The Lockerbie agreement between UK and Netherlands

[On this date in 1998 a treaty was concluded at The Hague between the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands providing for a Scottish court to sit in the Netherlands to try the two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing. The treaty can be read here. What follows is from an article written by me some years ago:]

The details of the arrangement -- the fine print -- are to be found in two documents: a British Order in Council (SI 1998 No 2251), made on 16 September 1998, conferring the necessary legal authority for Scottish criminal proceedings against the two Libyan suspects to be conducted in the Netherlands, and an international agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of the United Kingdom, concluded on 18 September 1998, making the diplomatic arrangements necessary for the "neutral venue" trial to take place. (...)

Although the British proposal was announced in late August 1998, it was not until 5 April 1999 that the two suspects actually arrived in the Netherlands for trial before the Scottish court.  Why the delay?  The answer is that some of the fine print in the two documents was capable of being interpreted, and was in fact interpreted, by the Libyan defence team (now chaired by Mr Kamel Hassan Maghur as successor to Dr Legwell) and the Libyan government as having been deliberately designed to create pitfalls to entrap them.  And since the governments of the United Kingdom and United States resolutely refused to have any direct contact with either the Libyan government or the Libyan defence lawyers -- their attitude being that the scheme had been advanced on a “take it or leave it basis” and that no negotiations would be entered into -- these concerns could be dealt with only through an intermediary, namely the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan (or, in practice, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Hans Corell).   This meant that issues that could have been thrashed out and settled in a matter of a few hours in a face-to-face meeting took weeks and months to resolve.  The US government, particularly the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, took every available opportunity to accuse the Libyan government and lawyers of stalling and trying to wriggle out of the assurances they had given over the years to support a “neutral venue” trial.  My own clear impression, however, through my continuing contacts with the Libyans, was that if anyone was looking for pretexts to avoid a trial ever taking place, it was the US and UK governments.

Between 20 and 22 September 1998, Dr Jim Swire and I were again in Tripoli and were able to provide to the Libyan government and the Libyan defence team a measure of reassurance regarding some of the points that concerned them.  However, it was we who had to inform the Libyan government that the chosen location in the Netherlands for trial was Kamp van Zeist, a former NATO base to which the air force of the United States still had extant treaty rights of access.  This information was faxed to me (in Dutch, which I can read  -- with difficulty -- through my knowledge of Afrikaans) at my hotel in Tripoli by a Dutch journalist who had developed an interest in Lockerbie and who had heard it from an official at The Hague.  Dr Swire and I discussed whether we should inform our Libyan government contacts of the intended venue and came to the conclusion that we should do so.  One compelling reason for doing so was to preserve the trust that the Libyan government appeared to have developed in us.  Another was our assumption -- which may or may not have been justified -- that all our communications in Libya were monitored and that the Libyan authorities would have the information anyway as soon as they could arrange for a copy of the fax to be translated from Dutch into Arabic.

I anticipated that the news about the proposed location would cause the Libyans to renounce the "neutral venue" concept in high dudgeon and complain of the lack of good faith demonstrated by the British Government in selecting, or agreeing to, such a site.  But they did not do so.  When we raised the issue at our next meeting, the Libyan officials were remarkably relaxed about the matter.  This, more than anything else, convinced me that the Libyan government and the Libyan defence lawyers genuinely wished a trial to take place and that the concerns they had expressed regarding details of the scheme now on offer were genuine concerns, not merely a colourable pretext for evading their earlier commitment to such a solution.

On 22 September 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. 

Terrorism, Spies, Palestinians and the FBI

[This is part of the headline over an article by John R Schindler published yesterday on the US Observer website (not connected to the British Sunday newspaper The Observer). The following are excerpts:]

We have smoke on board—I can’t see anything” were the panicked, halting words transmitted from the cockpit of Swissair Flight 330 shortly before it hit the ground. Less than a minute later came the final message from the captain: “We are crashing—goodbye, everybody.” Then the four-engine airliner, a Convair Coronado, came down hard in a forest near Würenlingen, west of Zürich Airport, where the airplane had taken off less than 20 minutes before. There were no survivors.

