Intriguing, is it not, that on the very day that UK Families-Flight 103 submits a letter to the Prime Minister calling for a full, independent inquiry into the Lockerbie disaster (and gains the support of a major national newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph) the story breaks, citing Crown Office sources, that the investigation is not closed and that a police review is being carried out?
Not, of course, that the case against Abdelbaset Megrahi will be scrutinised. He has been convicted by a Scottish court and so is indubitably guilty. Forget the concerns of a bunch of meddlesome do-gooders like the UN observer, Professor Hans Köchler, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Forget the material that has been placed into the public domain on Mr Megrahi's website. If three Scottish judges say he is guilty, then guilty he must be. The fact that the SCCRC regarded those judges' findings on crucial matters as conclusions that, on the evidence, no reasonable court could have reached, can be either completely ignored or treated with lofty contempt. If the establishment decides that a man is guilty, then guilty he is and most assuredly will remain.
What follows are excerpts from the coverage of this story in the "serious" press and The Scotsman.
The Times: "Lockerbie relatives suspect investigation will head off public inquiry"
'Relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie disaster are worried that the police investigation into the atrocity is being stepped up in an attempt to scupper their demands for a full public inquiry. (...)
'Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing, said: “The argument which has been consistently used against us having the public inquiry we want is that there is an ongoing criminal investigation.
'“I find it an extraordinary coincidence that the latest development in the police case emerged on the same day the families demanded a proper investigation from Gordon Brown.” (...)
'Martin Cadman, who lost his son William in the 1988 bombing, also raised concerns. He said: “It’s very curious the way the law is going about things. We’ve been led up the garden path by the authorities for a long time. I’m deeply suspicious of this.”'
The Herald: "Lockerbie relatives cautiously welcome review"
'Relatives of the Lockerbie bombing victims have welcomed a review of the criminal investigation into the atrocity but warned that it should not stand in the way of a full public inquiry.
'Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the 270 killed, said yesterday a desktop review of the criminal inquiry has always been the excuse to block a full investigation into how Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie on December 21 1988.'
The Scotsman: "Lockerbie: eight other 'high-level' suspects"
'Eight suspects who may have been involved in the Lockerbie bombing have never been investigated because the Libyan government refused to co-operate with Scottish police, The Scotsman has learned. The individuals emerged as possible "high-level" suspects as part of the original inquiry into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 following the atrocity in December 1988.
'Now The Scotsman can reveal that the eight – all thought to be male – were never ruled out of the investigation because Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi refused to release them for questioning. (...)
'Meanwhile, the Crown Office moved to play down suggestions that a wholesale review of the case was under way, stressing that there was no question of the Crown reopening the case against Megrahi himself.
'A spokeswoman added: "The open case concerns only the involvement of others with Megrahi in the murder of 270 people, and the Crown will continue to pursue such lines of inquiry that become available.
'"The trial court accepted the Crown's position that Mr Megrahi acted in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services and did not act alone." (...)
'The UK Families Flight 103 group revealed it had written to the Prime Minister demanding a full independent inquiry, a development quickly overtaken by news of the revived police investigation. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, died on the plane, said he was concerned the ongoing police work might be used as an excuse to block any independent public inquiry.
'His concerns were echoed by the Rev John Mosey, who lost his daughter, Helga, in the attack. He said: "It may be a damage-limitation exercise on behalf of the government in order to say, 'We are doing this instead of giving you an independent inquiry'. That would not be acceptable."'
[This cartoon from The Guardian sums things up beautifully.]
Monday, 26 October 2009
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Lockerbie questions
[This is the headline over a leader in the edition of The Herald for Monday, 26 October. It reads in part:]
Even if the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is guilty as charged, he must have had co-conspirators. (...)
