in which capacity he was said to have recruited Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, in which 270 people were killed. Like Megrahi, Senussi is a member of the powerful Megarha tribe. He is also a cousin of Abdel-Salam Jalloud, one of Gaddafi's oldest comrades.

Libya appeals ICC order to hand over Senussi

[A week ago the International Criminal Court ordered Libya to hand over Abdullah al-Senussi -- the man whom some suspect of having orchestrated the Lockerbie bombing.  The Reuters news agency has now reported that Libya has formally appealed this order:]

Libya appealed on Tuesday against an order to hand over Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief to an international tribunal, saying it is capable of trying Gaddafi-era officials at home.

Judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague have said Libya must extradite Abdullah al-Senussi over his alleged role in orchestrating reprisals against protesters in the 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.

They would decide later how to respond if the North African state continues to hold Senussi, the judges added. The court has the power to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council.

Ahmed al-Jehani, the Libyan lawyer who liaises between the Libyan government and the ICC, said Libya would continue to push for its right to judge Senussi.

"Today we completed the appeal to the ICC after the order to hand him over," Jehani told Reuters, flipping through the papers of the appeal.

"Libya continues in this appeal process to prove that it wants to be part of the international community. The old Libya would not have bothered."

Last week, ICC judges ordered Libya to hand over Senussi and let him see his lawyer, raising the stakes in a dispute over who has the right to try the deposed strongman's top lieutenants.

Libya has become a test case of the effectiveness of the 10-year-old court, which relies on the cooperation of member countries to arrest suspects and enforce its orders.

Hope for Lockerbie bombing truth

[This is the headline over a report published this evening on the Herald Scotland website from The Press Association news agency.  It reads in part:]

The reported capture of the man thought to be behind the Lockerbie bombing gives the UK an opportunity to discover the truth about some of the crimes of the former Libyan regime, a Foreign Office minister says.

Lord Howell of Guildford said that no effort should be spared in bringing former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi to justice.

At question time in the House of Lords, Lord Selkirk of Douglas [RB: formerly Lord James Douglas-Hamilton], a former Scotland minister who was on the scene of the Lockerbie bombing within hours of it taking place, said the capture of Al-Senussi and intelligence archives could "finally provide the information that would assist the Lord Advocate with his ongoing inquiries". (...)

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, thought to have been recruited by Al-Senussi, 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. He is still alive.

Conservative peer Lord Selkirk asked Lord Howell: "In order to bring closure for the families of the 270 dead victims, is it not highly desirable that they should learn from any new evidence exactly what it was that happened 23 years ago and precisely what was the background to this monstrous crime?"

Lord Howell replied that the Government was seeking "confirmation" about Al-Senussi's "reported detention".

"We have been clear that no effort should be spared in bringing him to justice," he said.

"Abdullah al-Senussi's arrest, if confirmed, would offer an opportunity to uncover the truth behind some of the former regime's dreadful crimes.

"The Government will continue to support the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary's investigation into the bombing. We would want any new evidence to be made available to them and to the Lord Advocate."

New suspects in the Lockerbie bombing might actually want extradition

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

Scottish and American authorities want to question two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, and they may be in Libya.

If this is true, it will be hard to get the okay from the country, where numerous people cling to power.

"Libya has more than one authority," says BBC North Africa Correspondent Rana Jawad. "They have four to be precise. Two parliaments and two cabinets."

News reports have identified the two suspects as Abu Agila Mas'ud and Abdullah al-Senussi. Abu Agila Mas'ud is currently being held as prisoner in Tripoli. As for Abullah al-Senussi, Jawad says his location is unknown. [RB: But it is known that he is in Libya under sentence of death.]

If they wish to pursue these two suspects, Scottish and American investigators have their work cut out for them. And don't hold out any hope the men will leave Libya.

"It's highly unlikely, no matter who is in power, for Libya to extradite the two suspects," says Jawad. "Particularly, when you look at a figure like al-Senussi — he's no stranger to, I think, a lot of people. He was Chief of Military Intelligence under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for many decades. He's a controversial and dark figure."