The crash of Flight 330 on February 21, 1970, which killed 47 people—38 passengers and nine crew—remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Swiss history. Nine minutes after takeoff, shortly after the Coronado passed 14,000 feet on its climb-out from Zürich, a bomb exploded in the rear cargo hold. (...)

Swiss media this week is abuzz with revelations from a declassified American intelligence assessment which points the finger at one or more groups who may have assisted the Middle Eastern terrorists who blew up the Swissair jet. The truth about what befell Flight 330 appears to be far more complicated than anyone might have guessed.

First, the facts. The bomb which brought the Coronado to earth was placed inside a radio and had a barometric pressure trigger designed to explode at a fixed altitude. On the very same day that Flight 330 was destroyed, an identical bomb detonated in the cargo hold of an Austrian Airlines Caravelle jetliner shortly after takeoff from Frankfurt, West Germany, bound for Vienna. The lucky pilots managed to land their aircraft safely back in Frankfurt, with a hole blown through the fuselage. The Caravelle’s 33 passengers and five crew survived unscathed.

It was immediately apparent that the same terrorist cell was likely behind both bombings. Palestinian terrorism was new on the scene in 1970, having captured the world’s attention with a wave of airplane hijackings and bombings across Europe and the Middle East. (...)

Suspicion soon fell on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a radical terrorist group that was founded in 1968 by Ahmed Jibril, under Syrian patronage. Practically an appendage of Syrian intelligence, PFLP-GC had cells operating in several countries in the Middle East and Europe and specialized in attacks on airliners. That Swissair Flight 330 was bound for Tel Aviv made it a logical target for Jibril’s killers.

Before long, investigators in Switzerland and West Germany determined that the bombs which exploded on February 21 had been assembled by a PFLP-GC cell operating in the Frankfurt area. They were disguised as mail packages being sent to an address in Israel—a fake address, as it turned out. Police were looking for four Palestinians known to be affiliated with the PFLP-GC: two Jordanians, Sufian Radi Kaddoumi and Badawi Mousa Jawher, plus their helpers Yaser Qasem and Issa Abdallah Abu-Toboul. The men had purchased several altimeters in Frankfurt and were the prime suspects in the bombings.

They had fled to the Middle East, however, out of the reach of European police. Swiss authorities never seemed especially motivated to find them either, leading to longstanding whispers of a conspiracy, perhaps even a back-room deal between Swiss officials and the PFLP-GC to ignore the wanted men in exchange for no more Palestinian terrorism against Switzerland.

That Switzerland may have something to hide is illustrated by the suspicious case of Marwan Khreesat, a top PFLP-GC bomb-maker whom investigators early on believed played a key role in the downing of Flight 330, but strangely he was never officially considered a suspect. Only two decades later, when Khreesat was a suspect in the bombing of Pam Am Flight 103, which was blown apart over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, did Swiss authorities seem to acknowledge that Khreesat had a hand in the downing of Flight 330. Even then, nothing was done.

Therefore, significant unanswered questions linger in the Swissair case—including who was really behind the bomb plot. The investigation has now been blown wide-open by the sensational revelations contained in an intelligence assessment produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation way back in June 1970.

Titled The Fedayeen Terrorist—A Profile, the short document, just seven pages of text, was classified Secret and intended for internal FBI use only. (...)

… according to the FBI, the prime movers of the attacks were two unidentified West Germans, who contacted the PFLP-GC at their headquarters in Amman, Jordan, in September or October 1969. They showed up unannounced, claimed to be sympathetic to the Fedayeen cause, and wanted to help. As the FBI study explains:

One of them was an electrical engineer and PFLP-GC sought his advice on electrical problems connected with explosives, which he readily provided. They then returned to West Germany, and PFLP-GC maintained contact.