The news that a police review of the entire body of evidence is being undertaken following the dropping of the freed Libyan’s second appeal is, therefore, welcome, even if it falls short of a full cold case review. Forensic science has been refined considerably since the original investigation and it is possible that further tests on certain items could yield new leads, provided that they have not been contaminated. A cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over this case, robbing the relatives of the 270 people who died that night of the bleak satisfaction of knowing that justice had been done and lessons learned. (...)
This police review of the Lockerbie case raises several questions. Given how much uncertainty surrounds what happened, would a major wide-ranging investigation not be more appropriate? And is it right to entrust such a review to just four officers from the Dumfries and Galloway force, headed by an officer who was involved in the original investigation? A limited review that does little more than cover old ground would serve little purpose except, possibly, to delay the wide-ranging independent government inquiry into the atrocity demanded by relatives of the British victims. As Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the disaster, argues in a letter published in The Herald today, the “ongoing criminal investigation” has been repeatedly used to deny relatives the full inquiry they demand and deserve.
Yesterday the British and Scottish Governments continued to play pass the parcel over who should call an inquiry. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was a matter for the Scots because “that’s the way our system works”, while a Scottish Government spokesman insisted that any inquiry had to be convened “by those with required powers”. The telephone has been in common use in Britain for more than 100 years. It is not beyond the wit of ministers in London and Edinburgh to agree on the format, structure and remit of a Lockerbie inquiry that hopefully would answer some remaining questions without turning into the open-ended Bloody Sunday-style affair.
Truth is not the only victim to consider here. Those bereaved by this atrocity have waited too long for answers. As Pamela Dix, whose brother died at Lockerbie, put it: “It is unfinished business.”
[The letter from Dr Swire referred to above is not available on the newspaper's website. But, as sent, it reads as follows:]
After more than 20 years, the Crown Office has just announced that the Lockerbie Criminal Investigation is to re-examine the available evidence and assess new channels of investigation. Their announcement coincides to the day with the public announcement by the UK Lockerbie families group 'UK Families-Flight 103' that they are yet again demanding (this time of Gordon Brown), a full inquiry into the failure to protect their loved ones and the identity of the perpetrators.
The 'ongoing criminal investigation' has been repeatedly used as a reason for denying us the full inquiry into the truth as to why our families were not protected back in 1988, to which we are entitled under Human Rights law and now the Inquiries Act 2005.
If further serious meaningful investigation really is to be pursued by the police and Crown Office (CO) as to who else may have contributed to the ruthless murder of our families back in 1988 I would be the first to applaud it. Abu Talb, a potential incriminee has now been released from jail and according to the Crown Office itself was not granted immunity against prosecution over Lockerbie, though appearing as a witness at Zeist. That might be no bad place to start looking for the truth. Trouble is, if he bought 'the clothes from Gauci's shop' then Megrahi clearly didn't. Honest further investigation is almost bound to embarrass the Zeist verdict, on which the CO's reputation, and that of its members past and present heavily depends.
'Who else' I write. Interested parties should go to the website of the London Review of Books (lrb.co.uk) and read the article by Gareth Peirce, one of England's foremost miscarriage of justice and human rights lawyers. Her article is titled 'The framing of Al Megrahi'. There they will find an erudite critism of the trial.
After that they might like to consider the words of the UN's specially appointed International Observer at the Lockerbie trial, Professor Hans Koechler of Vienna, who found the verdict against Megrahi 'incomprehensible' and a 'travesty of justice'. He was also forthright enough to say that the verdict could not have been reached without 'deliberate malpractice on the part of Scotland's Crown Office'.
That is a weighty charge, which the CO has not publicly contested, nor have Scottish or UK politicians.
Then interested parties might like to press for the public UK showing of Lockerbie Revisited, a brilliant documentary film by Gideon Levy of the Netherlands which has just won a major international prize, yet which no one in the UK has yet had the guts to screen outside the privilege of the Scottish Parliament, under the redoubtable wing of Christine Grahame MSP.
Forgive me, if for now the jury is out as to what the Crown Office are really up to. Let us not forget that very serious issues still surround the conduct of the Crown Office throughout this case, and the verdict against Al Megrahi in particular.
