Libyan defector Giaka in the witness box

[On this date in 2000, the Crown’s “star witness” Abdul Majid Giaka started his evidence at the Lockerbie trial. TheLockerbieTrial.com reported as follows:]

Witness number 684, Abdul Majid Giaka, today finally stepped into the witness box at the Lockerbie Trial. His appearance at the trial had been delayed due to legal wrangling over CIA cables.

Today the accused Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the two Libyans charged with bombing Pan Am 103 came face to face once gain with the man billed by the Scottish Crown and the US Department of Justice as the star witness.

In a surprisingly brief and low key examination, Giaka was questioned by Advocate Depute Alistair Campbell QC, for the Crown.

Giaka said he contacted the US embassy in Malta in August 1988 (four months before the Pan Am attack) after becoming disillusioned with the Libyan security service. He stated that he had worked with the accused, for Libyan Arab Airlines and agreed to stay on at the airport and report to

the CIA monthly.

Earlier reports of these meetings show that while he was acting as a double agent his CIA handlers were not impressed with the quality of his information and were continually asking him for new material.

Giaka told the court that in August 1986, more than two years before the Lockerbie bombing, Fhimah showed him two bricks of what he said was the explosive TNT.

The TNT was in the drawer of a desk in an office they shared with another airline employee.

“Fhimah told me he had had 10 kg of TNT delivered by Abdel Basset (Megrahi). He opened the drawer and there were two boxes which contained a yellowish material,” Giaka said, adding Fhimah kept over $10,000 worth of travelers cheques.

The court referred to a CIA document dated October 5, 1988, in which Giaka recounted how the story of the explosives in the drawer had been relayed to CIA officers.

Continuing his testimony Giaka said Megrahi arrived in Malta from Tripoli on December 7, 1988, and had brought some cabin luggage with him. Two to three weeks later, Giaka said he saw Fhimah and Megrahi take a brown hard-shell suitcase off the carousel at Luqa.

Giaka said," They walked together toward customs. The suitcase was not opened for inspection.”

The witness then recounted another story where he remembered being asked by another Libyan Intelligence officer if it was possible to put an unaccompanied bag on a UK plane.

“My answer was that it was possible to place an unaccompanied bag on the flight,” Giaka said.

William Taylor QC for Megrahi then launched into a fierce cross-examination of Giaka forcing the Crown's star witness in to making several contradictory statements. Taylor was to prove relentless in his onslaught and during questioning, when Giaka would occasionally look over in the direction of the two US lawyers [RB: Brian Murtagh and Dana Biehl] who sit behind the Crown team, Taylor reminded him that they could not help.

Taylor had earlier objected to some of Giaka's testimony, calling it “tittle tattle and hearsay.”

“We’ll see many, many more examples of a story becoming embellished and changed to make it look better,” Taylor said as he highlighted more inconsistencies in Giaka's testimony.

Taylor will continue with his cross-examination followed by Richard Keen QC for Fhimah.

[A verbatim transcript of Giaka’s evidence can be found here.]

Pan Am-style tribunal mooted for MH17

[This is the headline over a report published today on the website of Australia’s 9News. It reads in part:]

Nations seeking justice over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 could form a tribunal similar to that established to prosecute Libyan suspects over the 1998 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says nations affected by the MH17 disaster were also considering separate prosecutions.

The Malaysia Airlines flight was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed over eastern Ukraine in July last year, killing all 298 passengers and crew.

A report by the Dutch led investigation team, set to be published on October 13, is understood to include evidence the plane was brought down by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from separatist territory in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has denied any involvement but in July used its veto power at the UN to block a resolution that would have formed a tribunal to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ms Bishop, in an interview with The New York Times, said a core group of aggrieved nations had since "narrowed the options".

"This is the ‘what's next’," Ms Bishop said.

The foreign minister said a court, which does not require UN approval, could be established through a treaty by all of the countries that lost citizens and residents.

Ms Bishop said the closest analogy to such jurisdiction was the Scottish panel established in the Netherlands to prosecute Libyan suspects after the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, which killed 270 people.