Jawad says that al-Senussi knows about every atrocity, crime and illicit deal the West allegedly made with Gaddafi. Libyans are afraid that if he leaves the country, he'll never return. That means he'll never have to deal with the crimes he allegedly committed on his home soil.

And then there are the reports and video of abuse and torture in the prison where al-Senussi is being held. His lawyers have been trying to transfer him to The Hague, so a prison in The Netherlands, or in Scotland — where he could end up if tried and convicted for the 1988 bombing — sounds a lot better than the prisons in Libya.

As for Libyans, Jawad says they recognize the tragedy of the Lockerbie bombing, yet it's hard for them to care about it.

"I think generally speaking, given what Libya's going through at the moment — the fact that there is a low-level civil war — people have a lot more on their plates and on their minds to think about than 20-some-odd-year-old cases that don't really affect them," she says.

Police set to quiz Gaddafi ‘executioner’ on Lockerbie

[This is the headline over a report (behind the paywall) in today’s edition of The Times. It reads in part:]

Detectives investigating the Lockerbie bombing indicated yesterday that they want to question the former Libyan intelligence chief arrested at the weekend in Mauritania.

Abdullah al-Senussi, who served for more than 30 years as Colonel Gaddafi’s right-hand man, has long been suspected of masterminding the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103. He was detained at the airport in the capital, Nouakchott, while travelling on a fake Malian passport from Casablanca and was with a man believed to be his son. Prosecutors believe al-Senussi could be key to unlocking the truth behind the terrorist outrage, which killed 270 people in December 1988.

The Crown Office in Edinburgh said: “The investigation into the involvement of others with [Abdel Baset Ali] al-Megrahi in the Lockerbie bombing remains open and the Crown will work with Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and US authorities to pursue available lines of inquiry.”

Al-Senussi is Gadaffi’s brother-in-law and was his most senior spy chief and is thought to have been privy to the regime’s darkest secrets. He is said to have chaired a key meeting in 1988 which ultimately led to the downing of Pan Am 103. He is also said to have recruited al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the Lockerbie attack in 2001 but released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds in 2009. (…)

Al-Senussi belongs to Libya’s Magarha tribe. Al-Megrahi, released because he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and was said to have had only around three months to live, belongs to the same tribe.

[One suspects that the Scottish detectives, if ever allowed access to Senussi, will get precisely as much information about Lockerbie as they got from Moussa Koussa.]

Scottish police will be invited to Tripoli to question Megrahi

[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Scotsman, following on from yesterday's exclusive on The Guardian website. It reads in part:]

Libya will invite Scottish police officers to Tripoli to interview the former Libyan agent convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, according to Britain’s foreign minister Alastair Burt.

The move, which could see Dumfries and Galloway police travel to Libya shortly to speak with Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, was welcomed by Scotland’s most senior law officer the Lord Advocate Frank Mullholland QC. (...)

Yesterday Megrahi’s brother Nasser said the former Libyan agent, who is suffering from prostate cancer, was too sick to be interviewed by British investigators.

So far Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, formed in March to lead the revolution that toppled Muammar al-Gaddafi, has dragged its feet on giving Scottish officers access.

But the new cabinet is keen to build trust with the West as it seeks to unfreeze more than £100 billion in assets held by international banks.

Frank Duggan, the Washington-based lawyer representing US victims of the bomb, said: “I am pleased to hear it. The US families want to make sure that this case is still alive. I suppose it is impressive that after 23 years it is still alive.”

Mr Mulholland said: “If reports are correct I am pleased that the Transitional Government of Libya has agreed to allow officers from Dumfries and Galloway police to travel to Libya for inquiries.

“This is a live inquiry and Scottish police and prosecutors will continue to pursue the evidence to bring the others involved to justice.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Our police and prosecution authorities stand ready to investigate and follow any new lines of inquiry which may be emerging in Libya.”

[A report in today's edition of The Guardian contains the following:]

Libyan suspect Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, cleared of bombing in 2000, could face fresh trial – but victims' families are sceptical

The new Libyan government's undertaking will also hearten Frank Mulholland, the lord advocate and chief prosecutor for Scotland, who announced several months ago he was reopening prosecution files on Lockerbie.