The two mystery men played a pivotal role in the downing of Flight 330, as the FBI knew:

On February 10, 1970, the West Germans were contacted in Frankfurt by [Kaddoumi] and [Jawher], two PFLP-GC members who had flown to West Germany on a terrorist mission. A discussion was held as to what device should be used to blow up a plane. One of the West Germans suggested an altimeter rigged to an explosive and set to give an electrical charge at 3,000 meters. All agreed that this was a satisfactory technique. The altimeters were then purchased in Frankfurt and the West Germans helped the terrorists wire them to the explosives which were then placed in a hollowed-out used radio set and packaged for mailing to Israel.

In other words, two unidentified West Germans reached out to the PFLP-GC, offered their help with terrorism, then provided their expertise on how to blow up civilian airliners in midflight. The mystery deepens, since the FBI notes that, after the downing of Flight 330, the West Germans disappeared. Even the PFLP-GC could not locate them, despite several attempts.

The Palestinians suspected they had been played by the “West Germans” too. According to the FBI, one of the PFLP-GC operatives (presumably Kaddoumi) detected an Israeli hand behind the plot. From the safety of Amman, after his escape from Europe, he stated that their anonymous helpers were actually Israeli agents who had reached out to them to keep the bombs off El Al jetliners while tarring the Palestinian cause with mass murder.

Seeing an Israeli false flag behind the downing of Flight 330 sounds fanciful, even allowing that terrorists are paranoid by their nature—especially Arab ones, who see Mossad lurking in every dark corner. That said, any reinvestigation of the case would want to examine any possible foreign intelligence ties to this mass killing, even if only to rule them out.

Is a serious relook at the Flight 330 massacre possible, so many decades later? Based on Swiss reports, Sufian Kaddoumi died in Jordan several years ago, while Badawi Jawher may not be in Jordan at all. All traces of him have gone cold. Marwan Khreesat lives in Jordan too. Just two years ago he was boasting on Facebook about his bomb-making exploits for the PFLP-GC back in the 1970s, while bizarrely posting photos of the Lockerbie disaster.

The best source of information for anybody wanting to know what really happened to Flight 330 may be American intelligence files. The FBI’s assessment was clearly derived from solid spy information on the Swissair case (to the trained eye, it looks like some of it comes from signals intelligence from the National Security Agency, which the FBI masked to protect sources and methods). Perhaps when those classified reports are eventually released to the public the full story of how and why 47 innocent people died will be known.

Only a child would believe such a story

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

Two leading authorities on the Lockerbie trial have called for a new public inquiry to reinvestigate the atrocity, which killed 270 people nearly 20 years ago.

Dr Hans Koechler, the United Nations observer at the trial, has been strongly critical of the original proceedings and conviction of Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is serving life for the killings.

Professor Robert Black, professor emeritus of Scots Law at Edinburgh University and an adviser on setting up the trial in the Netherlands, has also spoken out against the hearing.

Both now expect Megrahi, who is seeking to appeal his sentence, to be sent home to Libya and fear the circumstances of the tragedy and who is responsible could remain a mystery.

This week they will urge the Scottish legal system to assert its independence and re-examine the case, and were in Skye yesterday, on the invitation of campaigners.

Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988, killing all 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground. After a three-year investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Police and the FBI, indictments for murder were issued for Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah.

They were tried at a Scottish court convened at Kamp Zeist in the Netherlands. Fhimah was acquitted but Megrahi was sentenced to 27 years in jail.

Last year the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said Megrahi had grounds for an appeal, including a possible miscarriage of justice because the Crown had not disclosed a document which an unidentified country had provided to the UK government in 1996.

Dr Koechler said the Kamp Zeist trial was not independent or impartial, and that the presence of FBI agents in the court added to the "appearance of outside influence". He also said there is evidence "rewards" involving millions of dollars were paid to prosecution witnesses.

He added: "Irrespective of the outcome of the current appeal, there should be a reinvestigation of the incident by the Scottish authorities." This, he said, should be at least another fatal accident inquiry, but a wider-ranging public inquiry would be more appropriate.

"It is extremely frustrating that with regard to such an incident just one person has been presented as the culprit and no further questions asked. Only a child would believe such a story."

Prof Black said Megrahi could go home if his appeal succeeds or if a fair appeal cannot be achieved. He said he is not convinced there is the political will to have the case reinvestigated, but added: "One of the things we have been trying to do is to insert some backbone into those politicians who have the power to make it happen."