Representatives from some of the affected nations would meet in New York next week to consider their options.

Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine are expected to meet next Tuesday during the annual General Assembly meeting of world leaders for further talks.

"There are a number of permutations, and I can assure you there are a number of international criminal lawyers who are working on this," Ms Bishop said.

[A further report on the Europe Online website can be read here.]

Interpol agent thought Lockerbie attributable to Iran

[What follows is the text of an article headlined Evidence plea to Lockerbie inquiry that was published on the website of The Journal on this date in 2006:]

The father of one of the Lockerbie bomb victims yesterday urged investigators to consider new evidence which could help clear the man convicted of the atrocity.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was jailed for 27 years following the 1988 disaster, when 270 people died as an American passenger plane blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

An appeal ... is due to be heard towards the end of the year. [RB: The appeal did not in fact start until 28 April 2009.]

A previous appeal against the conviction was refused in 2002.

The new development in the case comes with the publication of a book by a British diplomat's wife, journalist and author Brigid Keenan.

Ms Keenan and her husband Alan Waddams are said to have had dinner with an ex-Interpol agent during which the agent claimed the bombing was carried out to avenge the downing of an Iranian civilian airliner by the US five months earlier.

He alleged that the bombers knew the plane's cargo would go unchecked because of a drug smuggling agreement between the US and a terror group linked to Lebanon.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, Flora, in the disaster, said he has written to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to alert them to the alleged meeting in Gambia.

[RB: Further details about the Brigid Keenan story can be found on this blog here.]

Iran, not Libya, said US Defense Intelligence Agency

[What follows is excerpted from an item posted on this blog on 23 August 2009:]

It took the use of the US Freedom of Information Act to unlock the full intelligence documents which are now highlighted in the appeal submission. [RB: This refers to the appeal abandoned by Megrahi prior to his compassionate release.]

They show memos from the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which suggested the downing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people in 1988, was in response to the shooting down of an Iranian Airbus by the American warship USS Vincennes five months earlier.

In a memo dated September 24, 1989, and reproduced in the appeal submission, the DIA states: ‘The bombing of the Pan Am flight was conceived, authorised and financed by Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur, Iran’s former interior minister.

‘The execution of the operation was contracted to Ahmad [Jibril], Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command [PFLP-GC] leader, for a sum of $1million [£600,000].

‘$100,000 of this money was given to Jibril up front in Damascus by the Iranian ambassador to Sy [Syria], Muhammed Hussan [Akhari] for initial expenses.

'The remainder of the money was to be paid after successful completion of the mission.’ (...)

The memos and reports, denied in full to the original trial, were available to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission which, two years ago, cast doubt on the safety of Megrahi’s conviction based on six separate counts of the legal argument.

Their view opened the way for a second appeal.

[What follows is an excerpt from Dr Davina Miller’s article Who Knows About This? Western Policy Towards Iran: The Lockerbie Case:]

On 24 September 1989, the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), in a secret information report not releasable to foreign nationals and relying on information acquired through the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade (ie through Foreign Signals Intelligence), asserted that the attack on Pan Am Flight 103, “was conceived, authorised and financed by Ali-Akbar (Mohtashemi-Pur)”, the former Iranian Minister of the Interior. The execution of the operation was contracted to Ahmad (Jabri’il), the PFLP-GC leader, for the sum of $1,000,000. The report was highly detailed in describing the organisation of the bombing and claimed that, “the flight was supposed to be a direct flight from Frankfurt to New York, not Pan Am Flight 103”.[xxxii][32]

In October 1989, a further DIA report noted that Iranian “radicals want to be able to retaliate in less time than it took them to carry out the Pan Am 103 bombing”.[xxxiii][33] The CIA’s ‘Terrorism Review’ for 14 December 1989 also noted that liaison between Iran and radical Palestinian groups “was most likely responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103”.[xxxiv][34]

