Tuesday 24 May 2016

Justice for Megrahi statement on MacAskill book

[What follows is the text of a press release issued today by Justice for Megrahi:]

Kenny MacAskill, The Lockerbie Bombing: The Search for Justice (Biteback Publishing)

In this book Mr MacAskill hangs out the UK, US and international governments to dry for their hypocrisy in pursuing self interest to the detriment of the justice he says the Scottish Justice System has consistently pursued.

In reality it is the Scottish Justice System and people like himself and the Crown Office who have facilitated these self interest agendas by conducting a flawed investigation and trial and by concealing the true facts behind Mr Megrahi’s conviction.

Mr MacAskill and the Crown Office stand indicted of frustrating the very search for justice that he proclaims to be pursuing in the title of his book

His refusal to allow a Scottish independent enquiry and his support for Crown Office, who over the years have attempted to hide the paucity of the prosecution case , only serves to highlight his double standards.

Time after time he and the Scottish Government have stated that the only way justice can be done is in the Scottish Courts and yet he now states that Scotland is powerless to interfere in the face of international double dealing.

It is clear from the information he now reveals in his book that he holds previously undisclosed evidence which is relevant to JfM’s 9 criminal allegations being investigated by Police Scotland. We have reported him to this authority as a vital and compellable witness.

The Scottish Justice system and that system alone has been responsible for perpetuating the myths that Mr MacAskill now reveals and it is only in Scotland that justice can finally be done and be seen to be done. The victims of Lockerbie and the people of Scotland deserve no less.

Professor Robert Black QC states: "MacAskill's book seeks to paint a very rosy picture of the performance of the Scottish justice system in the Lockerbie case. The investigation, prosecution and trial were apparently all exemplary. In fact, there were grave -- and perhaps criminal -- flaws in all three.”

Author Dr James Robertson states: “Kenny MacAskill stated repeatedly as Cabinet Secretary for Justice that he did not doubt the safety of the guilty verdict against Megrahi. In this book he demolishes key parts of the evidence that secured the verdict, while still maintaining Megrahi was involved. He cannot have it both ways. Nor should such a cavalier and shameful approach to the basic principles of justice, from the man who had responsibility for Scottish Justice, be allowed to go unchallenged.”

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