Of Mandela, Shamuyarira and the Lockerbie affair

[This is the headline over a report published today on the website of the Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald.  It reads in part:]

Tributes to veteran nationalist, journalist and politician Nathan Shamuyarira who died on June 4 at the age of 85 underlined his diplomatic and political achievements at local, regional and international levels.

As tributes poured in, Shamuyarira was described as a remarkable and admirable politician who contributed immensely to the shaping and development of Zimbabwe’s media and foreign policy. (...)

In April, 1999, Nelson Mandela refused to take full credit for the Lockerbie breakthrough which resulted in Libya handing over two suspects of the PanAm bombing over Lockerbie in 1988 in which 270 people were killed.

Speaking to businessmen in Midrand, the anti-apartheid struggle leader said there were other people who played an important role in the negotiations, singling out former Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Minister Nathan Shamuyarira.

“He is the person who came to me and said let’s talk and settle this issue,” Mandela was quoted as saying, adding that he then spoke to former American President George Bush and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahed.

“Without these two (Shamuyarira and King Fahed) I don’t think there would have been a breakthrough,” he said.

Mandela was not puffed up by the huge praise he got internationally for his role in the Lockerbie diplomatic effort.

He repeatedly shrugged off the praise.

Shamuyarira too, shrugged off the praise, only demonstrating his distinctive brilliance and unmatched determination to have the Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie bombing tried in a neutral country.

In an interview in April 1999, Shamuyarira said there were a number of inconsistencies in the case that pointed to a political victimisation of Libya and if brought to court, such evidence would exonerate Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al–Amin Khalifa Fahima.

“I have evidence that convinced me and Presidents Mugabe and Nelson Mandela and other world leaders that the Libyans were not involved.

“It was on the basis of these inconsistencies that I asked the two presidents to seek a fair trial for the two men,” Shamuyarira was quoted saying then.

According to a news agency report, one of the factors Shamuyarira felt would work for the Libyans when their trial starts in the Netherlands was that some people scheduled to fly on the Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to New York on December 20 1988 were apparently warned that the flight was doomed and should change.

The plane blew up over Lockerbie in Scotland and killed 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground.

“One of these people is then South African foreign affairs minister Pik Botha who was scheduled to take that flight to New York. He and others were tipped off and changed flights.

“Whoever tipped them had prior knowledge of the bomb and if it were the Libyans, surely, the last person they would tip was Botha given the animosity between Libya and South Africa the,” said Shamuyarira who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1985 and 1995.

This earned Shamuyarira who initiated talks that the Libyan suspects be tried in a neutral country, wide acclaim and made him to become a true giant of Zimbabwean and African foreign policy. (...)

Late veteran politician Dr Stan Mudenge who was Foreign Affairs Minister in 1999 described the breakthough as an African Union triumph over western bullying.

“When you look back at the whole issue, one can rightly say Africa as a whole won a major battle over western bullying. Each one of us as Africans did their bit and we won,” Dr Mudenge said back then.

With the Lockerbie case, Shamuyarira showed that he was a formidable force of Pan African  diplomacy – an indefatigable champion in the cause of peace, who worked tirelessly for a better world through peaceful conflict resolution mechanism.

His energies devoted to finding a peaceful way forward for the Libyan case led to the suspension of the embargoes that had been put in place to force Tripoli to surrender the two men charged with blowing up Pan Am Flight 103.

Shamuyarira, who has been credited as the first person to initiate talks on the possibility of having the Libyans tried in a neutral country.

To some great measure, Shamuyarira’s pre-eminent role in the Lockerbie affair, forced Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya, who died on 20 October 2011, to ‘demote’ Pan Arabism as a plank of Libya’s foreign policy.