The Defence Intelligence Agency in a brief in December 1989, titled “Pan Am 103: Deadly Co-operation” argued that, “Iran probably was the state sponsor for the PFLP-GC attack on Pan Am 103”. The same report noted:  that the bomb was “a sophisticated, barometrically triggered explosive device probably fabricated by the PFLP-GC”; that “DIA believes the device was placed aboard...in Frankfurt”; and that, “analysis of material confiscated from this PFLP-GC cell has provided strong circumstantial evidence linking the cell to the bombing”. The report further detailed the relationship between Iran and the PFLP-GC, including the initial overtures, payment for Pan Am 103, and the latter’s exploitation of Iran’s “established terror network in Europe”.[xxxv][35]

[xxxii][32]  Defence Intelligence Agency, Information Report, 24 September 1989, http://www.dia.mil/foia/panam103.pdf, 18 March 2010

[xxxiii][33]  Defence Intelligence Agency, Information Report, 7 October 1989, http://www.dia.mil/foia/panam103.pdf, 18 March 2010.

[xxxiv][34]  Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, Terrorism Review, 14 December 1989, http://www.foia.cia.gov/browse_docs_full.asp, 19 March 2010.

[xxxv][35]  Defence Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Brief, ‘Pan Am 103: Deadly Co-operation’, December 1989, http:/www.dia.mil/foia/panam103.pdf, 18 March 2010.

[RB: These links are now broken, but were operative on 13 December 2011 when I first posted extracts from Dr Miller’s article.]

Investigator whose brother died at Lockerbie has a prime suspect

[This is the headline over an article by Magnus Linklater published (behind the paywall) in today’s edition of The Times. It reads as follows:]

By any standards, Ken Dornstein’s investigation is remarkable. The death of his brother David in the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 led to a lifetime obsession with discovering the identity of the perpetrators.

Just one man — Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi — has been convicted of the atrocity. But Mr Dornstein knew that there must have been others behind the attack, and that someone must have manufactured the bomb. He set about interviewing anybody and everybody who knew anything about the case.

He has travelled three times to Libya, interviewed the widow of one of the suspects, and accompanied Jim Swire, whose daughter was also killed, on a trip to see al-Megrahi.

In the course of his inquiries, Mr Dornstein met Kathryn Geismar, who had dated his brother for two years. They fell in love and are now married.

In order to aid his investigation, he took a job at a detective agency. His career has been as an investigative reporter for the PBS television show Frontline, working on programmes about Iraq and Afghanistan. But his real obsession has been the Lockerbie story.

He travelled to Scotland, interviewed Scottish investigators and located the exact spot where David’s body had landed. In 2006 he published a book, The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky. The book explores his drive to investigate. “I had found a less painful way to miss my brother, by not missing him at all, just trying to document what happened to his body,” he says.

The New Yorker article that documents his search reports that one room of his house in Somerville, Massachusetts, is lined with books about espionage, aviation, terrorism and the Middle East. Another is papered with mugshots of Libyan suspects. Between the two rooms is a large map of Lockerbie, with hundreds of coloured pins indicating where the bodies had fallen.

He has examined all the “counter-theories” which maintain that al-Megrahi was wrongly convicted and that Libya was not involved, but has found no hard evidence to support them. [RB: No hard evidence to support them? The metallurgy discrepancy between PT35b and the timers supplied to Libya? Dr Morag Kerr’s irrefutable demonstration that the bomb was already in luggage container AVE4041 before the transfer baggage arrived from Frankfurt?] Instead, he has focused on tracking down those in Libya who may still be able to cast light on the origins of the plot.

In the course of his inquiries he has made a friend of Mr Swire. He continues to maintain that al-Megrahi was inncocent, but respects Mr Dornstein’s determination to get at the truth, and does not rule out a Libyan connection. Scottish prosecutors gave Mr Dornstein a list of eight prime suspects.

Some of them are dead, some – like Abdullah al-Senussi, Colonel Gaddafi’s former head of intelligence – have been sentenced to execution.

That did not prevent the American from travelling three times to Libya. In the course of one visit he met the widow of Badri Hassan, one of the men on the suspect list, who had died of a heart attack. The New Yorker reports that over several meetings at her family home, she told Mr Dornstein of her long-standing suspicion that her husband had been involved in Lockerbie. She had asked him about it repeatedly, but he had never confessed. “I’m absolutely sure of it,” she said, adding, when she learnt that Mr Dornstein’s brother had been on the plane: “Badri left behind such suffering.”

Mr Dornstein’s prime suspect, Abu Agila Masud, is alive, and serving a ten- year sentence in prison. Libya today, however, is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Even an investigator as intrepid as Mr Dornstein does not feel that it is fair to himself or his family to travel there again and take that final risk.

[A further article by Mr Linklater in the same newspaper can be read here.]

Anniversary of Megrahi's SCCRC application

[What follows is the text of a report published on the Sky News website on this date in 2003:]

Lawyers for the Libyan agent jailed for the Lockerbie bombing have applied for a review of his conviction.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has received an application from solicitors acting for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.

Al Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the murder of the 259 passengers and crew on board Pan Am flight PA 103 from London to New York, and 11 residents of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.

The commission is an independent body set up in 1999 to consider alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish courts. It can decide whether it is in the interests of justice to refer the case to the Appeal Court for a fresh appeal to be considered.

A previous appeal was unsuccessful.

Al Megrahi's solicitor, Eddie MacKechnie, said there was new evidence never mentioned before included in the team's case, but he refused to give details.

"I do not consider it to be appropriate to publicise, in advance of the commission's deliberations, any precise details of the case now presented," he said.

"All I can say is that the case contains detailed legal arguments not previously presented, including allegations of unfairness, abuse of process, insufficiency of evidence, errors in law, non-disclosure of evidence and defective representation.

"In addition, there is new information and potential new evidence never revealed before supporting Mr Megrahi's consistent plea of innocence and, in certain respects, pointing the finger of blame at those most likely to bear responsibility for the most dreadful mass murder in British history."

[The SCCRC eventually, on 28 June 2007, reported that, on six grounds, Megrahi’s conviction might have amounted to a miscarriage of justice. A contemporaneous article by me can be read here. The SCCRC’s full report (at least so far as not withheld for “national security” reasons) can be accessed here.]

Jailed Libyan bombmaker 'subject of fresh Lockerbie investigation'

[This is the headline over a report published this evening on the STV News website. It reads as follows:]

One of the original suspects in the Lockerbie bombing is the subject of a renewed police investigation 26 years after the atrocity, STV News understands.

Mohammed Abouagela Masud was named in the 1999 indictment against the only man convicted of the bombing, Abdelbasset Al Megrahi, but he remained a shadowy figure and never faced charges.

A documentary made by the brother of one of the American victims has now revealed that Masud is not only still alive, but serving a ten year sentence in Libya for bomb making.

The prosecution case at the Lockerbie trial alleged the downing of Pan Am 103 was an act of state sponsored terrorism carried out by members of the Libyan intelligence service.

They claimed the Libyans smuggled a bomb onto a flight from Malta to Frankfurt. The device was then transferred onto Pan Am 103 at Heathrow before exploding in the skies over the Scottish Borders, killing 270 people.

The indictment alleged that on the day of the bombing, December 21, 1988, Megrahi had left Malta accompanied by another Libyan agent, Masud.

Richard Marquise, who investigated Lockerbie for the FBI, told STV News: "We always suspected that Masud was the technical expert who armed the device, but we could never prove it."

A three-part documentary "My Brother’s Bomber" to be broadcast on American channel PBS claims to have unearthed fresh evidence against Masud. It has been made by Ken Dornstein, whose brother David was one of the passengers on Pan Am 103.

In advance publicity about the series in The New Yorker magazine, Masud is referred to as "Abu Agila Mas'ud".

It reports that Mr Dornstein traced a former Libyan agent in Germany, who told him that Masud was still alive. It’s claimed the agent has since told American officials that Masud was involved in bombing the airliner with Megrahi.