Even if the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is guilty as charged, he must have had co-conspirators. (...)
The news that a police review of the entire body of evidence is being undertaken following the dropping of the freed Libyan’s second appeal is, therefore, welcome, even if it falls short of a full cold case review. Forensic science has been refined considerably since the original investigation and it is possible that further tests on certain items could yield new leads, provided that they have not been contaminated. A cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over this case, robbing the relatives of the 270 people who died that night of the bleak satisfaction of knowing that justice had been done and lessons learned. (...)
This police review of the Lockerbie case raises several questions. Given how much uncertainty surrounds what happened, would a major wide-ranging investigation not be more appropriate? And is it right to entrust such a review to just four officers from the Dumfries and Galloway force, headed by an officer who was involved in the original investigation? A limited review that does little more than cover old ground would serve little purpose except, possibly, to delay the wide-ranging independent government inquiry into the atrocity demanded by relatives of the British victims. As Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the disaster, argues in a letter published in The Herald today, the “ongoing criminal investigation” has been repeatedly used to deny relatives the full inquiry they demand and deserve.
Yesterday the British and Scottish Governments continued to play pass the parcel over who should call an inquiry. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was a matter for the Scots because “that’s the way our system works”, while a Scottish Government spokesman insisted that any inquiry had to be convened “by those with required powers”. The telephone has been in common use in Britain for more than 100 years. It is not beyond the wit of ministers in London and Edinburgh to agree on the format, structure and remit of a Lockerbie inquiry that hopefully would answer some remaining questions without turning into the open-ended Bloody Sunday-style affair.
Truth is not the only victim to consider here. Those bereaved by this atrocity have waited too long for answers. As Pamela Dix, whose brother died at Lockerbie, put it: “It is unfinished business.”
[The letter from Dr Swire referred to above is not available on the newspaper's website. But, as sent, it reads as follows:]
After more than 20 years, the Crown Office has just announced that the Lockerbie Criminal Investigation is to re-examine the available evidence and assess new channels of investigation. Their announcement coincides to the day with the public announcement by the UK Lockerbie families group 'UK Families-Flight 103' that they are yet again demanding (this time of Gordon Brown), a full inquiry into the failure to protect their loved ones and the identity of the perpetrators.
The 'ongoing criminal investigation' has been repeatedly used as a reason for denying us the full inquiry into the truth as to why our families were not protected back in 1988, to which we are entitled under Human Rights law and now the Inquiries Act 2005.
If further serious meaningful investigation really is to be pursued by the police and Crown Office (CO) as to who else may have contributed to the ruthless murder of our families back in 1988 I would be the first to applaud it. Abu Talb, a potential incriminee has now been released from jail and according to the Crown Office itself was not granted immunity against prosecution over Lockerbie, though appearing as a witness at Zeist. That might be no bad place to start looking for the truth. Trouble is, if he bought 'the clothes from Gauci's shop' then Megrahi clearly didn't. Honest further investigation is almost bound to embarrass the Zeist verdict, on which the CO's reputation, and that of its members past and present heavily depends.
'Who else' I write. Interested parties should go to the website of the London Review of Books (lrb.co.uk) and read the article by Gareth Peirce, one of England's foremost miscarriage of justice and human rights lawyers. Her article is titled 'The framing of Al Megrahi'. There they will find an erudite critism of the trial.
After that they might like to consider the words of the UN's specially appointed International Observer at the Lockerbie trial, Professor Hans Koechler of Vienna, who found the verdict against Megrahi 'incomprehensible' and a 'travesty of justice'. He was also forthright enough to say that the verdict could not have been reached without 'deliberate malpractice on the part of Scotland's Crown Office'.
That is a weighty charge, which the CO has not publicly contested, nor have Scottish or UK politicians.
