[This is the headline over a report on the Voice of America website. It recognises that some Lockerbie families harbour grave doubts that the Zeist trial came anywhere near to the truth regarding the destruction of Pan Am 103. Yet another sign, perhaps, that even in the United States the problems with the "authorised version" are at last being raised. The report reads in part:]
In 1988, an American airliner flying from London to New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. A Libyan man was the only person convicted of involvement, and he was released in late August by Scottish authorities because he is suffering from cancer. Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal before he was released, and some thought that might be the end of the 21-year Lockerbie saga. Some victims' relatives believe there are still unanswered questions and are seeking legal avenues to raise them. (...)
Scottish authories freed Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, because he has terminal cancer. Many families are angry because Megrahi served only eight and a half years of his 27-year sentence, others because they hoped he would be proven innocent.
Reverend John Mosey's 19-year-old daughter Helga was killed. He didn't object to Megrahi's release, but is upset because the Libyan decided to abandon the appeal of his conviction.
"I'm pleased he's gone home because my opinion is colored by my feeling that he was almost certainly not guilty, but the important thing was that he dropped his appeal and that is [the] great tragedy in this," Mosey said. (...)
But some of the relatives say the trial was unsatisfactory. Among them is Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing. Swire wants to know more about an alleged break-in in the baggage area of London's Heathrow airport hours before Pan Am 103 took off. It wasn't addressed in the trial. (...)
Every year families on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean commemorate their loved ones on the anniversary of the bombing. Some blame Libya, others hope they will be able to find answers through their own legal appeal, possibly through the United Nations, a British government public inquiry or a legal case in the European Court of Human Rights.
"It's very easy to lose sight of the foundations of why we've been fighting for 20-odd years. All we want to know is who murdered our family members and why they were not prevented from doing so and it's that - why they were not prevented from doing so - that is causing a great deal of difficulty for us now because of what we do know which suggests that a causation of this was probably very different from what's been presented to the world," Swire said.
Libyan authorities allowed a television camera into the hospital to show that Megrahi was clearly very ill, and unwilling or unable to answer questions.
His release put the Lockerbie bombing firmly back in the public eye. Victim's families hope their quest to learn more about the attack will not die with him.
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Key Lockerbie evidence "unsafe" claims MSP
[What follows is the text of a press release and note to editors from Christine Grahame MSP.]
Scottish police investigators did not make the key piece of evidential material used to convict Abdelbaset al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, secure an SNP MSP has claimed. Christine Grahame MSP has said the Crown Office has now confirmed to her that the fragment was taken to Germany and then to the US by Scottish investigating officers without the knowledge of the Defence team and more crucially the then Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of [Carmyllie], the senior prosecutor at the time of the investigation.
In an interview for Dutch TV yet to be shown on UK television Lord Fraser was asked if the fragment, known as PT-35 (alleged to be part of the bomb’s timer) had always remained in the UK. Lord Fraser responded:
“As far as I’m aware it’s always been in the UK.”
Asked if it had ever been to the United States, Lord Fraser responds:
“Not that I’m aware of,” adding that he would have known if it had left the UK, telling Dutch reporters: “What would have gone through my mind is, I’m not accusing the FBI or anything… [but] could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [the fragment] has been fiddled with.”
Now SNP MSP Christine Grahame has confirmed that the same fragment also went to Germany two months before being sent across the Atlantic to Washington without, it seems, the knowledge of the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office. Ms Grahame herself a former lawyer, also claims Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment. She said:
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
The senior Scottish police investigator involved in the case, retired Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson told Dutch journalists last December,
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it. It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
“But that is precisely what appears to have happened,” Ms Grahame said and separately confirmed she has seen additional documents yet to be made public that showed DCS Henderson had told Crown prosecution officials in a formal legal statement that the fragment had indeed been to the US. Ms Grahame added:
“I am not sure why DCS Henderson’s statements made separately to Dutch TV and to the Crown Office contradict each other so starkly. That is a matter for Mr Henderson to explain. Either this fragment was in the US or it was not.
“I am deeply concerned that during the investigation and indeed leading all the way up to the Trial that neither the Crown nor Megrahi’s Defence were ever made aware that this crucial piece of evidence was being ‘waved around for everyone to see’ as DCS Henderson put it.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany."
Note to editors:
The Crown Office responding to a Freedom of Information request from Ms Grahame stated:
“PT 35 was taken to the Siemens company in Munich, Germany in April 1990 by Scottish police officers.”
Now retired FBI Senior Investigating Officer Richard Marquise confirmed to Ms Grahame’s office last week that, “PT-35, the actual fragment, came to the US one time, in June 1990 in the possession of a Scottish police officer and Feraday (Alan Feraday of the UK forensic explosives laboratory, RARDE).”
DCS Henderson, the Senior Scottish Police Investigator in an interview with Dutch documentary makers VPRO stated: “[the fragment] was in his (Alan Feraday, RARDE) possession and my possession but it was never released for anybody to hold it… they (the FBI) came to where we had it to see it because it wasn’t possible to remove any evidence out of the jurisdiction of the Scottish control.”
In his precognition statement given to Scottish Crown prosecutors DCS Henderson confirms that on the 22nd of June 1990 Henderson, accompanied by Chief Inspector McLean, DI Williamson and Alan Feraday from RARDE took the fragment to the US and “Met in Washington with metropolitan field officers of the FBI and Thomas Thurman.” The FBI’s Thomas Thurman was the officer who later claimed to have identified the fragment and the link to Libya, but later retired from the FBI following accusations by colleagues that he had [altered] forensic reports related to other criminal murder investigations.
[A report on the issue on the BBC News website can be read here. A radio interview with Christine Grahame can be heard here.
What follows is the text of a Crown Office press release:
"There is absolutely nothing new in this misleading story. Contrary to what is being claimed by Ms Grahame, the fact that the fragment of MST-13 timer known as PT 35 was taken to West Germany in 1990 by Scottish police officers was known to Mr Megrahi's defence team prior to his trial and indeed was presented to the Court by the Crown as evidence in the trial. During the trial Hans Brosamle of Siemens was called as a Crown witness and described examining PT 35 in Munich to the Court. Mr Megrahi's defence team did not dispute during the trial, after analysis by their own experts, that the fragment was part of an MST-13 timer.
"At no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE)."
It will be noticed that this response does not address (a) the issue of the transfer of the fragment to the United States; (b) the issue of the then Lord Advocate's ignorance of the movement of the fragment out of the UK; and (c) his reasons for stating that no such movements should have occurred. Nor does it explain why the "chain of custody" label attached to the fragment appears not to record these movements.]
Scottish police investigators did not make the key piece of evidential material used to convict Abdelbaset al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, secure an SNP MSP has claimed. Christine Grahame MSP has said the Crown Office has now confirmed to her that the fragment was taken to Germany and then to the US by Scottish investigating officers without the knowledge of the Defence team and more crucially the then Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of [Carmyllie], the senior prosecutor at the time of the investigation.
