[Following yesterday’s post about Magnus Linklater’s Lockerbie stance two years ago, here, from an item published exactly five years ago, is more from Mr Linklater as reported originally in Scottish lawyers’ magazine The Firm:]
Magnus Linklater, the editor of The Scotsman newspaper at the time of the Lockerbie investigation, has revealed that UK Government and intelligence services influenced coverage of the Lockerbie inquiry to implicate Iran and Syria.
Linklater admitted that both the police and UK Government ministers directed the newspaper to concentrate their coverage on Iranian and Syrian links with the downing of Pan Am 103, the suspects initially favoured by the US and UK administrations.
"This is not just conspiracy theory," Linklater said.
"It is sometimes forgotten just how powerful the evidence was, in the first few months after Lockerbie, that pointed towards the involvement of the Palestinian-Syrian terror group the PFLP-GC, backed by Iran and linked closely to terror groups in Europe. At The Scotsman newspaper, which I edited then, we were strongly briefed by police and ministers to concentrate on this link, with revenge for an American rocket attack on an Iranian airliner as the motive." (...)
Linklater does not disclose why the newspaper did not undertake its own investigations. However he did state how former Lord Advocate Lord Fraser expressed concerns to him about whether the CIA could have been involved in planting some of the "evidence".
"I don’t know. No one ever came to me and said, ‘Let’s go for the Libyans’, it was never as straightforward as that. The CIA was extremely subtle," Fraser is reported to have said.
Magnus Linklater, the editor of The Scotsman newspaper at the time of the Lockerbie investigation, has revealed that UK Government and intelligence services influenced coverage of the Lockerbie inquiry to implicate Iran and Syria.
Linklater admitted that both the police and UK Government ministers directed the newspaper to concentrate their coverage on Iranian and Syrian links with the downing of Pan Am 103, the suspects initially favoured by the US and UK administrations.
"This is not just conspiracy theory," Linklater said.
"It is sometimes forgotten just how powerful the evidence was, in the first few months after Lockerbie, that pointed towards the involvement of the Palestinian-Syrian terror group the PFLP-GC, backed by Iran and linked closely to terror groups in Europe. At The Scotsman newspaper, which I edited then, we were strongly briefed by police and ministers to concentrate on this link, with revenge for an American rocket attack on an Iranian airliner as the motive." (...)
Linklater does not disclose why the newspaper did not undertake its own investigations. However he did state how former Lord Advocate Lord Fraser expressed concerns to him about whether the CIA could have been involved in planting some of the "evidence".
"I don’t know. No one ever came to me and said, ‘Let’s go for the Libyans’, it was never as straightforward as that. The CIA was extremely subtle," Fraser is reported to have said.
MISSION LIFE WITH THE Lockerbie AFFAIR, 2014 - (google translation, german/english):
ReplyDeleteAfter the authorizing of a criminal investigation by Swiss Justice and Police's (EJPD) against a Swiss police officer, in the "Lockerbie Affair", the legal means are clear, that MEBO Ltd. on mutual legal assistance agreement, dated on 30 October 1990, between Switzerland and UK, can have recourse.
MEBO takes the opportunity and demands that the "Scottish Police / Justice", the MST-13 timer fragment (PT-35) regarding the parts (PT-35, PT-35/b, DP 31/a) for forensic analysis must be brought to the 'Forensic Institute', of the Swiss police.
Questionable: the MST-13 timer fragment (PT-35) allegedly discovered in Lockerbie,
was represented as picture on a FBI-photo to MEBO Ltd. for examine. Afterwards, on 27 April 1990, the fragment was brought by Scottish officials, to company Siemens in Munich / Germany, for illegal treatments and was therefore not investigated by the Swiss Bureau of Investigation !
Today it is known, that by company Siemens, the fragment (PT-35) was seperated in two sections, (PT-35/b and DP-31/a) - so the manipulated fragment, was nearly a perfect piece of evidence in the "Lockerbie process" (luckily only nearly ...)!
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In german language:
Durch die Ermächtigung einer Strafuntersuchung des Schweizerischen Justiz-und Polizeidepartement's (EJPD) gegen einen schweizerischen Polizei Beamten, in der "Lockerbie-Affäre", ist das rechtliche Mittel erfüllt, dass MEBO Ltd. auf das gegenseitige Rechtshilfe- Abkommen, vom 30. Oktober 1990 (Schweiz/ UK) zurückgreifen kann.
MEBO nutzt die Gelegenheit und verlangt, dass die "Scottish Police/Justice", das entscheidende MST-13 Timerfragment (PT-35) bezugsweise die Teilstücke (PT-35, PT-35/b, DP-31/a) zur forensischen Analyse in das 'Forensische Institut', der schweizerischen Kantonspolizei Zürich überbracht werden müssen.
Fragwürdig: Wurde das angeblich, in Lockerbie aufgefundene MST-13 Timerfragment (PT-35) - abbgebildet auf einer vorgelegten FBI-Foto, nach der Beurteilung von MEBO Ltd., aus ilegalen Gründen, am 27. April 1990, zur Bearbeitung zu Firma Siemens nach München/Deutschland gebracht und wurde damit der schweizerischen Untersuchungsbehörde aus "dubiosen Fakts" eine Prüfung des MST-13 Timerfragments, (PT-35) vorweg genommen ?
Heute ist bekannt, dass das Fragment (PT-35) bei Fa. Siemens auf Verlangen, in zwei Teilstücke, (PT-35/b und DP-31/a, zersägt wurde, damit man das manipulierte Fragment, als fast perfektes Beweisstück in einem Prozess vorlegen konnte (zum Glück nur fast...) !
by Edwin Bollier, MEBO ltd. Telecommunication, Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch