John Mosey, who lost his 19-year-old daughter Helga in the tragedy, supports appeal to overturn the late Libyan's guilty verdict as it is "a step in the right direction."
The father of a Lockerbie victim has said new moves to clear the man convicted of the bombing bring the truth about Pan Am Flight 103 a step closer.
As we revealed last week, fresh grounds for an appeal to clear Abdelbaset al-Megrahi are in the final stages of preparation before being handed to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
John Mosey, who lost his daughter Helga, 19, in the 1988 explosion which killed 270 people, welcomed the development.
Megrahi’s widow Aisha and son Ali met with lawyer Aamer Anwar and Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the tragedy, in Zurich in November to discuss the appeal.
They believe crucial evidence was withheld from Megrahi’s trial.
Reverend Mosey, of Lancaster, said his family supported their concerns over the guilty verdict and want to know why then justice secretary Kenny MacAskill met Megrahi in jail before he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009.
John, who is among 25 UK-based relatives of victims supporting the appeal, said: “The question of who did it is our basic question.
“It’s important that we live in a society where the legal system cannot be manipulated for political ends. The rule of law is vital.
“I don’t think all of the truth will ever out – there’s probably too much at stake. But some things will come out, I’m convinced of that.”
He admitted to being “amazed” that Megrahi was found guilty of planting the bomb that blew the plane up over Dumfriesshire and said campaigners were supporting efforts to clear the Libyan’s name.
He said: “We’re approaching it on two fronts with our Justice for Megrahi group and this legal action on behalf of the Megrahi family, which is backed by British relatives.
“It is a step in the right direction into getting an inquiry into what went on and why it wasn’t prevented.”
John felt MacAskill was holding back when they met.
He said: “We had several meetings and found him to be a gentleman who treated us with dignity.
“I always got the feeling he would like to have been more helpful than he was allowed. I would be fine if he was called as a witness in the case.”
He believes US politicians exerted influence. He added: “It seems to us Washington leaned on Westminster, who leaned on the Scottish legal system.
“It seems to me it’s linked to something the Americans were doing, perhaps in the Middle East.”
Anwar said: “Without the likes of Rev Mosey and Dr Swire, it is likely this campaign for the truth would have been over a long time ago.
“John and Jim, I suspect, will never give up fighting for the truth because they know without it there can never be justice. I hope we can deliver that one day.”
DOSSIER LOCKERBIE, 2017
ReplyDeleteOur compliment, Mr John Mosey - and 25 UK-based relatives of victims supporting the new appeal - and thank all very much for your respect.
Yours faithfully and greetings from Edwin & Mahnaz Bollier / MEBO LTD Switzerland.webpage: www.lockerbie.ch
A very good article by John Mosey. Of course he is totally right in all that he has said. One thing i very much agree with him is his statement that we can never have justice while we allow politicians to influence the courts decisions and this was very obviously happening in the Lockerbie case He is right to say we will never get all of the truth because if we were to find out who the plotters were and why they were doing it the repercussions would go global and the whole world would get to see how Britain and America colluded to bring about the downfall of a sovereign state so they could regain control of its lucrative oil wealth.
ReplyDeleteThe Rev'd John Mosey has today asked me to make the following correction to the Sunday Mail article:
ReplyDelete“The question of who did it is our basic question". Rather the opposite. I have so frequently said, "While 'who did it' is a very important question, I am of the opinion that the primary question is, 'Why was it allowed to happen when they had so much intelligence?" They knew WHAT to look for; WHERE to look and WHEN to look but did nothing except to warn a few important people. At the Fatal Accident Inquiry Sheriff Principle John Mowat as good as said that this was a preventable disaster.