Conviction unfinished business and cannot stand

[What follows is the text of a motion lodged in the Scottish Parliament on 17 May 2016:]

Motion S5M-00051:

Christine Grahame, Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party,

Date Lodged: 17/05/2016 R

Unfinished Business

That the Parliament notes and welcomes the comments by the former Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, in his book, The Lockerbie Bombing, that “clothes in the suitcase containing the bomb were acquired in Malta though not by Megrahi“; notes that Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper key to the identification of Megrahi as purchasing the items, made 19 separate statements to the police describing the purchaser of the clothes as 6ft tall and more than 50 years of age when Megrahi was 36 and 5ft 8 inches tall; notes further that, prior to the trial, Gauci had seen photographs of Megrahi in the media and understands that Gauci received $2 million from the US, and, in all the circumstances, considers that, with the key failure of identification, the conviction against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is unfinished business and cannot stand.

Supported by: Gillian Martin, Rona Mackay, Jenny Gilruth, Colin Beattie, Kevin Stewart, Mark McDonald, David Torrance, George Adam, John Finnie