The programme reveals that in July 2015, Masud was sentenced to a ten year prison term in Libya for making bombs.

In response to the documentary, the Crown Office would only say that it has been aware of the contents of the programme for some time.

The Crown had hoped that the collapse of Colonel Gaddafi's regime would provide fresh opportunities to investigate the bombing, which remains the biggest mass murder in British legal history. The Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland visited Libya for talks with officials and two local prosecutors were appointed to liaise with Scottish and American investigators.

Libya has since descended into violent chaos, but senior figures at the Crown insist that the Lockerbie inquiry is very much alive.

STV News understands that Masud is one of those under investigation. The Crown will not say whether it hopes to bring charges against him.

Mr Marquise said: "We always thought Masud played a role in the Lockerbie bombing and if it could be proven, I would love to see him prosecuted."

British campaigner Dr Jim Swire lost his daughter Flora on Pan Am 103. He believes Megrahi was innocent, and that the bomb started its journey at Heathrow rather than Malta, but he also suspects that Gaddafi's regime may have had some kind of involvement in the bombing.

Speaking at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Dr Swire said: "Anybody who tries to get out more information that might be relevant should be congratulated I think.

"The only trouble is that information from these sources needs corroborated, and that’s the hard part."

Fight goes on for Justice for Megrahi campaign as MSPs keep petition open

[This is the headline over a report just published on the website of The Herald newspaper. It reads as follows:]

Campaigners who believe Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was wrongly convicted for the Lockerbie bombing have said they will continue to fight for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to re-examine the case.

Members of the Justice for Megrahi campaign group, including Dr Jim Swire whose daughter Flora was among 270 victims of the 1988 atrocity, attended Holyrood today to see their petition to the Scottish Parliament discussed by MSPs on the Justice Committee.

Members of the committee opted to keep to petition open, pending the outcome of Operation Sandwood, Police Scotland's investigation of nine accusations of criminality levelled by the group at Crown, police and forensic officials who worked on the case. Allegations including perversion of the course of justice and perjury. It is hoped that the investigation and Police Scotland report will be finalised by the end of the year.

Members of the Megrahi family are also yet to lodge a formal appeal against his the conviction, with efforts constrained by the turmoil in Libya. Following the hearing, Dr Swire said he had been in touch with the Megrahi family and efforts to submit the paperwork were ongoing.

The group is pushing for the appointment of an independent prosecutor to assess the Police Scotland report, and is not satisfied with the suggestion from the Lord Advocate that a Crown Counsel who has not been involved in the Lockerbie case would deal with this matter if necessary.

It believes that they have effectively been labelled conspiracy theorists by the Crown Office, giving them no confidence that the police report will be looked at fairly.

In a submission to the Justice Committee ahead of the meeting, the group said: "JFM objects in the strongest possible terms to the Lord Advocate's proposal... Over past years a number of serious questions have been raised about the office of the Lord Advocate, the Crown Office and the Scottish Justice System in general. The collapse of the Andy Coulson trial, the hasty decision to take no proceedings in relation to the Bin Lorry accident are but two examples.

"This latest attempt by the Lord Advocate not to surrender his control, despite irrefutable evidence that he should, only serves to provide further focus to these concerns and throw serious doubt on the Crowns internal decision making processes."

Following the hearing, James Robertson, of the campaign group, said: "The petition has been maintained, which we're very happy about, because there are still ongoing issues to be addressed. They've held the petition open for the right reasons."

Recent correspondence had been submitted surrounding the case, regarding questions the campaign group would like to the Justice Committee to ask the Lord Advocate on its behalf.

The convenor of the Justice Committee and member of the Justice for Megrahi campaign, Christine Grahame, said that she would seek permission from the Lord Advocate to release the correspondence into the public domain.

[A draft of the Official Report of the Justice Committee’s discussion of the petition can be read here.

Interestingly, the Scottish Police Federation has provided a link to The Herald article on its website.]