Then interested parties might like to press for the public UK showing of Lockerbie Revisited, a brilliant documentary film by Gideon Levy of the Netherlands which has just won a major international prize, yet which no one in the UK has yet had the guts to screen outside the privilege of the Scottish Parliament, under the redoubtable wing of Christine Grahame MSP.
Forgive me, if for now the jury is out as to what the Crown Office are really up to. Let us not forget that very serious issues still surround the conduct of the Crown Office throughout this case, and the verdict against Al Megrahi in particular.
Dr Swire doubts sincerity of Crown Office announcement
[In an article written for Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm, Dr Jim Swire casts doubt on the sincerity of the Crown Office's announcement of a review of the evidence in the Lockerbie case. He writes:]
Naturally the UK Lockerbie relatives would love to see a fully enabled objective criminal investigation re-examining all the currently available Lockerbie evidence.
But how can an objective criminal investigation not impinge on the verdict against Megrahi? The Crown Office's case against Megrahi depended on the evidence of identification by Gauci.
Yet we now know that when the clothing was in fact bought from Gauci's shop, Megrahi was not even on the island of Malta, but Abu Talb was. We also now know that Harry Bell of the investigating Scots police recorded that the Americans wanted to give Gauci $10,000 'up front' with $2,000,000 to follow if conviction was successful. Clearly they must have thought the identification evidence critical.
It was in Talb's flat in Sweden that the Swedish police found further items of clothing from Gauci's shop. The Crown currently has no known explanation for this.
Yet if Talb, not Megrahi, bought the clothing, the verdict against Megrahi would have to be quashed. Are those currently and previously forming the Crown Office, as well as Colin Boyd, (the most implicated Lord Advocate), prepared to see their 'new investigative directions' lead to such an outcome? There is of course no evidence that any of them offered any inducements to Gauci or anyone else, but surely their careers and reputations depend on their past conduct of this case? So would the new criminal investigation be objective, I ask myself?
I cannot free my mind of he words of Prof Hans Koechler, the UN's appointed special International Observer at the court: he thought the verdict so incomprehensible that it could only have been reached through (his words) 'deliberate malpractice by Scotland's Crown Office.
So what to do? Observers should remember that under current Human Rights legislation and the Inquiries Act 2005, we the relatives have a right to a full and objective enquiry.
Meanwhile those who swear by the Megrahi verdict might like to visit the London Review of Books website and search for 'Megrahi' they will find a devastating analysis as to the conduct of the trial written by Gareth Peirce, one of England's most noted miscarriage of justice and human rights lawyers.
Further, if the Crown Office are really to refer matters as alleged (for I personally have no communication from them) to 'forensic experts' it is to be hoped that they will never again try to use the thoroughly discredited Hayes and Feraday.
[In another article in the magazine, headed 'Cynicism and doubt over latest Crown Office “spoiler”', the following paragraph appears:
"Dr Jim Swire told the Firm that - contrary to their usual practice - the Crown Office have not even contacted him to advise that any new investigation was planned. He said the coincidental timing of the Crown’s announcement had unavoidably distracted attention from the same day announcement by UK Families [Flight] 103 that they had delivered a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie event under the Inquiries Act 2005. He described the Crown’s act as a “spoiler,” pointing out that any investigation would be useless as long as the Crown refused to quash the outstanding guilty verdict against Megrahi."]
Naturally the UK Lockerbie relatives would love to see a fully enabled objective criminal investigation re-examining all the currently available Lockerbie evidence.
But how can an objective criminal investigation not impinge on the verdict against Megrahi? The Crown Office's case against Megrahi depended on the evidence of identification by Gauci.
Yet we now know that when the clothing was in fact bought from Gauci's shop, Megrahi was not even on the island of Malta, but Abu Talb was. We also now know that Harry Bell of the investigating Scots police recorded that the Americans wanted to give Gauci $10,000 'up front' with $2,000,000 to follow if conviction was successful. Clearly they must have thought the identification evidence critical.
It was in Talb's flat in Sweden that the Swedish police found further items of clothing from Gauci's shop. The Crown currently has no known explanation for this.