[I reproduce this because it pays tribute to an African politician who played a not insignificant part in resolving the Lockerbie impasse that existed in the late 1990s, not because it is in all respects accurate about the factual and political background, which it clearly is not. For example, the story about Pik Botha being warned off Pan Am 103 has been discredited. And the all-too common assumption that Gaddafi had the power to compel the two accused to surrender for trial whether they wanted to or not, is just simply false.  I was involved at the time in Lockerbie dealings with both the Libyan Government and the Libyan defence team headed by Dr Ibrahim Legwell. If the Libyan Government had had the power to deliver Megrahi and Fhimah to Zeist against their will, the pair would have been there long before April 1999. The Gaddafi regime had the power to prevent the suspects from voluntarily surrendering themselves for trial (eg by preventing them from leaving Libya). But that was as far as the regime’s power went. It had no power to compel them to stand trial at Zeist if they chose not to.  What impeded a resolution of the Lockerbie standoff for years was not the Libyan Government nor the Libyan defence team, but the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. It was on these governments that Mandela, Shamuyarira and others had to exert diplomatic and moral pressure to accept the solution that had long before been accepted by the Libyan authorities and the Libyan defence team. All this is explained here, for those interested in the true position.]

Mandela and Gaddafi

[What follows is an excerpt from an interview published on the Telegraph website with Zelda la Grange, for many years personal assistant to Nelson Mandela, on the occasion of the publication of her book Good Morning, Mr Mandela:]

"Madiba always inherently looked for the good in people, I always expected the worst," she said. "Now I accept all people have got good and bad. I'm not so cynical any more, I trust people more easily." She defended her former employer's friendships with controversial characters including Colonel Gaddafi, Libya's late leader (...).

"With Gaddafi, he would never condone something like the killing of innocent civilians, we all know he had very strong morals," she said.

"But he negotiated with him to deliver the Lockerbie bombing suspects and Gaddafi delivered on that promise.

"He was considerate towards him, he was never impatient with him or disrespectful. Gaddafi did terrible things but you have to respect the man for keeping his promise."

[This blog’s perspective on the part played by Nelson Mandela in the Lockerbie saga can be found here.]

Lockerbie lawyer dies

The death has been announced of Lord Macaulay of Bragar QC. 

After charges were brought in November 1991 against Abdelbaset Megrahi and Lamin Fhimah their Libyan lawyer, Dr Ibrahim Legwell, formed a team of lawyers from countries with an interest in the Lockerbie case, including Scotland and the United States, to advise and assist him. One of the Scottish lawyers on that team was Donald Macaulay QC. At a meeting held in Tripoli in October 1993 (referred to in the media as a "legal summit") this legal team advised Megrahi and Fhimah not to surrender themselves for trial in Scotland. It was in response to this decision (which came as a considerable shock to the Libyan Government) that I formulated a scheme for a non-jury Scottish court to sit in the Netherlands. The story is told in more detail here. 

I remain of the view that the advice given by the international legal team to Megrahi and Fhimah was unfortunate.  I am convinced that if the pair had been tried by an ordinary Scottish jury conscientiously following the standard instructions that juries are given about how to approach their decision-making and the assessment of the evidence led before them (including burden and standard of proof), both accused would have been acquitted.

Donald Macaulay was not a brilliant lawyer, but he was a quite magnificent jury advocate. Had I ever been charged with a serious crime, I would have wanted him to defend me. Head and shoulders above all of today's High Court "stars".

Collective Conviction: The Story of Disaster Action

[This is the title of a book due out in August.  One of the authors is Pam Dix of UK Families Flight 103. The publisher, Liverpool University Press, describes the book as follows:]

Collective Conviction tells the story of Disaster Action, a small charity founded in 1991 by survivors and bereaved people from the disasters of the late 1980s, including Zeebrugge, King’s Cross, Clapham, Lockerbie, Hillsborough and the Marchioness. The aims were to create a health and safety culture in which disasters were less likely to occur and to support others affected by similar events. The founders could not have anticipated the degree to which they would influence emergency planning and management and the way people are treated after disasters.

Aware of the value of lessons learned over 22 years, the trustees felt that this corporate memory should be captured. Collective Conviction encapsulates that memory, so that it can be called upon by survivors, bereaved, government and others for years to come.