In an interview for Dutch TV yet to be shown on UK television Lord Fraser was asked if the fragment, known as PT-35 (alleged to be part of the bomb’s timer) had always remained in the UK. Lord Fraser responded:
“As far as I’m aware it’s always been in the UK.”
Asked if it had ever been to the United States, Lord Fraser responds:
“Not that I’m aware of,” adding that he would have known if it had left the UK, telling Dutch reporters: “What would have gone through my mind is, I’m not accusing the FBI or anything… [but] could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [the fragment] has been fiddled with.”
Now SNP MSP Christine Grahame has confirmed that the same fragment also went to Germany two months before being sent across the Atlantic to Washington without, it seems, the knowledge of the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office. Ms Grahame herself a former lawyer, also claims Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment. She said:
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
The senior Scottish police investigator involved in the case, retired Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson told Dutch journalists last December,
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it. It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
“But that is precisely what appears to have happened,” Ms Grahame said and separately confirmed she has seen additional documents yet to be made public that showed DCS Henderson had told Crown prosecution officials in a formal legal statement that the fragment had indeed been to the US. Ms Grahame added:
“I am not sure why DCS Henderson’s statements made separately to Dutch TV and to the Crown Office contradict each other so starkly. That is a matter for Mr Henderson to explain. Either this fragment was in the US or it was not.
“I am deeply concerned that during the investigation and indeed leading all the way up to the Trial that neither the Crown nor Megrahi’s Defence were ever made aware that this crucial piece of evidence was being ‘waved around for everyone to see’ as DCS Henderson put it.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany."
Note to editors:
The Crown Office responding to a Freedom of Information request from Ms Grahame stated:
“PT 35 was taken to the Siemens company in Munich, Germany in April 1990 by Scottish police officers.”
Now retired FBI Senior Investigating Officer Richard Marquise confirmed to Ms Grahame’s office last week that, “PT-35, the actual fragment, came to the US one time, in June 1990 in the possession of a Scottish police officer and Feraday (Alan Feraday of the UK forensic explosives laboratory, RARDE).”
DCS Henderson, the Senior Scottish Police Investigator in an interview with Dutch documentary makers VPRO stated: “[the fragment] was in his (Alan Feraday, RARDE) possession and my possession but it was never released for anybody to hold it… they (the FBI) came to where we had it to see it because it wasn’t possible to remove any evidence out of the jurisdiction of the Scottish control.”
In his precognition statement given to Scottish Crown prosecutors DCS Henderson confirms that on the 22nd of June 1990 Henderson, accompanied by Chief Inspector McLean, DI Williamson and Alan Feraday from RARDE took the fragment to the US and “Met in Washington with metropolitan field officers of the FBI and Thomas Thurman.” The FBI’s Thomas Thurman was the officer who later claimed to have identified the fragment and the link to Libya, but later retired from the FBI following accusations by colleagues that he had [altered] forensic reports related to other criminal murder investigations.
[A report on the issue on the BBC News website can be read here. A radio interview with Christine Grahame can be heard here.
What follows is the text of a Crown Office press release:
"There is absolutely nothing new in this misleading story. Contrary to what is being claimed by Ms Grahame, the fact that the fragment of MST-13 timer known as PT 35 was taken to West Germany in 1990 by Scottish police officers was known to Mr Megrahi's defence team prior to his trial and indeed was presented to the Court by the Crown as evidence in the trial. During the trial Hans Brosamle of Siemens was called as a Crown witness and described examining PT 35 in Munich to the Court. Mr Megrahi's defence team did not dispute during the trial, after analysis by their own experts, that the fragment was part of an MST-13 timer.
"At no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE)."
It will be noticed that this response does not address (a) the issue of the transfer of the fragment to the United States; (b) the issue of the then Lord Advocate's ignorance of the movement of the fragment out of the UK; and (c) his reasons for stating that no such movements should have occurred. Nor does it explain why the "chain of custody" label attached to the fragment appears not to record these movements.]
More hidden history, more unsettling truths: the Lockerbie bombing
This is the heading over a post today on the Fabius Maximus blog. It is perhaps another indication that the problems about the Lockerbie trial and the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi are starting at last to percolate through in some quarters in the United States. The post can be read here.
Monday 19 October 2009
Pan Am incriminee Talb freed
[Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm has picked up and expanded upon yesterday's story about the release of Abu Talb from prison in Sweden. Its article can be read here. The full text appears below.]
Mohammed Abu Talb, the Palestinian militant implicated in the Pan Am 103 atrocity, is understood to have been freed from jail in Sweden where he had been serving a life term.
The Firm understands Talb was quietly released in early September, only weeks after Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was released from jail in Scotland and returned to Libya.
Talb was named by Megrahi and co-accused Fhimah in their special defence of incrimination during their trial, although no charges were ever brought against him.
In April a Swedish court overturned Talb's life sentence and reinstated a fixed tariff of 30 years, scehduled to expire in 2011 under their convention that only two thirds of the full sentence are actually served. Talb was found guilty of bombing a synagogue and the office of an American-based airline in Denmark in 1985. He was also found guilty of involvement in another airline bombing in the Netherlands.
The Swedish court based their decision on evidence submitted by police and psychiatrists indicating that Abu Talb was unlikely to commit crimes or participate in terrorist activity in the future.
In 2004 Fhimah's [then] solicitor Eddie MacKechnie told The Firm that the accused had little opportunity to exercise their special defence, and that the Crown Office treatment of Talb placed them at a disadvantage.
"The Crown had the Dept of Justice of the USA at their beck and call, and all the weight of the UK and the USA diplomatically. For example, Mohammad Abu Talb, a notable incriminee in this case, declined even to see anyone from the defence at any stage. Yet, Abu Talb travels by special plane, armed guards, the lot, and gives his evidence over a number of days. Interesting." MacKechnie said.
"He also provided evidence and gave a number of statements at great length to Crown representatives. So a clear disadvantage was in operation. Perhaps inevitably, I think the job was actually impossible.”
Professor Robert Black says Talb could be prosecuted under Scots law, having gained no immunity when named as an incriminee.
"A Crown witness gains immunity from prosecution only if he is called as an accomplice to give evidence against those involved with him in the crime charged. Talb was not called by the Crown in this capacity," Black says.
"He had been named by the two Libyan accused as the person who, acting for a Palestinian group, was really responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103. The Crown called him to obtain a denial of this. He was not called as an accomplice of the Libyans."
Mohammed Abu Talb, the Palestinian militant implicated in the Pan Am 103 atrocity, is understood to have been freed from jail in Sweden where he had been serving a life term.
The Firm understands Talb was quietly released in early September, only weeks after Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was released from jail in Scotland and returned to Libya.
Talb was named by Megrahi and co-accused Fhimah in their special defence of incrimination during their trial, although no charges were ever brought against him.
In April a Swedish court overturned Talb's life sentence and reinstated a fixed tariff of 30 years, scehduled to expire in 2011 under their convention that only two thirds of the full sentence are actually served. Talb was found guilty of bombing a synagogue and the office of an American-based airline in Denmark in 1985. He was also found guilty of involvement in another airline bombing in the Netherlands.
