Libya asked to find key papers on Lockerbie

[This is the headline over a report published (behind the paywall) in today's Scottish edition of The Times.  It reads in part:]

Scotland’s Lord Advocate has opened a dramatic new chapter in the Lockerbie saga by formally seeking evidence from the new Libyan authorities which could lead to a second trial for the atrocity, The Times has learnt.

Frank Mulholland, QC, has made the move in the growing belief that the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) in Tripoli will release key evidence and testimony relating to the blowing up of Pan Am Flight 103.

Scottish prosecutors believe that the co-operation of the NTC will provide them with the vital evidence they need to convict those who acted along with Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in committing the terrorist act.

In particular, the Crown Office is keen to obtain further evidence against Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the man who originally stood trial for the terrorist atrocity alongside al-Megrahi, but was acquitted of any involvement.

Confirming the Lord Advocate’s approach to Libya’s new political leaders, a spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The Crown will continue to pursue lines of enquiry that become available and following recent events in Libya has asked the National Transitional Council, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for assistance with the investigation. In particular we have asked the NTC to make available to the Crown any documentary evidence and witnesses, which could assist in the ongoing enquiries.”

Mr Mulholland’s move reveals growing confidence within the Crown Office that it can secure further convictions over the Lockerbie bombing.

The Lord Advocate set up a specialist unit earlier this year charged with gathering evidence against Mr Fhimah, 55, after MSPs paved the way for a retrial by scrapping the country’s 800-year-old double-jeopardy law.

Mr Fhimah recently attempted to side publicly with the Libyan rebels as the Gaddafi regime fell, in what was seen as a desperate attempt to persuade them not to hand him over to the Scottish authorities.

As the Crown Office has stepped up efforts to secure evidence against him, Mr Fhimah also used an interview in a Swedish newspaper to deny any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. (...)

Colonel Gaddafi’s former justice minister, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who claimed to have evidence of Gaddafi’s involvement in the Lockerbie outrage, is now one of the leaders of the NTC.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said Mr Jalil pleged his full co-operation with the UK authorities when the two men met in London last month.

Although some members of the NTC have rejected calls for the suspect in the killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher to be handed over — or for Megrahi to be returned to jail — the Crown Office is hopeful that it will take a different approach in relation to the Lockerbie suspects, who have remained loyal to Gaddafi until the final days of his regime.

Mr Fhimah was given a hero’s welcome by Gaddafi when he returned to Libya following his acquittal at the trial in the Hague.

Al-Megrahi’s co-accused had been accused of helping to place the bomb in the baggage system of the New York-bound plane while it was at an airport in Malta.

However, Mr Fhimah’s defence argued that the case against him amounted to “inference upon inference upon inference upon inference ... leading to an inference”.

Earlier this year, Scottish police questioned the former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who has defected from the Gaddafi regime and is believed to hold key information about the 1988 attack. Mr Fhimah is understood to have formed a central part of their questioning of Mr Koussa.

Other suspects in the case include Abdullah Senussi, Colonel Gadaffi’s brother-in-law who headed Libya’s intelligence services and was al-Megrahi’s immediate boss.

Ibrahim Nayili, Libya’s former head of airline security, is also on the list of potential suspects. He is said to have put al-Megrahi in contact with potential sources of arms and aircraft components.

However, Sa’id Rashid, who is suspected by US intelligence staff of being “the senior government official who orchestrated the attack”, is believed to have died during the current uprising.

Izz Aldin Hinshiri, a former Libyan minister said to have taken possession of timers that may have been used in the Lockerbie attack, may also be dead.

[This story has now been picked up on the BBC News website.  The first paragraph of a commentary on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm by the editor, Steven Raeburn, reads as follows:]

This morning’s announcement from the Crown Office that they have contacted Libya’s newly changed regime in an effort to seek “assistance with the investigation” into the Pan Am 103 atrocity is a dangerous, disgraceful and disrespectful charade.