The book sets out the chronology of Disaster Action’s history, with first-person accounts and case studies of disasters interweaved with chapters on the needs and rights of individuals, the treatment of bereaved and survivors, inquests and inquiries, the law, the media, memorials and commemorations, and the importance of corporate memory. Additionally, the book contains guidance notes for survivors and bereaved on dealing with a disaster, and best practice guidance for responders and the media.

This book is essential reading for those in a wide range of disciplines with an interest in: planning for, responding to, reporting on and dealing with the aftermath of disaster. And importantly, people affected by disaster should find solace and support in the personal stories of others.

Megrahi verdict a weapon used to prevent discovery of the truth

[What follows is taken from an article published today on the website of the Cotswold Journal:]

Doctor Jim Swire’s beloved 23-year-old daughter, Flora, was among 270 people murdered when terrorists blew up an airliner above the Scottish town of Lockerbie after the it had taken off from London’s Heathrow Airport. (...)

But now 22 Lockerbie victims’ relatives and the Megrahi family are calling for a fresh inquiry into the case because they say Megrahi waspressured into dropping an earlier appeal.

Dr Swire, who has spent more than two decades trying to uncover the truth about what happened, said they were working with laywer Aamer Anwar to persuade the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) to review the evidence.

“This guy is a campaign solicitor who really wants to solve this case,” the 78-yearold said. “We want to continue to review the evidence that exists against him.

“All of us found this guilty verdict a powerful weapon used by the government of England and Scotland in terms of trying to prevent us from getting to the truth about who murdered our loved ones.

“That is something that remains wholly unacceptable. I want to get to the truth about who murdered Flora and all the other people need to see my friend’s name cleared.”

Dr Swire said after getting to know Megrahi and his family when he realised he was not guilty, he owed it to his friend to clear his name.

“He’s become my friend over the years, because I was able to talk to him I know he wasn’t guilty at all,” he said.

“He and his family have been increasingly my concern although he himself is now dead, poor chap, and died without being able to see the verdict overturned.

“He pleaded the last time I met him in 2011 in Tripoli - I would continue to try and overturn the verdicts after he was gone.”

Dr Swire added he was confident the SCCRC would look at the case again.

“The evidence is now so overwhelming provided we can get it brought before the court, I think that will happen,”he said.

The news of the fresh appeal was revealed at a press conference in Glasgow last week.

“We have an excellent advocate in this guy who knows how to fight his corner," said Dr Swire.

"We have the right under European Human Rights legislation to know the truth about who murdered our loved ones and we intend to enforce that right.

“What matters in the long run is that truth does come out.

A good man, a smear, and the Crown Office

[This is the headline over an article in today’s edition of the Scottish Review by the editor, Kenneth Roy.  It reads as follows:]

I

There are many reasons to be pessimistic about the outcome of the appeal lodged by the family of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. I have just finished reading one of those reasons.

There has been one, only one, public hearing in Scotland of the facts about Lockerbie. (I disregard the unsatisfactory criminal trial of Megrahi and one other, which took place in the Netherlands, though under Scottish jurisdiction.) This was the fatal accident inquiry heard by Sheriff John Mowat in 1990, two years after the disaster.

The choice of location seems, in retrospect, grimly appropriate: the recreation hall of a psychiatric hospital, converted into a courtroom with seating for 400. When I turned up one morning and reported to the media centre, I found it deserted. There were dozens of desks and cubicles for the international press, but only a handful of them had ever been occupied and there was no need to connect the telephones. Visiting this ghostly place was a strange experience.

In the courtroom itself, the anticipated throng of relatives and interested parties had never materialised: the public benches were deserted. Heavy, dark green curtains, tightly drawn, enabled the proceedings to be conducted in an atmosphere of stygian gloom.

The symbolism was thus complete: in a room shedding no natural light, witnesses presented their testimony to an empty auditorium and, beyond, to a world that had seemingly lost interest. But it is instructive to look back at that under-reported inquiry from the distance of almost quarter of a century – if only for proof that the truth about Lockerbie will probably never be known.

II

The part of the transcript I had been reading, just before the announcement of the Megrahi appeal, was the evidence of a policeman, a member of the now disbanded Dumfries and Galloway constabulary, concerning the activities of Dr David Fieldhouse.