Yet if Talb, not Megrahi, bought the clothing, the verdict against Megrahi would have to be quashed. Are those currently and previously forming the Crown Office, as well as Colin Boyd, (the most implicated Lord Advocate), prepared to see their 'new investigative directions' lead to such an outcome? There is of course no evidence that any of them offered any inducements to Gauci or anyone else, but surely their careers and reputations depend on their past conduct of this case? So would the new criminal investigation be objective, I ask myself?
I cannot free my mind of he words of Prof Hans Koechler, the UN's appointed special International Observer at the court: he thought the verdict so incomprehensible that it could only have been reached through (his words) 'deliberate malpractice by Scotland's Crown Office.
So what to do? Observers should remember that under current Human Rights legislation and the Inquiries Act 2005, we the relatives have a right to a full and objective enquiry.
Meanwhile those who swear by the Megrahi verdict might like to visit the London Review of Books website and search for 'Megrahi' they will find a devastating analysis as to the conduct of the trial written by Gareth Peirce, one of England's most noted miscarriage of justice and human rights lawyers.
Further, if the Crown Office are really to refer matters as alleged (for I personally have no communication from them) to 'forensic experts' it is to be hoped that they will never again try to use the thoroughly discredited Hayes and Feraday.
[In another article in the magazine, headed 'Cynicism and doubt over latest Crown Office “spoiler”', the following paragraph appears:
"Dr Jim Swire told the Firm that - contrary to their usual practice - the Crown Office have not even contacted him to advise that any new investigation was planned. He said the coincidental timing of the Crown’s announcement had unavoidably distracted attention from the same day announcement by UK Families [Flight] 103 that they had delivered a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie event under the Inquiries Act 2005. He described the Crown’s act as a “spoiler,” pointing out that any investigation would be useless as long as the Crown refused to quash the outstanding guilty verdict against Megrahi."]
Lockerbie families lobby Gordon Brown for public inquiry
[This is the headline over an article just published on the Telegraph website. The following are excerpts.]
More than two decades have passed since Britain’s worst terrorist attack but the relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing remain united by a single common goal: the pursuit of the truth.
This weekend 11 of them descended on Downing Street to urge the Prime Minister to order a public inquiry into the atrocity that claimed 270 lives when Pan Am flight 103 from Heathrow to New York was brought down over Scotland.
Pam Dix, a prominent campaigner, handed over a letter addressed to Gordon Brown calling for a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the need for a public inquiry and the main issues that it must address.
The families of those who died on Dec 21 1988 – 259 on the flight and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie – have been spurred into renewed action by the release in August, on humanitarian grounds, of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 57, the only man convicted of the bombing. Megrahi, who has returned to his homeland of Libya, has terminal prostate cancer and may only have weeks, or even days, to live.
The relatives believe that a public inquiry offers the last realistic hope of finding out how and why their loves ones perished.
They are worried that without it their chances of learning the truth could end when Megrahi dies.
Ms Dix, whose brother Peter Dix, 35, was on the doomed Pan Am jet, said: “One of the central purposes of a full inquiry would be finally to scotch the many, often outlandish, conspiracy theories that exist around Lockerbie and why and how it happened. To take Megrahi and the criminal investigation: there are those who believe he is innocent, those who believe he is guilty and those somewhere in the middle – like me – who believe that they simply don’t know.
“Our adversarial system [of criminal law] means that it all hangs on the balance of reasonable doubt – it is not really about getting to the bottom of the matter. I found the trial process [in the Netherlands from 2000-01] baffling and very disappointing – my expectations were that it would at least take us further along the road to who might have been responsible.
“The UK has a fine tradition of public, independent inquiries that have been watershed events in changing our approach to the way in which an individual murder as well as disaster – the Herald of Free Enterprise, Stephen Lawrence, the Marchioness – for example, is investigated and how people are treated. These inquiries have all resulted in highly significant recommendations. The sad and unacceptable fact, however, is that such inquiries usually come about only because of the efforts of the bereaved and survivors. This must be wrong.”
