Sunday 14 April 2013

Lockerbie bombing: Witnesses evade police in Libya

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

The new investigation into the Lockerbie bombing appears to be stalling after Scottish police officers failed to gain access to key suspects in Libya, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

A team from the Crown Office and the former Dumfries and Galloway force was despatched to the north African country in February following an International Letter of Request (ILOR) sent by Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland to Libyan judicial authorities.

The team – accompanied by FBI officers – are trying to establish whether a new case can be brought against Libyans suspected of being involved in the plot that brought down a US airliner over southern Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.
According to the Crown Office documents released under FOI legislation, the ILOR “seeks information in relation to the ongoing investigation of others involved in the plot”. But they go on to disclose: “There was no access to any individuals of interest during this visit.”
Instead, the team met officials and ministers in tightly-controlled secure buildings in Tripoli, fuelling suspicion that the new Libyan government does not want investigations to proceed.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi – who died in Libya from cancer last year three years after being released from prison in Scotland – is the only person ever convicted of the atrocity but the Crown Office believes he did not act alone and the attack on Pan Am flight 103 was “an act of state sponsored terrorism”.
They have previously sought information on his co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was acquitted at the trial of the two men at Camp Zeist in Holland in 2001.
But the FOI response indicates they are more interested in “others,” although the Crown Office will not comment publicly on their identity. They are believed to include Abdullah Senussi, the former Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, head of the intelligence services, and Megrahi’s immediate boss.
Other potential suspects include Saeed Rashid, who, an FBI report previously claimed, “managed a sustained Libyan effort to conduct terrorist attacks against US interests since the early-1980s”, and Izz Aldin Hinshiri, who was suspected of buying the trigger device for the Lockerbie bomb.John Ashton, author of Megrahi: You are my Jury, and former FBI agent Richard Marquise have both said investigations should also target Gadaffi’s former intelligence chief, Moussa Koussa, who fled the country during the Libyan revolution.
Former FBI assistant director Buck Revell, who oversaw that agency’s Lockerbie investigation until 1991, believes the Libyan authorities are trying to protect members of the former regime, and urged sanctions as a way of extracting the truth. “I think it was rather naive of us to think they would be given access,” he told Scotland on Sunday.
“I don’t fault them for trying, but there was nothing to indicate they were going to get to speak to the people they wanted to.
“It was a long shot worth taking, given the magnitude of the tragedy, but people there are still protecting elements of the previous government. They don’t believe it is in their best interests to come clean.”
He urged western governments to take a harder line. Libya already faces sanctions over arms deals and military activities, but Revell urged broader economic restrictions.
“We should hold out support and co-operation until they give us support and cooperation,” he said. (...) [RB: Earlier posts on this blog featuring Buck Revell can be accessed here.]
The former chief constable of the Dumfries and Galloway force, Patrick Shearer, is due to meet the Justice for Megrahi Campaign, which believes Megrahi was innocent, this week to discuss their concerns over the investigation.
The Crown Office says the new investigation is still “live” but a spokesman for Police Scotland confirmed that “in an ideal world” the team would have liked to speak to “individuals of interest”.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced the team’s visit would take place when he was in Tripoli earlier this year. However, Hameda al-Magery, the new Libyan government’s deputy justice minister, was reported as saying: “Britain and America are asking us to reopen this file. But this is something of the past. We want to move forward to build a new future, and not to look back at Gaddafi’s black history. This case was closed and both UK and US governments agreed to this. They had their compensation.”
Gaddafi paid victims’ families more than $2 billion 10 years ago, although his regime insisted it was a political move and continued to deny being behind the bombing.
[As I have said before, if the "new investigation" limits itself to seeking evidence of Libyan responsibility for Lockerbie, it is likely to prove futile. Closed minds are the last thing that a true and meaningful investigation requires.]

4 comments:

  1. I'm not sure why investigations should target Moussa Koussa. He has, after all, been interviewed and released by Dumfries and Galloway police. I don't recall outrage from anyone (except, perhaps, JfM) that one of the "Lockerbie masterminds" had been allowed to walk away. After all there is no credible scenario which has Megrahi guilty but Moussa Koussa innocent.

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  2. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2013 (google translation, german/english):

    Some Officials of the new "Lockerbie Air Disaster Investigation" obviously fishing in the wrong "waters", to divert their Results about the obvious "fabricated" blunder, in the failure of the accusation of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi and Libya !