The name David Fieldhouse may mean nothing to you, yet he is a figure of some importance in the saga. He was sitting in front of the television in his home in Yorkshire on the evening of 21 December 1988 when the first news of the disaster flashed on the screen. His reaction was impulsive. He got into his car and drove all the way from Bradford to Lockerbie, arriving at around 10.50pm.

He immediately contacted the authorities, explained that he was a police surgeon, and offered to help with the search for bodies (there was never any hope of finding survivors). The police accepted his offer and, bearing in mind the Scottish requirement for corroboration, assigned an officer to accompany him. Over the course of the next 24 hours, more than one police officer accompanied him.

Dr Fieldhouse worked through the night and all of the following day; he did so without pausing for sleep and with nothing to eat except a biscuit. It was a heroic one-man undertaking. By the time darkness fell on 22 December, he had found and labelled 59 bodies.

On the morning of the 23rd, he was due to meet a senior police officer at a pre-arranged rendezvous (Tundergarth Church). He waited two hours. When it became clear that the detective chief inspector was not going to show up, Dr Fieldhouse drove back to Yorkshire and compiled a report on his work – an account that he had already given in detail, verbally, on the spot. He was then surprised to learn that his 59 tags had been replaced by 58 'official' ones. There was one missing. It remains a mystery.

David Fieldhouse received no thanks from the police for his act of selfless dedication. He went back to work and, so far as possible, put Lockerbie behind him. Two years later, he was shocked to learn that there had been an attempt by the Crown Office and the police to call his integrity into question.

A police witness at the fatal accident inquiry in Dumfries was asked by the Crown about one of the bodies found and labelled by Dr Fieldhouse.

Q. Would that be another example of Dr or Mr Fieldhouse carrying out a search on his own?

A. It would, my Lord.

Q. And marking the body of the person who is dead without notifying the police?

A. That is correct.

The content of that brief extract is utterly disgraceful on two counts. First there is the innuendo that Dr Fieldhouse was not a doctor at all – that some medically unqualified individual, a mere 'Mr', an imposter in effect, took it upon himself to go looking for bodies. Second there is the specific allegation that he did so without the authority of the police.

Neither the innuendo nor the allegation was true. The police officers who accompanied Dr Fieldhouse confirmed that they were present in every case when he pronounced life extinct, and that the procedures he followed were scrupulous.

Why, then, did the Crown Office, assisted by the Dumfries and Galloway police, spread untruths about him in this way? The only alternative explanation – that it was all the result of some unfortunate misunderstanding – is hard to swallow. The Crown Office had had the best part of two years to assemble the facts; and there were few more central to the purpose of the fatal accident inquiry than the facts about the recovery and identification of bodies. Yet not only did the Crown Office misrepresent what happened on the night of 21-22 December 1988; for no apparent reason they decided to smear David Fieldhouse.

It was left to Dr Fieldhouse to request an opportunity to clear his name. As a late witness, he duly did. But from the Crown Office there was no explanation and no apology. The only person who ever had the decency to apologise was the blameless Sheriff Mowat in his written determination.

III

The experience of David Fieldhouse is one of the reasons why the truth about Lockerbie will probably never be known. It is a vignette that, like so many vignettes, illuminates a larger canvas.

Put it this way. If the Crown Office was prepared to rubbish the reputation of a completely innocent man, who had acted in the public service for no personal gain whatever, we can expect it to have little difficulty in confirming the guilt of someone over whom a considerable doubt continues to linger – the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

[Dr David Fieldhouse is a signatory member of Justice for Megrahi.]

Clinton: Gaddafi responsible for Lockerbie bombing

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

Hillary Clinton thought that former Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi was a “terrorist who could never be trusted” because he was behind the Lockerbie bombing.

Writing in her memoir, which was published yesterday, the former US secretary of state said the Libyan leader was a “criminal” and she did not believe a thing he said.

Mrs Clinton also says that she felt a personal connection to the Lockerbie tragedy because 35 of the victims were from New York, where she was a senator at the time.