New laws on double jeopardy in Scotland, which will allow previously cleared suspects to be tried again, came into force in late November. That would allow prosecutors to attempt a fresh trial of Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who stood trial with Megrahi in 2000 in the Lockerbie case but was cleared by the court.

In August, Fhimah denied any links to the atrocity and insisted he too was a victim of Gaddafi, but some US relatives have pressed for both men to be handed over to the US for a fresh trial – moves the Libyans have brushed away.

Mulholland said yesterday: "The trial court held that the bombing of Pan Am 103 and the murder of 270 people was an act of state-sponsored terrorism and that Megrahi did not act alone. This is a live inquiry and Scottish police and prosecutors will continue to pursue the evidence to bring the others involved to justice."

Megrahi's family insisted he was too ill to meet British officials. Nasser al Megrahi, his brother, said he was being cared for by relatives. "He is really ill," he said. "He is in his room, I have not seen him today. He's too tired to see anyone, even us, his family."

He also questioned why Scottish police and prosecutors would want to reopen the case or interview his brother, since the UK authorities had previously agreed to release Megrahi, who is terminally ill with advanced prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds. "Why would they want to reopen the case? That doesn't make sense, it was not the Gaddafi government that made the judgment, it was the Scottish [government]." (...)

Jean Berkley, convenor of the UK Families of Flight 103, said she was pleased that there was renewed interest in the case, but she was not optimistic that a police visit to Tripoli would uncover significant new information. But she said: "We would welcome any attempts to find out more of the truth because we feel that there's a lot we don't know."

Professor Robert Black, the Scottish lawyer who proposed trying Megrahi and Fhimah on neutral ground in the Netherlands, was sceptical that the initiative would lead to a fresh trial. He said if detectives tried to interview Fhimah as a suspect, they would need to apply new Scottish rules requiring his lawyer to be present.

"If they've now got permission to go and look at Libyan archives to see what they can find, fine, but I'm amazed if they think they can go and interview Megrahi: the position of the Crown Office has been we've got Megrahi, we're now looking for others," he said. "I suspect they'll be talking to people who now head the various ministries in Libya to see whether they can find any archives on Lockerbie when it was under the Gaddafi regime."

[A report in today's edition of The Times (behind the paywall) contains the following:]

It is understood that the Lockerbie inquiry team are keen to speak to Abudullah al-Senussi, a key figure in the Gaddafi regime. Al-Senussi is believed to be in custody in the town of Sabha after his capture, along with Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi’s son, last month. [RB: There remains grave doubt about whether al-Senussi has been captured at all.]

Al-Senussi, known as the executioner, is already wanted by the International Criminal Court. France wants him to face justice for the 1989 bombing of an airliner over Niger. A French court has already sentenced him to life in prison in absentia. The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Al-Senussi, 62, earlier this year for alleged crimes against humanity. The court has described him as “one of the most powerful and efficient organs of repression of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime”. (...)

Crown Office sources indicated yesterday that they had no plans to speak to al-Megrahi, the only man so far convicted of the outrage. Mr Mulholland added: “The trial court held that the bombing of Pan Am 103 and the murder of 270 people was an act of state-sponsored terrorism and that Megrahi did not act alone. This is a live enquiry and Scottish police and prosecutors will continue to pursue the evidence to bring the others involved to justice.”

Lockerbie bomb suspect ‘close to being indicted’

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

One of the new suspects in the Lockerbie bombing was “very close” to being indicted at the original trial along with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, according to the former FBI agent who headed up the US investigation.

Dick Marquise said prosecutors decided against the move to pursue Abu Agila Mas’ud because they didn’t believe the case was strong enough.

Scottish prosecutors last week announced that are seeking permission to interview two new suspects, later confirmed as Mas’ud and Libya’s ex-intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.

Both are currently incarcerated in the strife-torn North African state with Senussi facing the death sentence and Mas’ud jailed for ten years.

Marquise is a former FBI agent and was head of the US government’s investigation of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which killed 270 people in 1988. He said both men were on the radar in the original investigation.