The Swedish court based their decision on evidence submitted by police and psychiatrists indicating that Abu Talb was unlikely to commit crimes or participate in terrorist activity in the future.
In 2004 Fhimah's [then] solicitor Eddie MacKechnie told The Firm that the accused had little opportunity to exercise their special defence, and that the Crown Office treatment of Talb placed them at a disadvantage.
"The Crown had the Dept of Justice of the USA at their beck and call, and all the weight of the UK and the USA diplomatically. For example, Mohammad Abu Talb, a notable incriminee in this case, declined even to see anyone from the defence at any stage. Yet, Abu Talb travels by special plane, armed guards, the lot, and gives his evidence over a number of days. Interesting." MacKechnie said.
"He also provided evidence and gave a number of statements at great length to Crown representatives. So a clear disadvantage was in operation. Perhaps inevitably, I think the job was actually impossible.”
Professor Robert Black says Talb could be prosecuted under Scots law, having gained no immunity when named as an incriminee.
"A Crown witness gains immunity from prosecution only if he is called as an accomplice to give evidence against those involved with him in the crime charged. Talb was not called by the Crown in this capacity," Black says.
"He had been named by the two Libyan accused as the person who, acting for a Palestinian group, was really responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103. The Crown called him to obtain a denial of this. He was not called as an accomplice of the Libyans."
Binyam Mohamed torture summary parallels Lockerbie secrecy
[I am grateful to Peter Biddulph for drawing my attention to the following item on his and Jim Swire's Lockerbie website.]
Britain's so-called "democracy" reeks with the stench of the transatlantic relationship. Under threats from US officials who are "not pleased" by a decision by British judges, David Miliband is keeping secret US - UK connivance in the torture of Binyam Mohamed. For Miliband the exposure of evil takes second place to the convenience of US intelligence agents and their government. In al-Megrahi's second appeal, documents relating to the fragment of the Lockerbie bomb were kept secret by Miliband for the same reason. Truth remains less important for Miliband than "cooperation in intelligence matters".
We have always maintained that the two key elements of the conviction of al-Megrahi are:
1. The identification of al-Megrahi: In an extraordinary development in 2005, Maltese shopkeeper Toni Gauci was exposed as an unreliable witness by the man who in 1991 indicted Megrahi, former Scottish Lord Advocate Peter Fraser. In Fraser's words, Gauci was "an apple short of a picnic." And yet the judges trusted Gauci's contradictory and confused evidence, and ignored the fact that Gauci was on a promise of a multi-million dollar reward if al-Megrahi was convicted. It is now documented and proved that Gauci was paid at least $2 million for his evidence, and his brother Paul $1 million.
2. The alleged bomb timer fragment: Strong doubts surround the fragment and the CIA background under which it emerged in [Kielder] Forest. Was it planted to frame Libya for the crime? The fragment's label had been altered by unknown persons. And its finding and examination by Dr Thomas Hayes proved highly suspicious.
Now more than ever it is imperative that an independent inquiry take place, to examine events before and after the night of the bombing. The opportunity for a second appeal is lost, but the demand for the truth in this affair remains.
Britain's so-called "democracy" reeks with the stench of the transatlantic relationship. Under threats from US officials who are "not pleased" by a decision by British judges, David Miliband is keeping secret US - UK connivance in the torture of Binyam Mohamed. For Miliband the exposure of evil takes second place to the convenience of US intelligence agents and their government. In al-Megrahi's second appeal, documents relating to the fragment of the Lockerbie bomb were kept secret by Miliband for the same reason. Truth remains less important for Miliband than "cooperation in intelligence matters".
We have always maintained that the two key elements of the conviction of al-Megrahi are:
1. The identification of al-Megrahi: In an extraordinary development in 2005, Maltese shopkeeper Toni Gauci was exposed as an unreliable witness by the man who in 1991 indicted Megrahi, former Scottish Lord Advocate Peter Fraser. In Fraser's words, Gauci was "an apple short of a picnic." And yet the judges trusted Gauci's contradictory and confused evidence, and ignored the fact that Gauci was on a promise of a multi-million dollar reward if al-Megrahi was convicted. It is now documented and proved that Gauci was paid at least $2 million for his evidence, and his brother Paul $1 million.
2. The alleged bomb timer fragment: Strong doubts surround the fragment and the CIA background under which it emerged in [Kielder] Forest. Was it planted to frame Libya for the crime? The fragment's label had been altered by unknown persons. And its finding and examination by Dr Thomas Hayes proved highly suspicious.
Now more than ever it is imperative that an independent inquiry take place, to examine events before and after the night of the bombing. The opportunity for a second appeal is lost, but the demand for the truth in this affair remains.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Lockerbie "suspect" freed
[This is the headline over a short report (which does not seem to feature on the newspaper's website) in today's Scottish edition of The Mail on Sunday. It reads as follows:]
A terrorist who many believe carried out the Lockerbie bombing has been freed from jail in Sweden.
Mohammed Abu Talb ... was released less than three weeks after Addelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the atrocity, was released from prison in Scotland.
Talb has served 20 years of a life term in his adopted country for a series of bombings in Amsterdam and Copenhagen in 1985, which killed one and injured dozens.
The Palestinian terrorist is thought to have had the backing, finance, equipment and contacts to have downed the Pan Am jet in 1988.
As he was a key witness in the trial of Megrahi, the Crown Office says Talb has immunity from prosecution.
[If the Crown Office did indeed say this, it is -- once again -- in error as to the law of Scotland. A Crown witness gains immunity from prosecution only if he is called as an accomplice to give evidence against those involved with him in the crime charged. Talb was not called by the Crown in this capacity. He had been named by the two Libyan accused as the person who, acting for a Palestinian group, was really responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103. The Crown called him to obtain a denial of this. He was not called as an accomplice of the Libyans.
The law on the subject of the extent and limits of the immunity from prosecution of Crown witnesses is clearly set out in the 5-judge case of O'Neill v Wilson 1983 SCCR 265.]
A terrorist who many believe carried out the Lockerbie bombing has been freed from jail in Sweden.
Mohammed Abu Talb ... was released less than three weeks after Addelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the atrocity, was released from prison in Scotland.
Talb has served 20 years of a life term in his adopted country for a series of bombings in Amsterdam and Copenhagen in 1985, which killed one and injured dozens.
The Palestinian terrorist is thought to have had the backing, finance, equipment and contacts to have downed the Pan Am jet in 1988.
As he was a key witness in the trial of Megrahi, the Crown Office says Talb has immunity from prosecution.
[If the Crown Office did indeed say this, it is -- once again -- in error as to the law of Scotland. A Crown witness gains immunity from prosecution only if he is called as an accomplice to give evidence against those involved with him in the crime charged. Talb was not called by the Crown in this capacity. He had been named by the two Libyan accused as the person who, acting for a Palestinian group, was really responsible for the destruction of Pan Am 103. The Crown called him to obtain a denial of this. He was not called as an accomplice of the Libyans.