The disclosure is in her new book called Hard Choices which was released yesterday after being highly anticipated in Washington. The book’s release is being seen as the first step on a potential run for the presidency in 2016 by Mrs Clinton, 66. (...)

She ... writes how in 1988 “Libyan agents” planted the bomb that caused Pan Am Flight 103 to explode whilst flying over Scotland. Some 189 Americans died in the terrorist attack, along with 43 Britons.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was the only man convicted of the atrocity and served eight years of his sentence in Scotland before being freed on compassionate grounds in 2009 because doctors said he had cancer and would be dead within three months. Yet in an embarrassment to the Scottish Government and Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, Megrahi went on to live for nearly three more years in Tripoli. The row strained relations between the UK and the US with senior senators and relatives of those who died [RB: US relatives] branding it “outrageous”.

In her memoir, Mrs Clinton makes clear that she was under no illusions about the regime she was dealing with. She writes: “In my eyes Quaddafi (sic) was a criminal and a terrorist who could never be trusted…” (...)

Of the victims of Lockerbie, 35 were students from Syracuse University in New York. She writes: “I knew some of their families when I represented them in the US senate.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Mr Al-Megrahi was convicted in a court of law and his conviction was upheld on appeal. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have made clear that the Lockerbie case remains a live investigation and that Scotland’s criminal justice authorities will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry.”

[It is interesting that the Scottish Government spokesman does not punt the usual Crown Office line (or should that be “lie”?): "The evidence upon which the conviction was based was rigorously scrutinised by the trial court and two appeal courts, after which Megrahi stands convicted of the terrorist murder of 270 people.”  Is it just possible that my efforts in pointing out this particular instance of Crown Office dishonesty have borne fruit?

Another article in today's edition of The Scotsman can be read here: United quest for Lockerbie justice.]

United quest for Lockerbie justice

[This is the headline over an article by Chris Marshall in today’s edition of The Scotsman. It reads as follows:]

It’s thought to be without precedent in the UK — the relatives of murder victims joining with the family of the man found guilty of their killing to have his conviction overturned.

But while it may be an appeal unlike any other in British legal history, it relates to a uniquely complex case — the Lockerbie bombing.

Last week, 24 British families united with that of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi in taking their case to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

The families want the commission to re-examine grounds for appeal that were before the courts when Megrahi abandoned the case in 2009. [RB: Plus a few new grounds that weren’t.]

In 2007, the SCCRC referred the Libyan’s case to the High Court for a new appeal on six grounds, suggesting that there “may have been a miscarriage of justice”. But two years later, the former intelligence officer, who was by then suffering from terminal prostate cancer, dropped the appeal, which was the second against his conviction. He died in May 2012, three years after being freed on compassionate grounds.

Lodging the application with the commission last week, the families’ solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said there was evidence Megrahi had been pressured into dropping his appeal in return for his release.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has always denied that any member of the Scottish Government suggested to Megrahi that abandoning his appeal would aid his early release.

But Mr Anwar said the claim the British and Scottish governments had played no part in pressuring Megrahi to drop his appeal was “fundamentally untrue”.

While the latest bid to have Megrahi’s conviction overturned has the support of many of the British families, the same cannot be said for the relatives of the Americans who died in the atrocity.

The majority of the 270 killed when Pan Am flight 103 came down on 21 December 1988 were those heading home to the United States for Christmas.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his 23-year-old daughter Flora in the bombing, told a press conference in Glasgow last week that he had received “poisonous” letters due to his campaigning on Megrahi’s behalf. While he refused to confirm whether these letters had come from the families of American victims, he acknowledged that his refusal to believe the official version of events was not a position shared by those on the other side of the Atlantic.

Should the commission decide to re-open the case, the Crown Office has promised to “rigorously defend” Megrahi’s conviction.

While it is difficult to predict the likelihood of an appeal’s success, it seems clear at this point that, whatever the result, questions about what led up to the Lockerbie bombing will long remain.