“Senussi was [former Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi’s intelligence chief as I recall,” he said.

“We had him as a possible suspect only because of his rank in the government and what he did there. We didn’t have any evidence against him, but he was someone we were well aware of and we had heard stories that he was involved deeply in terrorist plots, but nothing specific in regard to Lockerbie.

“Mas’ud on the other hand, he was very close to being indicted back when Megrahi was. We were aware of his travels with Megrahi in and out of Malta, a number of times. The last time that we were aware of was the morning that the bomb bag left. He and Megrahi were on the same plane.

“So we were aware of him. He was, we believed he was, a technician of some kind – a bomb builder. However, there was no real evidence against him other than that he was a bomb technician and he was on a flight with Megrahi. So prosecutors decided back in 1991 not to indict him.

“I think the prosecutors erred on the side of caution to say there’s no real concrete evidence. Nobody told us, well he came here and armed the bomb or put the timer together. There’s no real proof of that.”

A US documentary made by Ken Dorstein, whose brother David was on board Pan Am Flight 103, presented evidence last month which suggested that Mas’ud was the Lockerbie bomb-maker. It tracked down a former Libyan operative Musbah Eter, who had confessed to the 1986 bombing of Berlin’s La Belle disco which left three dead. Eter said Mas’ud brought the bomb into Berlin’s Libyan Embassy and showed him how to arm it.

Mas’ud did feature in Marquise’s book about Lockerbie, but he was asked to change it by the FBI when it went through the approval process, because it was believed that he could be indicted in future.

Senussi has been condemned to death by firing squad and Mas’ud has been jailed for ten years over charges of bomb-making.

Dr Noel Guckian, a former chargé d’affaires of the UK embassy in Libya, has warned that prosecutors face a legal and diplomatic minefield in securing access to the pair.

“The problem with Libya is that Libya has collapsed,” he said. “There are something like 1,700 militias and that can be just a group of people, to the extremist Islamic State. Some are tribal, some are pro-Gaddafi.”

Libya is divided between the internationally recognised government in Tobruk and the rival non-extremist Islamist regime which is also vying to be seen as the country’s government. It is the latter which the Scottish authorities have approached with a view to interviewing the new suspects.

Guckian, who spent five years in the North African country, warned of Foreign Office advice not to travel to Libya and added: “It’s going to be a hugely difficult operation to get people to talk to these two people and to do it in Libya.”

CIA Director's Libya visit prompts speculation about Senussi handover

[What follows is excerpted from an article headlined CIA Director’s visit to Libya Not Just a Visit published yesterday on The Libya Update website:]

The visit of the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William J Burns to Libya was surrounded by a halo of mystery and a lack of details about its reasons, which opened the door to wide speculation, especially about its timing. The visit came weeks after the handover of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud, suspected of making the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 that killed 190 Americans, amid rumors that more suspects will be extradited. (...)

The head of the Libyan government in Tripoli, Abd al-Hamid al-Dbeibeh, had received Burns, accompanied by the Chargé d’Affairs of the US Embassy and his accompanying delegation, in the presence of Libya’s Foreign Minister Najla El Mangoush, and the head of the intelligence service, Hussein al-A’eb. This was amid remarkable secrecy on what was discussed or agreed upon during the visit.

According to the media office of the Libyan government, Burns stressed “the need to develop economic and security cooperation between the two countries.” (...)

Ned Price, the Spokesperson for the US Department of State said he cannot comment on the visit of US Intelligence Director William Burns to Libya. (...)

This American secrecy about the reasons for this visit increased the interest of observers in Libya, with anticipation of its results soon. This is especially regarding the extradition of more suspects in the “Lockerbie” case, such as Abdullah al-Senussi, the former intelligence chief and brother-in-law of Colonel Gaddafi. He was the second man in the Gaddafi regime, who is currently in a prison in the Libyan capital. (...)

The visit of an American official of this level to Libya for the first time since 2012, amid a complex situation in the country, and weeks after the controversial handover of Mas’ud to Washington, all of this makes the visit worth the attention that has been focused on it, according to the Libyan academic and analyst, Abdul Ghani Atia.