Vocal and influential critic of 'flawed' case

Dr Hans Koechler's forensic dismantling of the legal procedure of the Lockerbie trial has led to him becoming a leading critic of the case.

The president of the Vienna-based International Progress Organisation was the only international observer to submit comprehensive reports on the trial and appeal proceedings to the Secretary General of the United Nations. These in turn were forwarded to the Registrar of the Scottish Court in the Netherlands.

Their publication triggered international debate, including in the House of Commons.

He said the initial trial verdict which acquitted one of the accused was "inconsistent" and "arbitrary". He also said the rejection of Megrahi's initial appeal was a "spectacular miscarriage of justice".

Legal warrant for Lockerbie trial

[On this date in 1998 the legal instrument that authorised the High Court of Justiciary to sit in the Netherlands to try the Lockerbie case, and prescribed the procedure to be followed by the court, was made by the Privy Council. The High Court of Justiciary (Proceedings in the Netherlands) (United Nations) Order 1998, SI 1998 No 2251 can be read here. Article 5 provides:]

… the Lord Justice Clerk shall appoint three Lords Commissioners of Justiciary to constitute a court for the purposes of any trial to be held in the course of proceedings to be conducted by virtue of this Order, and shall nominate one of them to preside.

   (2) The determination of any question of law arising in any such trial shall be according to the votes of the majority of the members of the court, including the presiding judge.

   (3) The court shall conduct any such trial without a jury.

  (4) For the purposes of any such trial, the court shall have all the powers, authorities and jurisdiction which it would have had if it had been sitting with a jury in Scotland, including power to determine any question and to make any finding which would, apart from this article, be required to be determined or made by a jury, and references in any enactment or other rule of law to a jury or the verdict or finding of a jury shall be construed accordingly.

  (5) At the conclusion of any such trial, the court shall retire to consider its verdict, which shall be determined by a majority and delivered in open court by the presiding judge.

   (6) In the event of a verdict of guilty -

(a) the presiding judge shall pass sentence; and

(b) without prejudice to its power apart from this paragraph to give a judgment, the court shall, at the time of conviction or as soon as practicable thereafter, give a judgment in writing stating the reasons for the conviction.

[RB: The Order was made by “The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council … At the Court at Heathrow”. Since, as Dr Morag Kerr has conclusively demonstrated, Heathrow is where the bomb was loaded, this is strikingly appropriate.]

Lifting of UN sanctions against Libya

[On this date in 2003 the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution lifting the sanctions that had been imposed on Libya after the bombings of Pan Am 103 and UTA 772. The relevant Security Council press release (which includes the text of the resolution and the speeches made at the session) reads in part:]

After several delays in recent weeks, the Security Council this morning lifted decade-long sanctions against Libya, which were imposed after that country failed to cooperate with investigations into terrorist acts against Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and France’s Union de transports aeriens (UTA) flight 772 over the Niger in 1989.

After postponing action on the issue last Tuesday in an effort to achieve consensus (see Press Release SC/7866 of 9 September), the Council adopted resolution 1506 today by a vote of 13 in favour with two abstentions (France, United States).  The decision became possible after Libya accepted responsibility for the actions of its officials, renounced terrorism and arranged for payment of appropriate compensation for the families of the victims.

Libya also expressed its commitment to cooperate with any further requests for information in connection with the investigation.  Those steps in compliance with relevant Council resolutions were recounted in a letter, dated 15 August, from Libya’s Permanent Representative to the President of the Council (document S/2003/818).

Speaking after the vote, however, the representative of the United States said that his country had abstained in the vote, because it did not want its position to be misconstrued as a decision to modify its bilateral measures regardless of future Libyan behaviour.  The United States’ sanctions on that country would remain in full force.

While Libya had taken steps in compliance with relevant United Nations resolutions, the United States continued to have serious concerns about other aspects of Libyan behaviour, he said.  These included its poor human rights record, its rejection of democratic norms and standards, its irresponsible behaviour in Africa, its history of involvement in terrorism and -- most importantly -- its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.