Ms Dix said that, like the other relatives, she feels she owes it to her late brother, an Irishman, to press for major breakthroughs in the Lockerbie story. (...)
The Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga, 19, died in the Lockerbie tragedy, said: “We are still waiting for answers to the big questions, notably why this happened despite 14 or 15 explicit warnings. This was a preventable disaster.”
Until Megrahi’s release, the relatives were pinning their hopes on the new evidence that had been due to be made public at his second appeal hearing.
The appeal had been permitted in 2007 after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission uncovered six separate grounds for believing the conviction may have been a miscarriage of justice. However, Megrahi dropped his appeal two days before his release to improve his chances of being allowed to gain his freedom.
Those supporting the relatives’ call for a public inquiry include senior lawyers Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield QC, and Prof Robert Black QC, the “architect” of the Lockerbie trial.
Elaine Wright, a retired consultant psychiatrist whose son Andrew Gillies-Wright, 24, was another Lockerbie victim, said: “From our earliest meetings, all we wanted to establish was the truth.
“But we still haven’t found out what really happened and we must not allow this opportunity [the publicity resulting from the release of Megrahi] to slip away.” (...)
However, there was little encouragement for the relatives from Downing Street yesterday . A spokesman said: “We have received the letter and we will be responding to it. But in the past, the Foreign Office has said that the Scottish courts have made a decision in the case – and we still have a convicted individual. It is our belief that nothing can be gained from a public inquiry.”
More than two decades have passed since Britain’s worst terrorist attack but the relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing remain united by a single common goal: the pursuit of the truth.
This weekend 11 of them descended on Downing Street to urge the Prime Minister to order a public inquiry into the atrocity that claimed 270 lives when Pan Am flight 103 from Heathrow to New York was brought down over Scotland.
Pam Dix, a prominent campaigner, handed over a letter addressed to Gordon Brown calling for a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the need for a public inquiry and the main issues that it must address.
The families of those who died on Dec 21 1988 – 259 on the flight and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie – have been spurred into renewed action by the release in August, on humanitarian grounds, of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 57, the only man convicted of the bombing. Megrahi, who has returned to his homeland of Libya, has terminal prostate cancer and may only have weeks, or even days, to live.
The relatives believe that a public inquiry offers the last realistic hope of finding out how and why their loves ones perished.
They are worried that without it their chances of learning the truth could end when Megrahi dies.
Ms Dix, whose brother Peter Dix, 35, was on the doomed Pan Am jet, said: “One of the central purposes of a full inquiry would be finally to scotch the many, often outlandish, conspiracy theories that exist around Lockerbie and why and how it happened. To take Megrahi and the criminal investigation: there are those who believe he is innocent, those who believe he is guilty and those somewhere in the middle – like me – who believe that they simply don’t know.
“Our adversarial system [of criminal law] means that it all hangs on the balance of reasonable doubt – it is not really about getting to the bottom of the matter. I found the trial process [in the Netherlands from 2000-01] baffling and very disappointing – my expectations were that it would at least take us further along the road to who might have been responsible.
“The UK has a fine tradition of public, independent inquiries that have been watershed events in changing our approach to the way in which an individual murder as well as disaster – the Herald of Free Enterprise, Stephen Lawrence, the Marchioness – for example, is investigated and how people are treated. These inquiries have all resulted in highly significant recommendations. The sad and unacceptable fact, however, is that such inquiries usually come about only because of the efforts of the bereaved and survivors. This must be wrong.”
Ms Dix said that, like the other relatives, she feels she owes it to her late brother, an Irishman, to press for major breakthroughs in the Lockerbie story. (...)
The Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga, 19, died in the Lockerbie tragedy, said: “We are still waiting for answers to the big questions, notably why this happened despite 14 or 15 explicit warnings. This was a preventable disaster.”