“This visit will completely shuffle the cards in the Libyan scene. On the one hand, it was no surprise that many talk that Abdullah Al-Senussi will be handed over to the US,” Atia believes.

“If Al-Senussi, who is accused of war crimes inside Libya and considered a controversial figure in the country, is extradited, this will represent a cave of treasures in the Lockerbie case. The man was Gaddafi’s right arm, and he is even more dangerous than Saif al-Islam, the son of Gaddafi himself.” Atia said.

[A further article about the implications of the visit can be found in US spy chief gives his support to Libya PM as part of a deal over Lockerbie? by Martin Jay on the Strategic Culture Foundation website.]

Libya may investigate Lockerbie

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

The new Libyan government may run its own investigation into the Lockerbie bombing, once unseen documents emerge, the country’s interior minister said yesterday.

The ousting of Muammar al-Gaddafi has presented an opportunity to bring to light thousands of documents lying in the coffers of the institutions of the former regime.

The papers may contain evidence that could finally bring to justice those responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, an atrocity in which 270 people died.

Fawzi Abdul Aal, appointed to the role of interior minister on Tuesday, said: “If there are new documents on Lockerbie, we will start an internal investigation. It may be possible to re-open the case and show the truth. My desire is to show the truth.”

However, Mr Aal refused to commit to making any documentation public.

“This is a complicated issue … the decision of whether to reveal the documents must come from the Cabinet,” he said. “This is an issue that affects America and Britain, and Scotland, and the decision must come from other powers, not just the ministry.”

There were conflicting reports yesterday that Gaddafi’s intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, who is thought to have been behind the Lockerbie bombing, had been captured.

The Libyan Transitional Council announced this week that rebel brigades had captured Senussi in southern Libya.

But members of the local brigades cast doubt on the announcement. “We are in the area where he is, we are searching house-to-house but he has not yet been found,” said one fighter.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in Tripoli yesterday he did not believe Senussi had been captured.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, thought to have been recruited by Senussi, was jailed for the atrocity in 2001 but was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds after being given three months to live. He is still alive.

Lockerbie and the Tripoli verdicts

[What follows is excerpted from a report published in today’s edition of The Herald:]

The Tripoli court also sentenced to death seven others, including former Libyan spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi.

The Crown Office had previously commented on Senussi's potential value to the new inquiry when he was extradited from Mauritania, on the west coast of Africa, to Libya in September 2012.

Mr Mulholland and the FBI have previously stated their continuing belief Libya was behind the massacre and al-Megrahi carried out the operation.

But Professor Robert Black QC, one of the architects of the Camp Zeist trial which convicted al-Megrahi, has said that while the execution of Senussi would not have major implications for the Lockerbie case, Omar-Dorda's death may.

He said: "If Lockerbie was a Libyan operation, which I've yet to be convinced it was, I doubt if Senussi was in the loop. He was mainly concerned with internal security, ie keeping Gaddafi in power, rather than foreign operations.

"But the events in Tripoli do impact on Lockerbie in other ways. One of those sentenced to death is Abuzed Omar-Dorda, who was instrumental in brokering the arrangement that led the UK and USA eventually to agree to a non-jury trial in the Netherlands. A genuinely good guy."

Professor Black said another two Libyans with Lockerbie connections had been acquitted: Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, former Foreign Minister who chaired the Libyan government committee that dealt with securing a Lockerbie trial and, later, with the ramifications of the guilty verdict against Megrahi, and Mohammed Zwai who was, for most of the relevant period during which the [fallout from the] Lockerbie trial was being considered, Libyan ambassador in London.

Dr Jim Swire, the public face of the British families of the Lockerbie victims and sceptic over the role of al-Megrahi and Libya, said he believed the executions were "irrelevant" to resolve any outstanding questions over the tragedy.

But he also described the Tripoli decisions as a "put down for the concept of international justice".

He added: "I had hoped vainly these guys would be handed over to international criminal courts, given a fair trial and no death sentence imposed. They have been tried in a court which wouldn't be recognised outside Libya.

"I'm particularly sad about Dorda, who I knew well and met many times."