    Result of obvious mistakes:
    1) > The late Mr. Abdelbaset al Megrahi had demonstrably nothing to do with the attack on PanAm 103 over Lockerbie;

    2) > The crucial MST-13 timer fragment evidence (PT/35) can not associated with the "Lockerbie tragedy"; the Fragment was deliberately manipulated by officials in the UK - to bring Libya in connection with the crash of Pan Am 103 !

    3) > For that reason, Libya with the "Lockerbie tragedy" can not in connection be brought, as no other evidence to be available. The questionable testimony of shopkeeper Tony Gauci (Mary House in Malta) have nothing to do with Libya !

    4) > The fugitive, previously served as confidant, incriminated ex intelligence chief Moussa Muhammad Koussa (1994 - 2009), was able to police questioning in UK / Scotland on the "Lockerbie case". contribute nothing and after the 30th March 2011, he was honorably deported to Doha in Qatar. Mr. Koussa was a member of the inner circle of Gaddafi;

    5) > Is it really the truth, that the last ex head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah Senussi, by police in Libya as a witness was shielded before the interrogation of Scottish and U.S. officials - or excuse - there was also not a useful information ?

    Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland (Crown Office) would be well advised to command a investigation of the manipulated MST-13 timer fragment (PT/35) in UK, therefore it is unnecessary to delegate a Scottish team to Libya for an inquiry...
    What is dished next from 'Crown Office' for the families of the 270 victims of Pan Am 103, and us as finacial injured victims ?

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Telecommunication, Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  3. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2013, in german language:

    Gewisse Offizielle der neuen "Lockerbie Air Disaster Investigation" fischen offensichtlich im falschen "Gewässer", um von ihrer offensichtlich "fabrizierten" Fehlleistung, zur Beschuldigung von Abdelbaset Al Megrahi und Libyen abzu-lenken !

    Ergebnis offensichtlicher Fehlleistungen:
    1.) > Der verstorbene Mr. Abdelbaset al Megrahi hatte nachweislich nichts zu tun mit dem Attentat auf PanAm 103, über Lockerbie;

    2.) > Das entscheidende MST-13 Timerfragment Beweisstück (PT/35) kann nicht mit der "Lockerbie-Tragödie" in Zusammenhang gebracht werden, da das Fragment von Offiziellen in UK vorsätzlich manipuliert wurde, um Libyen mit dem Absturz der PanAm 103, in Verbindung zu bringen !

    3.) > Deshalb kann auch Libyen nicht mit der "Lockerbie-Tragödie" in Zusammenhang gebracht werden, da keine anderen Beweise vorliegen;

    4.) > Der geflüchtete, zuvor als Mitwisser, angeschuldigte ex Geheimdiest Chef Moussa Muhammad Koussa (1994 - 2009), konnte nach polizeilicher Befragung in UK/Scotland - über den "Lockerbie Fall", nichts beitragen und wurde nach dem
    30. März 2011, ehrenhaft nach Doha in Qatar, ausgeschaft. Mr. Koussa war ein Mitglied des inneren Zirkels von Gaddafi;

    5.) > Wurde der letzte ex Leiter des libyschen Nachrichtendienstes Abdullah Senussi, wiklich von der Polizei in Libyen als Zeuge vor der Befragung von Scottish und US Offiziellen abgeschirmt - oder Ausrede - gab es auch keine brauchbaren Hinweise ?

    Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland (Crown Office) wäre gut beraten, endlich in UK eine Untersuchung über das MST-13 Timerfragment im zuveranlassen, somit erübrigt es sich ein weiteres schottisches Untersuchungs-Team nach Libyen zu delegieren...
    Was wird den Hinterbliebenen der 270 Opfer von PanAm 103, und uns als finaziell Geschädigte, vom 'Crown Office', als nächstes aufgetischt ?

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Telecommunication Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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  4. MISSION LOCKERBIE, 2013, (google translation, german/english):

    Why used Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland (Crown Office) not the "CROWBAR" of the UN Resolution SC/7866 (UN press release SC/7866 from 09/09/2003)?

    SC/7866, part 3: Libya also expressed its commitment to cooperate with any further requests for information in connection with the investigation. All those were substantial gains, which could allow Libya to move back into the international community and bring the Council closer to lifting the sanctions.

    Fears itself - the 'Scottish Parliament', generally for a renewed cooperation under leadership of the UN, in the new "Lockerbie air disaster investigation", organized by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary ?

    It is high time that the UN member Libya, supported by UN investigation, in the PanAm 103 case, can be exonerated.
    The Scottish "Lockerbie puzzle" must be set an end - once and for all !

    by Edwin and Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland. URL: www.lockerbie.ch

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