Referring to the agreement reached yesterday between representatives of the families of the victims of the UTA flight and the Gadhafi Foundation, France’s representative said that agreement had enabled France to not oppose the lifting of sanctions.  The conditions had been established for the equitable settlement of the painful matter that involved 17 nationalities.

Also speaking after the vote were the representatives of Germany, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Syria, Spain and the United Kingdom.  They pointed out that the lifting of sanctions was an important phase in the process of reintegrating Libya in the international community, emphasizing that such normalization presumed that Libya would continue to abide by its commitments.  Several members of the Council also called on Libya to take other measures, including an equitable settlement for victims of the La Belle night club bombing in Berlin in 1986. (...)

Regarding the Lockerbie investigation, the United Kingdom (S/23307) and the United States (S/23308) had requested that Libya surrender for trial those charged with the destruction of the Pan Am flight on 21 December 1988, resulting in 270 deaths.  They further requested that Libya accept responsibility for the actions of its officials; disclose all it knew of the crime; and pay appropriate compensation.  Those requests were included in resolution 731 (1992).

The sanctions were spelled out in resolution 748, adopted on 31 March 1992, and resolution 883, adopted on 11 November 1993, and included travel restrictions, an arms embargo, and financial sanctions excluding financial resources derived from the sale of petroleum products and agricultural products.  Subsequently, the Council suspended the sanctions by its resolution 1192 (1998) after Libya agreed to hand over two suspects for trial before a Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands in connection with the Lockerbie bombing.  One of them, Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi, has since been convicted and jailed for his role.

Abu Talb and PFLP-GC in the frame

[What follows is excerpted from an article on the website of The Guardian dated 27 February 2000:]

Meckenheim, Germany, 14 September 1989 Swedish officials attending an international conference of Lockerbie investigators reported a lead that might implicate the PFLP-GC, the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Commando, a radical Palestinian splinter group that includes some of the most experienced bomb experts in the Middle East. In May 1989, the Swedish police arrested Mohammed Abu Talb, a PFLP-GC agent born in Egypt, for several attacks with explosives in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. What caught the attention of other investigators was the fact that Abu Talb had visited Malta twice, in October and November 1988. In apartments where the Egyptian had lived, investigators found pieces of clothing that had been bought in Malta and also a calendar on a kitchen table on which the date of 21 December 1988 - the day of the crash - had been circled.

Could the PFLP-GC have been responsible for Lockerbie? And what motive would the terrorist group have had? The investigators believed there might have been an easy answer for the second question: money and revenge. For years the PFLP-GC had received political and military support from the Soviet Union and Syria, but this came to a stop at the end of the 1980s when an Iran Air Airbus with 290 passengers onboard was shot down in the Persian Gulf by the US cruiser Vincennes on 3 July 1988. Ayatollah Khomeini demanded revenge. Might the bomb experts of the PFLP-GC have been working for Iran? According to the CIA, several million US dollars were transferred from Iran to the accounts of the PFLP-GC after the airbus strike. [RB: But see Lockerbie & The Legend of The Iranian Payment.]

But investigators were nevertheless sceptical about this lead. A number of technical details seemed contradictory and one would have thought the shopkeeper in Malta would have recognised Abu Talb's Egyptian accent. In addition, Abu Talb, who was sitting out a life prison sentence in Sweden, denied any involvement in Lockerbie.

[RB: Further details about the Meckenheim meeting can be found here (in German).]

Scottish Parliament motion on new Megrahi appeal

[What follows is a motion lodged yesterday in the Scottish Parliament by Christine Grahame MSP:]

Motion S5M-01396: Christine Grahame, Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 12/09/2016 R

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

That the Parliament notes and welcomes the announcement by Kahlid al-Megrahi, son of Abdelbaset, that he plans to return to Scotland to resurrect the appeal abandoned by his father with much evidence previously unheard and untested; considers that there is a view that this, together with comments by the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, to ITV Border on 23 May 2016 that, "I do think that there are doubts upon the conviction and I tend to think that it would probably result in it being found unsafe", makes it imperative that the case against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is now fully explored in the High Court of Appeal in order that, once and for all, victims and victims’ families hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and considers that this may, at last, resolve concerns of constituents in Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, and elsewhere, regarding the guilt, or otherwise, of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Lockerbie police records 'destroyed'

[This is the headline over a report published on the BBC News website on this date in 1999. It reads as follows:]

Police notebooks containing evidence relating to the Lockerbie bombing are alleged to have been destroyed.