The law on the subject of the extent and limits of the immunity from prosecution of Crown witnesses is clearly set out in the 5-judge case of O'Neill v Wilson 1983 SCCR 265.]
Saturday 17 October 2009
First Minister on release decision
Here is what the First Minister, Alex Salmond, had to say today about the release of Abdelbaset Megrahi in his keynote speech at the SNP annual conference in Inverness. The full speech can be read here.
"I am told that our Labour/Tory/Liberal opponents cannot understand why we are more popular now than when we were elected.
"It is simple. People like the record of action of an SNP government compared to the wasted years of a peely wally executive
"As a party and as a government, we will stick firm to our principles.
"And without fear or favour, we will take the big decisions. And delegates that is exactly what Kenny MacAskill has done.
"I was delighted but not surprised when statesmen like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela welcomed the decision to release Mr Al Megrahi.
"Delegates, Kenny MacAskill made the right decision for the right reasons. He showed that there is a place for compassion in the administration of justice. That even in the face of the most terrible atrocity, the most severe provocation, we can put mercy before retribution.
"We all recognise the suffering of the families of the victims. What they have experienced no family, no person, should ever endure.
"But the evil of terrorism thrives in the darkness of fear and shrinks from the light of compassion.
"It is right that Mr Al Megrahi was tried and convicted for his crimes, but it is also right that he has been sent home to die.
"Last week Arun Gandhi came to see me - the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
"He seeks with our Scottish churches to found a reconciliation centre in one of our great universities.
"One of the things that he told me is that his grandfather's philosophy is much misunderstood.
"His resistance was not passive but active.
"His dedication to non violence a strength not a weakness.
"Sometimes someone has to break the cycle of retribution with an act of compassion.
"That is what Kenny MacAskill did and we should be proud of him for doing it."
"I am told that our Labour/Tory/Liberal opponents cannot understand why we are more popular now than when we were elected.
"It is simple. People like the record of action of an SNP government compared to the wasted years of a peely wally executive
"As a party and as a government, we will stick firm to our principles.
"And without fear or favour, we will take the big decisions. And delegates that is exactly what Kenny MacAskill has done.
"I was delighted but not surprised when statesmen like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela welcomed the decision to release Mr Al Megrahi.
"Delegates, Kenny MacAskill made the right decision for the right reasons. He showed that there is a place for compassion in the administration of justice. That even in the face of the most terrible atrocity, the most severe provocation, we can put mercy before retribution.
"We all recognise the suffering of the families of the victims. What they have experienced no family, no person, should ever endure.
"But the evil of terrorism thrives in the darkness of fear and shrinks from the light of compassion.
"It is right that Mr Al Megrahi was tried and convicted for his crimes, but it is also right that he has been sent home to die.
"Last week Arun Gandhi came to see me - the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.
"He seeks with our Scottish churches to found a reconciliation centre in one of our great universities.
"One of the things that he told me is that his grandfather's philosophy is much misunderstood.
"His resistance was not passive but active.
"His dedication to non violence a strength not a weakness.
"Sometimes someone has to break the cycle of retribution with an act of compassion.
"That is what Kenny MacAskill did and we should be proud of him for doing it."
Lockerbie families' fury at MacAskill's 'taunts'
[This is the headline over an article in today's edition of The Scotsman, a virulently anti-SNP newspaper. It reads in part:]
Kenny MacAskill was last night criticised by relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie disaster, after using his decision to release the bomber to taunt his political opponents.
In his keynote address to the SNP conference in Inverness, Scotland's justice secretary received two standing ovations from the party faithful as he said that to act without mercy towards Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was to "debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold". He also mocked Labour MPs and MSPs who, he claimed, had told him they supported his decision in private, only to oppose it in public.
But Mr MacAskill's attack appeared to have backfired last night as relatives in the United States of those who died in the bombing of PanAm flight 103 in December 1988 said they were "surprised" by the sight of the justice secretary being applauded at the conference.
Frank Duggan, of the families group Victims of Flight 103, said: "I don't know what his political future will be, but the name 'MacAskill' will go down in history for his role in a miscarriage of justice." (...)
The claim that Labour MPs and MSPs had privately backed Mr MacAskill was rebutted by the party last night. [RB: The claim was not, of course, rebutted; it was denied, which is quite a different thing.] However, at least one Labour MSP contacted by The Scotsman said there had been doubts expressed in private meetings before the parliamentary debate about the party's opposition to the decision.
The source said that there were only one or two MSPs who had expressed doubts about their opposition, before agreeing to swing behind their own leader.
[It is perhaps worth noting (a) that there is no mention in the article of views of the UK relatives of the victims of Pan Am 103; (b) that Frank Duggan, though the President of Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc, is not himself a relative; and (c) that the readers' comments that follow the article are overwhelmingly critical of its tone and content and supportive of the release decision.]
Kenny MacAskill was last night criticised by relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie disaster, after using his decision to release the bomber to taunt his political opponents.
In his keynote address to the SNP conference in Inverness, Scotland's justice secretary received two standing ovations from the party faithful as he said that to act without mercy towards Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was to "debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold". He also mocked Labour MPs and MSPs who, he claimed, had told him they supported his decision in private, only to oppose it in public.
But Mr MacAskill's attack appeared to have backfired last night as relatives in the United States of those who died in the bombing of PanAm flight 103 in December 1988 said they were "surprised" by the sight of the justice secretary being applauded at the conference.
Frank Duggan, of the families group Victims of Flight 103, said: "I don't know what his political future will be, but the name 'MacAskill' will go down in history for his role in a miscarriage of justice." (...)
The claim that Labour MPs and MSPs had privately backed Mr MacAskill was rebutted by the party last night. [RB: The claim was not, of course, rebutted; it was denied, which is quite a different thing.] However, at least one Labour MSP contacted by The Scotsman said there had been doubts expressed in private meetings before the parliamentary debate about the party's opposition to the decision.
The source said that there were only one or two MSPs who had expressed doubts about their opposition, before agreeing to swing behind their own leader.
[It is perhaps worth noting (a) that there is no mention in the article of views of the UK relatives of the victims of Pan Am 103; (b) that Frank Duggan, though the President of Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc, is not himself a relative; and (c) that the readers' comments that follow the article are overwhelmingly critical of its tone and content and supportive of the release decision.]
Birnberg on "The framing of al-Megrahi"
[The following letter from Benedict Birnberg appears in the current issue of The London Review of Books.]
