Sunday 16 December 2018

Lockerbie: Campaigners fight to clear bomber's name

[This is the headline over an article published today on the STV News website. It reads in part:]

It's been three decades since Pan Am flight 103 blew up over the town of Lockerbie.

Only one man has ever been brought to justice for the attack, which claimed 270 lives. (...)

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was jailed for 27 years in 2001 before being released in 2009 on compassionate grounds as he battled cancer, shortly after abandoning his appeal.

His supporters, though, to continue to contest his conviction and hope he will one day be cleared.

They include relatives of Lockerbie victims, including Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Fiona died in the bombing.

Al Megrahi's conviction is currently being studied by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

His family filed an application to have his conviction overturned in July last year.

In May this year, the SCCRC announced that it would carry out a full review and decide whether an appeal against the conviction could be made.

Speaking at the time, the family's solicitor Aamer Anwar said: "When Mr Megrahi abandoned his appeal it simply didn't make sense.

"He had maintained his innocence until his dying breath, so nobody could understand why all of sudden he would drop it.

"There have always been allegations that the UK Government applied pressure to him and others, including the Libyan government, over the appeal.

"That is a matter that will be addressed at a later stage.

"But the commission has accepted there was a genuine and reasonable belief by Mr Megrahi that unless he dropped his appeal then he would simply die in prison in Scotland."

They're expected to make their ruling early in 2019.

In November, a four-year Police Scotland probe, known as Operation Sandwood, into the handling of the bombing investigation and prosecution found no evidence of criminality.

It came after nine allegations were made by the Justice for Megrahi campaign group.

They welcomed the police report and said the findings will be of importance to many of the issues being considered by the SCCRC

The group said: "The Operation Sandwood investigation has resulted in a seminal report which has examined many of the controversies which have arisen over the past 30 years.

"We believe that Police Scotland conducted their enquiry with thoroughness and integrity and we thank them for the work they have carried out."

Materials gathered during Operation Sandwood have now been handed over to the Crown Office.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "The Lord Advocate has been informed by the chief constable of the findings of the Operation Sandwood investigation and of the chief constable's conclusion, informed by the advice of independent senior counsel, that no evidence of any criminality was found.

"The findings contain material relevant to the live investigation into the Lockerbie bombing and to the SCCRC consideration of the case.

"On that basis, the documents have been passed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service team dealing with the live investigation so that they can be given appropriate consideration."

[RB : The article continues with a useful timeline on the Lockerbie criminal case. The headline is, of course, in need of improvement. In an article like this, Megrahi should rather be referred to as "the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing" as, for example, The Herald always does.]

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