Until Megrahi’s release, the relatives were pinning their hopes on the new evidence that had been due to be made public at his second appeal hearing.
The appeal had been permitted in 2007 after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission uncovered six separate grounds for believing the conviction may have been a miscarriage of justice. However, Megrahi dropped his appeal two days before his release to improve his chances of being allowed to gain his freedom.
Those supporting the relatives’ call for a public inquiry include senior lawyers Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield QC, and Prof Robert Black QC, the “architect” of the Lockerbie trial.
Elaine Wright, a retired consultant psychiatrist whose son Andrew Gillies-Wright, 24, was another Lockerbie victim, said: “From our earliest meetings, all we wanted to establish was the truth.
“But we still haven’t found out what really happened and we must not allow this opportunity [the publicity resulting from the release of Megrahi] to slip away.” (...)
However, there was little encouragement for the relatives from Downing Street yesterday . A spokesman said: “We have received the letter and we will be responding to it. But in the past, the Foreign Office has said that the Scottish courts have made a decision in the case – and we still have a convicted individual. It is our belief that nothing can be gained from a public inquiry.”
Call on Malta to question Lockerbie witness
[This is the headline over an article by Caroline Muscat in today's edition of the Maltese newspaper The Sunday Times. It reads in part:]
The Maltese authorities should launch an inquiry into the Lockerbie case and question a key Maltese witness, according to the UN monitor of the original trial of two Libyans.
Hans Koechler told The Sunday Times the government should defend the country's reputation and show the world its willingness to act in the interest of its people.
Prof Koechler was the expert picked by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to monitor the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist that found Libyan Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi guilty of the bombing. His report after the trial said that a "miscarriage of justice" had occurred.
The guilty verdict depended heavily on the testimony of Maltese witness Tony Gauci, who identified Mr Al-Megrahi as the man who bought clothes from his shop in Sliema that were later found wrapped around the bomb.
But in Mr Al-Megrahi's second appeal - which he dropped after being released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds - he was due to present evidence showing Mr Gauci's testimony to be replete with inconsistencies.
Documents published recently by Al-Megrahi's lawyers say that after the trial Mr Gauci was paid a sum "in excess of $2 million", while his brother Paul was paid "in excess of $1 million" for their cooperation. (...)
The abandonment of the appeal means, however, that Malta will remain associated with the 1988 terrorist act when a Pan Am 747 exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 locals.
Mr Gauci's testimony was instrumental in convicting Mr Al-Megrahi.
The prosecution's argument was that the bomb left on an Air Malta flight and was eventually transferred to the Pan Am flight via Germany.
Prof Koechler told The Sunday Times he never understood why consecutive administrations in Malta had acted so timidly and done virtually nothing to prevent the country's reputation from being compromised.
"As a member of the United Nations and of the European Union, Malta must demonstrate vis-a-vis the world that it is able and willing to act in the interest of her people... If they are committed to the rule of law, the Maltese authorities should open their own investigation and interrogate Mr Gauci," Prof Koechler said.
He also urged the government to accept a request made to support an international attempt asking the UN to conduct an inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing.
A letter in this regard has been submitted to the President of UN General Assembly signed by a number of people, including families of the victims, renowned authors, politicians and journalists, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu - well known for his defence of human rights.
Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had told The Sunday Times that the government is "considering" the request, but there have been no further developments since.
The letter requesting the government's support was sent to Dr Borg by Robert Black, the Scottish legal expert who was the architect of the Lockerbie trial. He has always spoken out against the original guilty verdict.
His letter to Dr Borg reads: "The signatories to this initiative are of the belief that both the good reputation of Malta and Luqa airport have been quite unjustly stained by association with this affair... We hope that Malta will use its best offices to advance this cause."
The Labour Party believes the government should accept the request. LP spokesman on Foreign Affairs George Vella said he would "not hesitate" to take up the issue in Parliament to push the government to take a stand on the issue.