As a partner of Gareth Peirce until my retirement may I add a sequel to her penetrating analysis of the al-Megrahi case (LRB, 24 Sepember). First, to point out that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) after an investigation lasting over three years referred his conviction to the Scottish court of appeal in June 2007; its statement of referral extended to more than 800 pages with 13 volumes of appendices. It is that appeal which, as Gareth Peirce says, al-Megrahi abandoned before his release and repatriation to Libya, thus denying the court the opportunity to consider the case, even though the SCCRC stated in its press release: ‘based upon our lengthy investigations, the new evidence we have found and other evidence which was not before the trial court . . . the applicant may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.’ Why did al-Megrahi withdraw his appeal? Was it because he was put under pressure to secure his release on compassionate grounds? Or was it voluntarily done because he lacked confidence in the impartiality of the court? Whatever the truth may be, the onus now rests on the Scottish government to establish a public judicial inquiry, so that the case so painstakingly prepared by the SCCRC does not go by default.
Second, to add to the suspicions Peirce’s article exposes, it needs to be said that the Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill’s decision has unleashed a hysterical torrent of vilification, not least in the US where many of the relatives of the Lockerbie victims are convinced of al-Megrahi’s guilt. We have witnessed a campaign of denigration on which even Obama, Hillary Clinton and the late Edward Kennedy have bestowed their benediction. On this side of the Atlantic too the irrational commentators abound. The overwhelming weight of media comment has been hostile to al-Megrahi. On 3 September the Guardian carried a long article by Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary and a prominent Scottish lawyer, headed ‘Megrahi’s return has been a sorry, cocked-up conspiracy’: it failed even to mention the SCCRC reference. Even pillars of the human rights establishment, such as Geoffrey Robertson, have shouted themselves hoarse: ‘We should be ashamed that this has happened’ (Guardian, 22 August) and ‘Megrahi should never have been freed: the result is a triumph for state terrorism and a worldwide boost for the death penalty’ (Independent, 2 September).
Yet, when al-Megrahi releases part of the SCCRC case on the internet, his declared aim being to clear his name and ostensibly to prove his innocence, pat comes the Scottish lord advocate (Scotland’s chief prosecutor) joining relatives of the victims convinced of his guilt to denounce him for his ‘media campaign’. Meanwhile pleas from those who, like Dr Jim Swire, believe justice has not been done and who, for the sake of the memory of the victims as much as al-Megrahi, wish there to be a genuine and far-reaching inquiry, fall on deaf ears.
As a partner of Gareth Peirce until my retirement may I add a sequel to her penetrating analysis of the al-Megrahi case (LRB, 24 Sepember). First, to point out that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) after an investigation lasting over three years referred his conviction to the Scottish court of appeal in June 2007; its statement of referral extended to more than 800 pages with 13 volumes of appendices. It is that appeal which, as Gareth Peirce says, al-Megrahi abandoned before his release and repatriation to Libya, thus denying the court the opportunity to consider the case, even though the SCCRC stated in its press release: ‘based upon our lengthy investigations, the new evidence we have found and other evidence which was not before the trial court . . . the applicant may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.’ Why did al-Megrahi withdraw his appeal? Was it because he was put under pressure to secure his release on compassionate grounds? Or was it voluntarily done because he lacked confidence in the impartiality of the court? Whatever the truth may be, the onus now rests on the Scottish government to establish a public judicial inquiry, so that the case so painstakingly prepared by the SCCRC does not go by default.
Second, to add to the suspicions Peirce’s article exposes, it needs to be said that the Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill’s decision has unleashed a hysterical torrent of vilification, not least in the US where many of the relatives of the Lockerbie victims are convinced of al-Megrahi’s guilt. We have witnessed a campaign of denigration on which even Obama, Hillary Clinton and the late Edward Kennedy have bestowed their benediction. On this side of the Atlantic too the irrational commentators abound. The overwhelming weight of media comment has been hostile to al-Megrahi. On 3 September the Guardian carried a long article by Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary and a prominent Scottish lawyer, headed ‘Megrahi’s return has been a sorry, cocked-up conspiracy’: it failed even to mention the SCCRC reference. Even pillars of the human rights establishment, such as Geoffrey Robertson, have shouted themselves hoarse: ‘We should be ashamed that this has happened’ (Guardian, 22 August) and ‘Megrahi should never have been freed: the result is a triumph for state terrorism and a worldwide boost for the death penalty’ (Independent, 2 September).
Yet, when al-Megrahi releases part of the SCCRC case on the internet, his declared aim being to clear his name and ostensibly to prove his innocence, pat comes the Scottish lord advocate (Scotland’s chief prosecutor) joining relatives of the victims convinced of his guilt to denounce him for his ‘media campaign’. Meanwhile pleas from those who, like Dr Jim Swire, believe justice has not been done and who, for the sake of the memory of the victims as much as al-Megrahi, wish there to be a genuine and far-reaching inquiry, fall on deaf ears.
Friday 16 October 2009
More from Private Eye
Another long article on Lockerbie appears in the current issue of Private Eye. It is entitled "The $3m Questions" and ends with the sentence "With that [the identification evidence from Tony Gauci] also now totally discredited by the release of material unearthed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, what is there left upon which anyone can justify still labelling Megrahi as the Lockerbie bomber?" The full article can be read here.
'Support' over Lockerbie bomber
[This is the headline over a report on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]
The SNP minister who released the Lockerbie bomber has claimed to have since won support for the decision from unnamed Labour MPs and MSPs.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed terminally-ill Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi in August, on compassionate grounds.
Addressing the SNP conference in Inverness, Mr MacAskill insisted the decision was the right one.
His arrival in the conference hall was greeted by a standing ovation.
Delegates also gave Mr MacAskill a second ovation at the end of his 17-minute speech.
Megrahi, the only person ever convicted over the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, had been serving his sentence in a Scottish jail before his release.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused to say whether he agreed with the decision because justice was devolved to Holyrood, although Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray opposed it. [RB: The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, stated in the House of Commons on Monday that the UK Government supported the decision to release Mr Megrahi. I wonder why the BBC did not think it necessary to point this out?]
Mr MacAskill did not name his supporters, but told the conference: "Many Labour MPs and MSPs have since told me that they agreed with my decision, but none of them have spoken out."
He said only the Labour MSP and former minister Malcolm Chisholm had shown the "courage of his convictions" by openly supporting the decision.
He went on: "Scotland's laws and Scottish values dictate that justice must be done but that mercy must be available.
"To act otherwise would be to discard the values by which we seek to live and debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold.
"I said in parliament that it was my decision and my decision alone. It was not based on political, economic or diplomatic grounds.
"It was the right way, for the right reasons and I believe it was the right decision."
[An article on the subject by Alan Cochrane on the website of The Daily Telegraph contains the following:]
Always a popular front bencher, Mr MacAskill was received with such rapture yesterday as much for having been in the international firing line for so long over this issue as for the decision itself.
Although there is no sign that the SNP activists disagreed with the decision to release the bomber, what they appear to be most proud of is that they reckon that Mr MacAskill’s actions showed Scotland was a grown-up country, capable of handling such complex issues.
But didn’t those who backed him so enthusiastically yesterday feel just the teeniest bit queasy at giving such a rousing reception to the minister responsible for freeing a mass murderer? How did it look to the relatives of the victims, for instance? Did any of those applauding their minister consider that?
