Tuesday 30 August 2011

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi maintains innocence

[This is the headline over a report just published on The Telegraph website. It reads in part:]

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man convicted over the Lockerbie bombing, maintained his innocence as recently as three years ago, according to a letter seen in Libya's intelligence headquarters.

In a private letter from Megrahi, he told Abdullah al-Senussi, a close Col Muammar Gaddafi aide: "I am an innocent man".

The letter, seen by The Wall Street Journal, was apparently written in late 2007 or early 2008, while he was serving a life sentence in Scotland.

He blamed his conviction on "fraudulent information that was relayed to investigators by Libyan collaborators", as well as "the immoral British and American investigators".

He also criticises a Maltese clothes merchant who told his trial that he purchased clothes from him that were found in the suitcase that contained the bomb that brought down PanAm Flight 103. He also asks Mr Senussi to send regards to "our big brother", Col Gaddafi.

[A report published this afternoon on the Newsnet Scotland website contains the following:]

A letter discovered in the offices of Libya’s former Intelligence Chief Abdullah al-Senussi appears to cast more doubt on claims that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was involved in the Lockerbie atrocity.

In the letter, written by the Libyan when he was still in Greenock prison, Megrahi insists he is innocent of the crime and blames his conviction on “fraudulent information”. (...)

If authentic then the letter will undermine the current claims from many Scottish media commentators who, since the discovery of Megrahi dying in his family home, are insisting that the Libyan knew more about Lockerbie.

It also calls into question the role of Libya itself in the atrocity given that the letter was addressed to the head of Gaddafi’s Intelligence Services who, had the state been involved in the downing of Pan Am 103, would have certainly been in a position to know that Megrahi was innocent or not.

No comments:

Post a Comment