Dozens of the notebooks are believed to have been disposed of five years after the 1988 air disaster which claimed the lives of 270 people.

A police officer involved in the investigation telephoned the BBC and said a number of officers had been told their notebooks were missing.

It is unclear whether police destroyed them mistakenly or whether the Crown Office had not ordered them to be kept.

However, police and prosecution officials preparing the case against two Libyans who are due to stand trial for the bombing next year, have refused to comment on the report, which initially appeared in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper.

A spokesman for the Crown Office, which is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland, said: "We cannot make any comment as it would be inappropriate to comment about what may be evidential matters in the Lockerbie trial."

Dumfries and Galloway Police, in whose area the village of Lockerbie is located, also declined to comment.

The newspaper said that with the notebooks destroyed, police officers will have to give evidence years after the disaster without being able to refer to detailed notes taken at the time.

It said some of the notebooks referred to the recovery of fragments of wreckage, and that it was unclear whether police destroyed them mistakenly or whether the Crown Office did not order them to be kept.

The newspaper quoted sources said to be close to the defence as saying: "Police officers have told us they could not give detailed statements because they did not have their notebooks.

"When we asked why, the answer was the notebooks had been taken off them and were later destroyed. In a case like this the order should have been given that they were kept.

"For some reason the order was either not given or was ignored. We are aware of dozens of notebooks which have been destroyed."

A leading Edinburgh solicitor said missing notebooks could cause problems for police witnesses.

George More said: "A witness has to give evidence from his or her memory. A notebook can be used as an aide memoire and that is often done in court.

"If the witness can't remember and the actual notebook is not available then there may be difficulties for police witnesses at the trial."

The non-jury trial of the two accused, Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, is scheduled to get under way on 4 February 2000 at a specially convened court near the Hague.

Press coverage of new Megrahi appeal bid story

Many UK newspapers have picked up yesterday’s Sunday Post story about Khaled al-Megrahi’s intention to return to Scotland and seek a fresh appeal to clear his father’s name. The following are examples:

The Herald;

The Times;

Daily Telegraph;

Daily Record;

Daily Mail;

Daily Express.

None of them adds anything of substance to the original Sunday Post coverage.

Never been a proper explanation

[What follows is the text of an article published in The Times on this date in 2009:]

An independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing was called for last night by a leading human rights lawyer.

Gareth Peirce, who has represented a string of high-profile victims of miscarriage of justice, said that the forensic evidence on which the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, was convicted was flawed.

The finding itself was “very, very worrying” and based the same kind of discredited forensic science that was at the heart of several notable miscarriages of justice in the ‘70s and ‘80s, she said.

“The [Lockerbie] case was founded on twin pillars: one, that al-Megrahi was linked to a charred fragment of a bomb timer; and second, his identification was ‘claimed’ by a man who could not be sure of his evidence.

“Has everyone forgotten the lessions learned of flawed scientified evidence and identification?

“The point being made by the families over 20 years is that they want to know the cause of the Lockerbie diaster. And at every turn, limitations have been put on their ability to discover it.”

Ms Peirce, who in a career spanning 30 years has acted for the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six and families of the Marchioness river boat disaster, was speaking at a special event in London attended by campaigners and experts including Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the 270 killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie.

She said that there had been a Fatal Accident Inquiry in [1990/91], which was limited to the immediate cause of the explosion so as not to prejudice future prosecutions, she said.

Some 15 years later there was the prosecution in the Hague of two Libyans, where the family could only be present and observe. But there had never been a “proper explanation of what they want to hear.”

But a UN assessor appointed to the trial had been scathing of the judges’ verdict, she added, and of the “atmosphere of political interference that permeated the trial”.