The party’s strategists were prepared for Mr MacAskill to receive a warm welcome and are confident that it will do them no harm.
Megrahi’s release, although hugely controversial on the international arena, has not damaged the SNP cause at all with the Scottish voter. Indeed, recent opinion polls suggest that their lead over Labour is hardening, even in relation to Westminster elections.
The SNP minister who released the Lockerbie bomber has claimed to have since won support for the decision from unnamed Labour MPs and MSPs.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed terminally-ill Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi in August, on compassionate grounds.
Addressing the SNP conference in Inverness, Mr MacAskill insisted the decision was the right one.
His arrival in the conference hall was greeted by a standing ovation.
Delegates also gave Mr MacAskill a second ovation at the end of his 17-minute speech.
Megrahi, the only person ever convicted over the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, had been serving his sentence in a Scottish jail before his release.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused to say whether he agreed with the decision because justice was devolved to Holyrood, although Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray opposed it. [RB: The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, stated in the House of Commons on Monday that the UK Government supported the decision to release Mr Megrahi. I wonder why the BBC did not think it necessary to point this out?]
Mr MacAskill did not name his supporters, but told the conference: "Many Labour MPs and MSPs have since told me that they agreed with my decision, but none of them have spoken out."
He said only the Labour MSP and former minister Malcolm Chisholm had shown the "courage of his convictions" by openly supporting the decision.
He went on: "Scotland's laws and Scottish values dictate that justice must be done but that mercy must be available.
"To act otherwise would be to discard the values by which we seek to live and debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold.
"I said in parliament that it was my decision and my decision alone. It was not based on political, economic or diplomatic grounds.
"It was the right way, for the right reasons and I believe it was the right decision."
[An article on the subject by Alan Cochrane on the website of The Daily Telegraph contains the following:]
Always a popular front bencher, Mr MacAskill was received with such rapture yesterday as much for having been in the international firing line for so long over this issue as for the decision itself.
Although there is no sign that the SNP activists disagreed with the decision to release the bomber, what they appear to be most proud of is that they reckon that Mr MacAskill’s actions showed Scotland was a grown-up country, capable of handling such complex issues.
But didn’t those who backed him so enthusiastically yesterday feel just the teeniest bit queasy at giving such a rousing reception to the minister responsible for freeing a mass murderer? How did it look to the relatives of the victims, for instance? Did any of those applauding their minister consider that?
The party’s strategists were prepared for Mr MacAskill to receive a warm welcome and are confident that it will do them no harm.
Megrahi’s release, although hugely controversial on the international arena, has not damaged the SNP cause at all with the Scottish voter. Indeed, recent opinion polls suggest that their lead over Labour is hardening, even in relation to Westminster elections.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Colin Boyd's bloomer
It is sad (but not entirely surprising) to see the former Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd of Duncansby QC, in the House of Lords repeating the assertion that "... no fewer than eight judges of the High Court of Justiciary have similarly concluded on the evidence that he [Abdelbaset Megrahi] was guilty of the crimes".
The trial court at Zeist consisted of three (voting) judges. The appeal court at Zeist consisted of five. As has frequently been been pointed out on this blog, the five judges in Megrahi's first appeal stated in paragraph 369 of their Opinion:
“When opening the case for the appellant before this court Mr Taylor [senior counsel for Megrahi] stated that the appeal was not about sufficiency of evidence: he accepted that there was a sufficiency of evidence. He also stated that he was not seeking to found on section 106(3)(b) of the 1995 Act [verdict unreasonable on the evidence]. His position was that the trial court had misdirected itself in various respects. Accordingly in this appeal we have not required to consider whether the evidence before the trial court, apart from the evidence which it rejected, was sufficient as a matter of law to entitle it to convict the appellant on the basis set out in its judgment. We have not had to consider whether the verdict of guilty was one which no reasonable trial court, properly directing itself, could have returned in the light of that evidence.”
The factual position, as I have written elsewhere, is this:
"As far as the outcome of the appeal is concerned, some commentators have confidently opined that, in dismissing Megrahi’s appeal, the Appeal Court endorsed the findings of the trial court. This is not so. The Appeal Court repeatedly stresses that it is not its function to approve or disapprove of the trial court’s findings-in-fact, given that it was not contended on behalf of the appellant that there was insufficient evidence to warrant them or that no reasonable court could have made them. These findings-in-fact accordingly continue, as before the appeal, to have the authority only of the court which, and the three judges who, made them."
Perhaps Lord Boyd would wish to apologise to the House for his inaccuracy?
The trial court at Zeist consisted of three (voting) judges. The appeal court at Zeist consisted of five. As has frequently been been pointed out on this blog, the five judges in Megrahi's first appeal stated in paragraph 369 of their Opinion:
“When opening the case for the appellant before this court Mr Taylor [senior counsel for Megrahi] stated that the appeal was not about sufficiency of evidence: he accepted that there was a sufficiency of evidence. He also stated that he was not seeking to found on section 106(3)(b) of the 1995 Act [verdict unreasonable on the evidence]. His position was that the trial court had misdirected itself in various respects. Accordingly in this appeal we have not required to consider whether the evidence before the trial court, apart from the evidence which it rejected, was sufficient as a matter of law to entitle it to convict the appellant on the basis set out in its judgment. We have not had to consider whether the verdict of guilty was one which no reasonable trial court, properly directing itself, could have returned in the light of that evidence.”
The factual position, as I have written elsewhere, is this:
"As far as the outcome of the appeal is concerned, some commentators have confidently opined that, in dismissing Megrahi’s appeal, the Appeal Court endorsed the findings of the trial court. This is not so. The Appeal Court repeatedly stresses that it is not its function to approve or disapprove of the trial court’s findings-in-fact, given that it was not contended on behalf of the appellant that there was insufficient evidence to warrant them or that no reasonable court could have made them. These findings-in-fact accordingly continue, as before the appeal, to have the authority only of the court which, and the three judges who, made them."
Perhaps Lord Boyd would wish to apologise to the House for his inaccuracy?
“Farcical scenes” as Baroness Kinnock axed from Lords post immediately after pledging to investigate Megrahi pressure
[This is the headline over a report on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm. It reads as follows.]
Labour Peer Baroness Kinnock has been unexpectedly replaced in her post as Europe minister, only hours after pledging to investigate whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was pressured into dropping his ongoing appeal against conviction before being transferred to Libya.
The Scottish Government had denied any pressure had been applied, but the coincidental timing of the dropping of the appeal has been widely perceived as being linked to Megrahi’s transfer.
In a debate in the House of Lords on Monday Lord Lester of Herne Hill said he was “very concerned about the circumstances in which Megrahi was persuaded to drop his appeal and to go and die in Libya.”
“I saw him in Barlinnie myself. I would like to know, and I would like the Government to find out whether, when he was visited in prison, it was made clear to him that if he dropped his appeal he would be allowed to go and die in Libya, so that there would then be no appeal and the relatives—Dr Swire and the others—would never know the truth,” he said.