Official Report of Justice Committee's Lockerbie deliberations

At its meeting on 3 June, the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee decided to keep open Justice for Megrahi’s petition (PE1370) in order that the Committee could maintain a watching brief over developments in the Lockerbie case. The Official Report (Hansard) of the committee’s deliberations is now available here. The discussion of PE1370 is at columns 4633 to 4636.

Megrahi "pressurised by governments" into dropping appeal

[Yesterday I reproduced the Associated Press news agency report about the application to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission for review of the conviction of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. What follows is the equivalent report from the Reuters news agency:]

Relatives of the late Libyan intelligence officer convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing have launched a bid to clear his name, their lawyer said on Thursday.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was the only person ever convicted over the attack on Pan Am flight 103 in which 270 people died.

His family say they have fresh evidence about the facts of the case and will renew claims that he was pressured by the British and Scottish governments into dropping an earlier appeal against his conviction.

Megrahi was jailed for life by a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands after being found guilty of murder in 2001, but he was released by Scotland's government on compassionate grounds eight years later after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He died in Libya in 2012.

He had previously abandoned an appeal in the Scottish High Court in 2009 and ministers in both Edinburgh and London have always denied rumours that he did so as part of a deal for his release.

Scottish lawyer Aamer Anwar, representing the family - who have asked not be named because of the volatile situation in Libya - told Reuters those denials were untrue. He said Megrahi's dying wish was for his name to be cleared.

"To date both the British government and Scottish government have claimed that they played no role in pressuring Mr Megrahi into dropping his appeal as a condition of his immediate release," he said.

"However the evidence submitted ... today claims that this is fundamentally untrue. There is a huge cloud that has hung over this case ... that the truth has never been revealed," he added.

Most of the victims of the explosion over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland were Americans on their way home from Europe for Christmas.

Eleven people died on the ground as the New York-bound jet plunged from the sky after a bomb exploded in its hold some 40 minutes after leaving London's Heathrow airport.

The appeal against Megrahi's conviction has been submitted to the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) by his family and a small group of the victims' relatives who do not believe he was involved.

They will claim that the bomb timer prosecutors said was used in the attack could not have been involved and that the bomb itself did not come from a feeder flight into Heathrow from Frankfurt, as was alleged at the original trial.

The SCCRC confirmed on Thursday that it had received the appeal and that the case would be sent to the Scottish Court of Appeal if it appeared that a miscarriage of justice may have taken place.

The Scottish government on Thursday repeated its denial that ministers had influenced Megrahi's decision to drop his appeal in 2009.

"That was entirely a matter for him and his legal team,” said a Scottish government spokesperson.

[The following paragraphs are taken from a report published yesterday on the website of the Maltese newspaper The Times:]

Among the evidence uncovered during the SCCRC hearings was confirmation that the star witness in the case, Sliema shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who positively identified Mr al-Megrahi as the bomber, was paid millions of dollars by the US State Department at the request of Scottish prosecutors.

Mr Gauci and his brother Paul received at least $3 million for their part in securing Mr al-Megrahi’s conviction.

The whole Lockerbie body of evidence has been severely questioned over the years, supporting the idea that Mr al-Megrahi may in fact have been innocent.

Malta has a stake in the process because even though successive governments have consistently rejected the idea that Malta played any part in the tragedy, the official version accepted at the 2001 trial is premised on the idea that the bomb that destroyed the plane left from Malta.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella has said he believes Mr al-Megrahi to be innocent.

Usual dishonest Crown Office reaction to Megrahi SCCRC application

Yesterday’s announcement that an application for review of Abdelbaset Megrahi’s conviction has been submitted to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has received widespread coverage in the UK and overseas media, as a search for “Lockerbie” or “Megrahi” in Google News will demonstrate. Many of these reports are based on news agency reports.  What follows is the Press Association report, taken from The Star:]

Relatives of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing have embarked on a legal bid to clear his name amid claims that his case is the "worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history".

Six immediate members of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's family have joined forces with 24 British relatives of those who died in the atrocity to seek, ultimately, a third appeal against his conviction in the Scottish courts.