Megrahi’s son vows to return to Scotland to clear his father’s name

[What follows is excerpted from an article published in today’s edition of the Sunday Post:]

The son of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has revealed he’s heading back to Scotland to fight for justice for his dad – while branding Libya a lawless jungle.

Speaking from his home in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Khalid al-Megrahi said a fresh appeal to clear his dad’s name was imminent.

Khalid, 31, has vowed to return to Scotland to play a central role in the case.

He will bring his family, which now includes a son named after his father, who was the only man to be convicted of the 1988 atrocity.

“Libya is like a jungle,” he said. “I want to return to Scotland for justice.”

An appeal launched by campaigners who believe Megrahi is innocent collapsed last November.

At the time, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission – a Scottish Government body – said it could not proceed without input from Megrahi’s family.

It would have been the third appeal against Megrahi’s 2001 conviction.

He dropped the second appeal in 2009 – launched while he was in prison in Scotland – because he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

Months later, he was controversially allowed to return to Libya on “compassionate grounds”, where he lived for a further three years.

Now, in his first interview since his father died in 2012, Khalid said the family’s participation in the appeal process has been hampered by “lawlessness in Libya”.

Khalid, Megrahi’s eldest son, has borne the burden of paternal responsibility since his dad was convicted in 2001.

He said it was only now during a lull in fighting in Libya that’s it had been possible for his family to get more involved in his father’s case. He said: “In Libya, it’s not a good time to do anything. Before the country was much better than it is now.

“And it’s not just for us but all Libyan people.

“It’s just not safe.

“Crime is everywhere. Banks don’t have money, police don’t work and the court system doesn’t work.

“You can ask any Libyan and he will tell you the same answer.”

Khalid, 31, said the capital often went without power, which compounded the problems of fighting a legal appeal from overseas and communicating with lawyers in Scotland.

Libya has been plagued by chaos since Nato-backed forces overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011. (...)

Khalid believes his family was targeted in the aftermath of Gaddafi’s death because of perceived closeness to the regime. (...)

But Khalid has distanced his family from the notorious Gaddafi clan and said he knew “nothing about them”.

Khalid, whose three-year-old son is named Abdelbaset in honour of his dad, said: “We had a lot of problems at the beginning of the revolution.

“We had a home and car stolen and they burned out our farm.

“There were also a lot of other things that happened to the family.

“The reason for doing all these crimes was that we belonged to the tribe of Megrahi.” (...)

Khalid said both he and his family had fond memories of their time in Scotland.

He spent his formative years here, was educated here and can’t wait to return so he can see his friends.

Khalid said: “I want to return to Scotland for the appeal. I love Scotland. I still keep in touch with some of the Scottish families.

“We are fighting because we believe Scotland will give us justice.

“The people of the country have always been very friendly towards us.

“We want justice not just for our family but also for the families of the victims.

“My family have been victims too.”

Khalid also revealed his toddler son Abdelbaset bore a resemblance to his father.

“I believe if I don’t clear my dad’s name my son will,” he said.

“We believe one day the truth will get out  – God willing.”

As well as eldest son Khalid, Megrahi had another four children – Ghada, Mohammed, Ali, and Motasem.

His eldest daughter Ghada, 33, studied law in Scotland and is now practicing in Tripoli.

IT consultant Khalid – also a Scottish graduate – spends time travelling the world with his work.

His three youngest siblings are all supportive of the appeal.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the 1988 disaster and who supports the Megrahi appeal, said: “There is not a scrap of doubt in my mind that if this appeal goes ahead, his conviction will be overturned.

“If that happens the relatives will examine calls for a full inquiry.”

But other relatives of victims last night blasted the Megrahi family’s new appeal as a fresh heartache.

Susan Cohen’s daughter Theodora, 20, was on board the flight when it exploded over Lockerbie.

Speaking from her home in New Jersey, USA, Mrs Cohen, 78, said: “For the Megrahis to call themselves victims, well, that is despicable.

“He was a mass murderer and to defend him is disgusting.”

A Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission spokesman said it had not received any new paperwork about the case and “there is no current appeal”.