“I would therefore like an assurance that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure put upon him. The Government may not know the answer, but they should find out. Was any pressure put on Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped the appeal?”
Baroness Kinnock said in response that she was “not aware of what the answer might be,” but would ask for advice and respond.
Within hours, Kinnock had been replaced amid what the Daily Mail described as “farcical scenes” as her replacement, junior minister Chris Bryant “broke with protocol and announced his new role on the Twitter website before Downing Street or the Foreign Office had a chance to issue a statement.”
The Firm has asked the Prime Minister’s office to confirm whether Kinnock’s sacking is connected to responses to questions raised about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi. So far Baroness Kinnock’s removal has been dismissed as “housekeeping” by the Prime Minister’s spokesman.
[The Firm's e-mailed query to 10 Downing Street reads:]
The Firm is reporting on yesterday's dismissal of Baroness Kinnock from her post as Europe minister in the Lords. The dismissal came only hours after she replied to a question raised by Lord Lester of Herne Hill, which she undertook to respond to.
Lord Lester asked if Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had been pressured to drop his appeal against conviction in order to be assured of his return home to Libya to die.
Could the Prime Minister confirm if Baroness Kinnock's dismissal is connected to her pledge to answer this question?
Will her successor Chris Bryant return to the Lords to provide an answer to the question?
[Here is The Firm's report on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's answer to its query.]
FCO says no link between Kinnock "reallocation" and Megrahi answers
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office have moved to refute any link between the dismissal of Baroness Kinnock from her European portfolio in the House of Lords on Monday, and her pledge the same day to investigate whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was pressured into dropping his ongoing appeal against conviction before being transferred to Libya.
The FCO told the Firm "the suggestion that Baroness Kinnock has been dismissed or demoted is patent nonsense."
“Ministerial portfolios in the Foreign Office have been reallocated, following Lord Malloch Brown's departure at the beginning of the summer.”
The Firm pressed the FCO to explain why in that case no announcement had been made at the beginning of the summer. An FCO press officer said that the announcement had only been made orally “at the Lobby” on Monday morning, and no written statement announcing Baroness Kinnock’s “reallocation” had been produced or distributed to the media.
They confirmed that Kinnock remains responsible for all FCO business in the Lords and will respond to Lord Lester's question “in the normal way“. Lord Lester had asked for an assurance that no pressure had been put upon Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped his appeal.
The Press Secretary to the Foreign Secretary Daid Milliband told The Firm that neither the timing nor the contents of the change in Kinnock’s role, described as ”internal housekeeping“ was “in any way related to anything Baroness Kinnock said in the Lords on Monday afternoon.”
“The change in Minister for Europe took place and was announced before the comments you report in the Lords. Any suggestion to the contrary is factually untrue," he added.
Labour Peer Baroness Kinnock has been unexpectedly replaced in her post as Europe minister, only hours after pledging to investigate whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was pressured into dropping his ongoing appeal against conviction before being transferred to Libya.
The Scottish Government had denied any pressure had been applied, but the coincidental timing of the dropping of the appeal has been widely perceived as being linked to Megrahi’s transfer.
In a debate in the House of Lords on Monday Lord Lester of Herne Hill said he was “very concerned about the circumstances in which Megrahi was persuaded to drop his appeal and to go and die in Libya.”
“I saw him in Barlinnie myself. I would like to know, and I would like the Government to find out whether, when he was visited in prison, it was made clear to him that if he dropped his appeal he would be allowed to go and die in Libya, so that there would then be no appeal and the relatives—Dr Swire and the others—would never know the truth,” he said.
“I would therefore like an assurance that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure put upon him. The Government may not know the answer, but they should find out. Was any pressure put on Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped the appeal?”
Baroness Kinnock said in response that she was “not aware of what the answer might be,” but would ask for advice and respond.
Within hours, Kinnock had been replaced amid what the Daily Mail described as “farcical scenes” as her replacement, junior minister Chris Bryant “broke with protocol and announced his new role on the Twitter website before Downing Street or the Foreign Office had a chance to issue a statement.”
The Firm has asked the Prime Minister’s office to confirm whether Kinnock’s sacking is connected to responses to questions raised about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi. So far Baroness Kinnock’s removal has been dismissed as “housekeeping” by the Prime Minister’s spokesman.
[The Firm's e-mailed query to 10 Downing Street reads:]
The Firm is reporting on yesterday's dismissal of Baroness Kinnock from her post as Europe minister in the Lords. The dismissal came only hours after she replied to a question raised by Lord Lester of Herne Hill, which she undertook to respond to.
Lord Lester asked if Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had been pressured to drop his appeal against conviction in order to be assured of his return home to Libya to die.
Could the Prime Minister confirm if Baroness Kinnock's dismissal is connected to her pledge to answer this question?
Will her successor Chris Bryant return to the Lords to provide an answer to the question?
[Here is The Firm's report on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's answer to its query.]
FCO says no link between Kinnock "reallocation" and Megrahi answers
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office have moved to refute any link between the dismissal of Baroness Kinnock from her European portfolio in the House of Lords on Monday, and her pledge the same day to investigate whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was pressured into dropping his ongoing appeal against conviction before being transferred to Libya.
The FCO told the Firm "the suggestion that Baroness Kinnock has been dismissed or demoted is patent nonsense."
“Ministerial portfolios in the Foreign Office have been reallocated, following Lord Malloch Brown's departure at the beginning of the summer.”
The Firm pressed the FCO to explain why in that case no announcement had been made at the beginning of the summer. An FCO press officer said that the announcement had only been made orally “at the Lobby” on Monday morning, and no written statement announcing Baroness Kinnock’s “reallocation” had been produced or distributed to the media.
They confirmed that Kinnock remains responsible for all FCO business in the Lords and will respond to Lord Lester's question “in the normal way“. Lord Lester had asked for an assurance that no pressure had been put upon Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped his appeal.
The Press Secretary to the Foreign Secretary Daid Milliband told The Firm that neither the timing nor the contents of the change in Kinnock’s role, described as ”internal housekeeping“ was “in any way related to anything Baroness Kinnock said in the Lords on Monday afternoon.”
“The change in Minister for Europe took place and was announced before the comments you report in the Lords. Any suggestion to the contrary is factually untrue," he added.
Megrahi release and the House of Commons
The full text of Foreign Secretary David Miliband's statement in the House of Commons on Monday, 12 October, on the release of Abdelbaset Megrahi can be read here, along with the questions and answers that followed it. Not nearly as interesting as the exchanges in the Lords, in my view.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Megrahi release and the House of Lords
Two short debates were held yesterday in the House of Lords on matters related to the compassionate release of Abdelbaset Megrahi.