22 September 1998 was quite eventful

[On this date in 1998, the prosecution team for the Lockerbie trial was announced. The press release reads as follows:]

The Lord Advocate, Lord Hardie has announced the composition of the team of counsel involved in the preparation for and conduct of the trial in the Netherlands of the accused in the Lockerbie case. The selection and appointments were made by the Lord Advocate in the course of the last few weeks and were confirmed yesterday when the team met for the first time at the Crown Office, Edinburgh.

The Lord Advocate will lead the prosecution team at the trial and will attend as required. Colin Boyd QC, the Solicitor General will be responsible for the overall supervision of the team during the preparation of the case.

The team members are: Alastair Campbell, QC (49), Home Advocate Depute; Alan Turnbull, QC (40); and Jonathan Lake (31), Advocate. A fourth advocate has also accepted the appointment but for professional reasons is not being named at present. [RB: The fourth member of the team was Morag Armstrong, Advocate.]

Alastair Campbell will lead the team in the absence of the Lord Advocate. Both Mr Campbell and Mr Turnbull who is a former Advocate Depute have considerable experience of preparing for and conducting major trials

The Lord Advocate said:

"In selecting the team of prosecution counsel for this trial, I considered the particular strengths of the counsel appointed by me. I am confident that the individual members of the team will complement each other and I am delighted that they were able to accept instructions to appear on behalf of the Crown in this case.

"A site has been identified for the trial and the prosecution team has now been appointed. All that remains is for Libya to comply with the United Nations Security Council Resolution and to deliver the accused for trial in the Netherlands.

"I hope that occurs soon so that the trial may commence at the earliest opportunity".

The team, which also includes senior Crown Office officials, has already commenced preparation for the trial. To enable Mr Cambell to concentrate on the case full time, he will resign as Home Advocate Depute with effect from 30 September 1998.

[On the same day, Dr Jim Swire and I were meeting Colonel Gaddafi. Here is what I wrote about this some years ago:]

On 22 September [1998] Dr Swire and I had a further meeting with the Leader of the Revolution.  On this occasion the meeting took place not in Tripoli but 400 kilometres to the east in a genuine (not reinforced concrete) Bedouin tent in a desert location inland from the town of Sirte.  We drove most of the way in the usual government black Mercedes, transferring into a 4 x 4 only for the last few off-road miles.  When at the tent nothing could be seen but sand and sky; but out of sight just beyond the nearest dunes was a lengthy convoy of communications vehicles, ambulances, canteen vehicles and troop carriers. 

Surrounded by the sand dunes and by noisily ruminating camels, Colonel Gaddafi, Dr Swire and I discussed the details of the British scheme.  He accepted my assurance that at least some of the concerns that Libyan government lawyers had raised were unwarranted and that it would be worthwhile to continue to seek clarifications and reassurances through the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations regarding the remaining issues. 

Incidentally, this meeting with Gaddafi was held on the day that President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky was televised.  In the course of the pleasantries that took place before we all got down to business, Gaddafi informed us that he had spent the morning watching the President's performance on CNN television.  What most shocked him, he said, was the revelation that on some occasions while Miss Lewinsky was dutifully serving her President, the latter was speaking to foreign Heads of State on the telephone. 

The Avenger

A long article entitled The Avenger has been published today on the website of The New Yorker, to accompany Ken Dornstein’s forthcoming three-part PBS Frontline series My Brother’s Bomber. The article in The New Yorker has the subheading After three decades, has the brother of a victim of the Lockerbie bombing solved the case? I regret to say that the answer to that question must be “No”. Mr Dornstein accepts the Malta ingestion scenario and concludes that Megrahi was guilty. However, he fails to address, amongst other things, (a) the incontrovertible evidence produced by Dr Morag Kerr demonstrating that Heathrow was the point of ingestion (see Adequately Explained by Stupidity?: Lockerbie, Luggage and Lies); and (b) the metallurgical evidence that establishes that the fragment PT35b was not from one of the MST-13 timers supplied by MEBO to Libya.