Campaigners say they are still "desperately seeking to get to the truth" 25 years after their loved ones were murdered and two years on from Megrahi's death.

They have united to submit an application to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) for a review of the conviction, a move which could see the case referred back to the High Court.

They claim to have evidence that Megrahi was pressured by ministers to drop his second appeal.

Reversal of the guilty verdict would expose the US and UK governments "as having lived a monumental lie for 25 years", their lawyers claim.

Quoting Megrahi's relatives, their solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said: "'We, the family of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, will keep fighting for justice to find out who was responsible for 271 victims of the Lockerbie disaster.'

"They, of course, include Mr Megrahi as its 271st victim."

Prosecutors said they do not fear scrutiny of the conviction.

Megrahi was found guilty of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland on December 21 in which 270 people were killed.

He was jailed for life and lost his first appeal against the mass murder conviction in 2002.

An investigation by the SCCRC led to a finding in 2007 of six grounds where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred, paving the way for a second appeal.

But Megrahi dropped that appeal in 2009 before being released from jail by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds in light of his terminal cancer.

The latest move is believed to be the first time in UK legal history that relatives of murdered victims have united with the relatives of a convicted deceased in such a way.

The members of Megrahi's family involved have not being identified due to concerns for their safety.

Mr Anwar and campaigner Jim Swire today submitted three volumes of papers to the SCCRC in Glasgow, launching their application.

Dr Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the bombing, said: "As relatives, we want to know all that is known about who was responsible for murdering our lovely families all those years ago.

"Who did it? Why am I and other relatives still desperately seeking to get to the truth 25 years after our families were murdered?"

The fact that Megrahi's own family have chosen to take forward an appeal bid could boost its chances of getting back to court.

It is expected to be several months before the review body makes a decision on any way forward.

The commission will be asked to reconfirm the six grounds of appeal it cited in 2007.

The application will also focus on "question marks" over material evidence, allegations of the Crown's non-disclosure of evidence and claims he was convicted on the word of a Maltese shopkeeper who "gave a false description" of him.

Mr Anwar said: "The case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

"A reversal of the verdict would mean that the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would stand exposed as having lived a monumental lie for 25 years and having imprisoned a man they knew to be innocent for 10 years."

The legal team will also ask the SCCRC to consider the circumstances that led to Megrahi abandoning his last appeal.

Mr Anwar said: "To date both the British Government and Scottish Government have claimed that they played no role in pressurising Mr Megrahi into dropping his appeal as a condition of his immediate release.

"However the evidence submitted to the commission today claims that this is fundamentally untrue."

SCCRC chief executive Gerard Sinclair said: "As it does in every case, the commission will now give careful consideration to this new application."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Mr al-Megrahi was convicted in a court of law, his conviction was upheld on appeal and that is the only appropriate place for his guilt or innocence to be determined."

The Lockerbie case remains a live investigation, with Scotland's criminal justice officials saying they will pursue any new lines of inquiry.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "We do not fear scrutiny of the conviction by the SCCRC.

"The evidence upon which the conviction was based was rigorously scrutinised by the trial court and two appeal courts, after which Megrahi stands convicted of the terrorist murder of 270 people.

"We will rigorously defend this conviction when called upon to do so. In the meantime we will continue the investigation with US and Scottish police and law enforcement."

[As regards the Crown Office response, here is what I wrote on a previous occasion when a similar statement was made:]

The Crown Office is up to its old tricks again. It knows very well that the evidence on which the conviction was based was not “rigorously scrutinised” by two appeal courts.  The court which heard the first appeal held that it was barred by the grounds of appeal submitted by Megrahi’s then legal team from considering whether there was sufficient evidence to convict or whether, on the evidence, any reasonable court could have done so. Hardly a rigorous examination of the evidence; indeed, no examination of the evidence at all. And the second appeal was abandoned long before any rigorous examination of the evidence could take place. The Crown Office knows all this perfectly well. But it persists in putting out untruthful statements to the media. Its behaviour throughout the Lockerbie saga has been uniformly disgraceful.