The first arose out of a question asked by Lord Pannick QC: "To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they did not make representations to the Scottish Secretary for Justice on whether Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi should be released from prison on compassionate grounds." The answer and the ensuing interchanges can be read here. One exchange reads as follows:
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, I should declare a professional interest as the former co-counsel for Mr al-Megrahi in his unsuccessful application to the European Court of Human Rights. In the interests of justice and for the sake of the Lockerbie families, would the Government now seek to persuade the Scottish Executive to set up a full judicial inquiry into the matters raised by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the UN observer, Professor Köchler, about a possible miscarriage of justice and abuses in the investigation, prosecution and trial?
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: My Lords, as yet the British Government have made no decisions on these matters. The Lockerbie investigation took place and the result was that al-Megrahi was imprisoned in Scotland under that legal system. That remains the case and nothing can change in terms of what is possible from the investigation. The Libyans paid substantial compensation to the Lockerbie victims, but we accept that that is no justification.
The second debate arose out of the repetition in the Lords of the statement that had earlier been made in the Commons by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. The statement and the debate to which it gave rise can be read here. One exchange reads as follows:
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, as I mentioned at Questions, I disclose my professional interest in having acted as co-counsel in the claim by Mr Megrahi to the European Court of Human Rights, which got nowhere. Since then I have had no professional interest in the case. However, in the work that I did on it, which lasted several weeks, I went through the whole of the transcripts and read the appellate judgment, and I have to say that I came to the conclusion, entirely objectively and working with Scottish counsel, that there had been a denial of justice and that Mr Megrahi had not been proved to be guilty. When I then read the summary of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission report, which my noble friend referred to just now, and realised that it had come to the same conclusion, I was very disturbed.
I shall deal with a couple of points in addition to those that have been made by my noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford. First, will the Government please give an assurance that they will consent to the publication of the whole report? The commission does not have the power to do so itself. If the Scottish Executive or Scottish Parliament ask them to, will the Government consent to the publication of all the report so that we can see what its grounds are for believing that there may have been a miscarriage of justice?
Secondly, I am very concerned about the circumstances in which Megrahi was persuaded to drop his appeal and to go and die in Libya. I saw him in Barlinnie myself. I would like to know, and I would like the Government to find out whether, when he was visited in prison, it was made clear to him that if he dropped his appeal he would be allowed to go and die in Libya, so that there would then be no appeal and the relatives—Dr Swire and the others—would never know the truth. That is very important to them, and they have written to me about it. I would therefore like an assurance that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure put upon him. The Government may not know the answer, but they should find out. Was any pressure put on Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped the appeal?
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: On the last point, I am not aware of what the answer might be. We will ask for some advice on whether anyone has been asking those questions and, if so, I will respond to the question that the noble Lord raises.
On the issue of an independent inquiry, I have to keep repeating that is not really for us to say whether that will happen. I am, however, aware that the Scottish Parliament will soon begin an inquiry into the decisions that were taken, and I presume that that would be the best vehicle for any reflection that the Scottish authorities may choose to make on exactly what happened. I am sorry; I have forgotten the other question.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: I was asking whether the Government would consent to the publication of the whole report if the Scottish Parliament or Executive asked them to.
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: Again, that is an issue for the Scottish authorities, but we can ask whether there is a likelihood that the report will be given to those parties who are interested, such as someone, like the noble Lord, who was involved in the commission. It goes back to whether it is necessary to have an independent inquiry. The details of the re-engagement with Libya are there, and we will need to see. The Justice Secretary will appear before the Justice Committee on 20 October, so I think that these issues will become clearer as time goes on.
The first arose out of a question asked by Lord Pannick QC: "To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they did not make representations to the Scottish Secretary for Justice on whether Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi should be released from prison on compassionate grounds." The answer and the ensuing interchanges can be read here. One exchange reads as follows:
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, I should declare a professional interest as the former co-counsel for Mr al-Megrahi in his unsuccessful application to the European Court of Human Rights. In the interests of justice and for the sake of the Lockerbie families, would the Government now seek to persuade the Scottish Executive to set up a full judicial inquiry into the matters raised by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission and the UN observer, Professor Köchler, about a possible miscarriage of justice and abuses in the investigation, prosecution and trial?
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: My Lords, as yet the British Government have made no decisions on these matters. The Lockerbie investigation took place and the result was that al-Megrahi was imprisoned in Scotland under that legal system. That remains the case and nothing can change in terms of what is possible from the investigation. The Libyans paid substantial compensation to the Lockerbie victims, but we accept that that is no justification.
The second debate arose out of the repetition in the Lords of the statement that had earlier been made in the Commons by the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. The statement and the debate to which it gave rise can be read here. One exchange reads as follows:
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: My Lords, as I mentioned at Questions, I disclose my professional interest in having acted as co-counsel in the claim by Mr Megrahi to the European Court of Human Rights, which got nowhere. Since then I have had no professional interest in the case. However, in the work that I did on it, which lasted several weeks, I went through the whole of the transcripts and read the appellate judgment, and I have to say that I came to the conclusion, entirely objectively and working with Scottish counsel, that there had been a denial of justice and that Mr Megrahi had not been proved to be guilty. When I then read the summary of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission report, which my noble friend referred to just now, and realised that it had come to the same conclusion, I was very disturbed.
I shall deal with a couple of points in addition to those that have been made by my noble friend Lord Thomas of Gresford. First, will the Government please give an assurance that they will consent to the publication of the whole report? The commission does not have the power to do so itself. If the Scottish Executive or Scottish Parliament ask them to, will the Government consent to the publication of all the report so that we can see what its grounds are for believing that there may have been a miscarriage of justice?
Secondly, I am very concerned about the circumstances in which Megrahi was persuaded to drop his appeal and to go and die in Libya. I saw him in Barlinnie myself. I would like to know, and I would like the Government to find out whether, when he was visited in prison, it was made clear to him that if he dropped his appeal he would be allowed to go and die in Libya, so that there would then be no appeal and the relatives—Dr Swire and the others—would never know the truth. That is very important to them, and they have written to me about it. I would therefore like an assurance that there was no quid pro quo and no pressure put upon him. The Government may not know the answer, but they should find out. Was any pressure put on Megrahi that he would be sent to die in Libya only if he dropped the appeal?
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: On the last point, I am not aware of what the answer might be. We will ask for some advice on whether anyone has been asking those questions and, if so, I will respond to the question that the noble Lord raises.
On the issue of an independent inquiry, I have to keep repeating that is not really for us to say whether that will happen. I am, however, aware that the Scottish Parliament will soon begin an inquiry into the decisions that were taken, and I presume that that would be the best vehicle for any reflection that the Scottish authorities may choose to make on exactly what happened. I am sorry; I have forgotten the other question.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: I was asking whether the Government would consent to the publication of the whole report if the Scottish Parliament or Executive asked them to.
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: Again, that is an issue for the Scottish authorities, but we can ask whether there is a likelihood that the report will be given to those parties who are interested, such as someone, like the noble Lord, who was involved in the commission. It goes back to whether it is necessary to have an independent inquiry. The details of the re-engagement with Libya are there, and we will need to see. The Justice Secretary will appear before the Justice Committee on 20 October, so I think that these issues will become clearer as time goes on.
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