He gave three reasons for this: the necessity for the truth to emerge, the possibility of establishing the bomb did not leave Malta, and the obligation to the victims' families to identify the real offender. He also stressed such an investigation would have to be sensitive to the victims' families.
Prof Black told The Sunday Times yesterday: "A UN inquiry could remove this wholly unjustified slur on the reputation of Malta, as well as clearing the name of a dying man."
The Maltese authorities should launch an inquiry into the Lockerbie case and question a key Maltese witness, according to the UN monitor of the original trial of two Libyans.
Hans Koechler told The Sunday Times the government should defend the country's reputation and show the world its willingness to act in the interest of its people.
Prof Koechler was the expert picked by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to monitor the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist that found Libyan Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi guilty of the bombing. His report after the trial said that a "miscarriage of justice" had occurred.
The guilty verdict depended heavily on the testimony of Maltese witness Tony Gauci, who identified Mr Al-Megrahi as the man who bought clothes from his shop in Sliema that were later found wrapped around the bomb.
But in Mr Al-Megrahi's second appeal - which he dropped after being released from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds - he was due to present evidence showing Mr Gauci's testimony to be replete with inconsistencies.
Documents published recently by Al-Megrahi's lawyers say that after the trial Mr Gauci was paid a sum "in excess of $2 million", while his brother Paul was paid "in excess of $1 million" for their cooperation. (...)
The abandonment of the appeal means, however, that Malta will remain associated with the 1988 terrorist act when a Pan Am 747 exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 locals.
Mr Gauci's testimony was instrumental in convicting Mr Al-Megrahi.
The prosecution's argument was that the bomb left on an Air Malta flight and was eventually transferred to the Pan Am flight via Germany.
Prof Koechler told The Sunday Times he never understood why consecutive administrations in Malta had acted so timidly and done virtually nothing to prevent the country's reputation from being compromised.
"As a member of the United Nations and of the European Union, Malta must demonstrate vis-a-vis the world that it is able and willing to act in the interest of her people... If they are committed to the rule of law, the Maltese authorities should open their own investigation and interrogate Mr Gauci," Prof Koechler said.
He also urged the government to accept a request made to support an international attempt asking the UN to conduct an inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing.
A letter in this regard has been submitted to the President of UN General Assembly signed by a number of people, including families of the victims, renowned authors, politicians and journalists, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu - well known for his defence of human rights.
Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg had told The Sunday Times that the government is "considering" the request, but there have been no further developments since.
The letter requesting the government's support was sent to Dr Borg by Robert Black, the Scottish legal expert who was the architect of the Lockerbie trial. He has always spoken out against the original guilty verdict.
His letter to Dr Borg reads: "The signatories to this initiative are of the belief that both the good reputation of Malta and Luqa airport have been quite unjustly stained by association with this affair... We hope that Malta will use its best offices to advance this cause."
The Labour Party believes the government should accept the request. LP spokesman on Foreign Affairs George Vella said he would "not hesitate" to take up the issue in Parliament to push the government to take a stand on the issue.
He gave three reasons for this: the necessity for the truth to emerge, the possibility of establishing the bomb did not leave Malta, and the obligation to the victims' families to identify the real offender. He also stressed such an investigation would have to be sensitive to the victims' families.
Prof Black told The Sunday Times yesterday: "A UN inquiry could remove this wholly unjustified slur on the reputation of Malta, as well as clearing the name of a dying man."
UK Families Flight 103 ask Gordon Brown to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing
[What follows is a press release (and notes to editors) just issued by the the Lockerbie relatives group UK Families Flight 103.]
UKFF103 (n1) have delivered a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing under the auspices of the Inquiries Act 2005 (n2). We have also requested a meeting with him.
Since 1989 senior political figures from successive governments have agreed in principle to an inquiry but have qualified their comments by saying that it could not take place while the criminal investigation was ongoing.
As Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw told the families, ‘there should have been a full-scale enquiry after Lockerbie but it didn’t happen. There should have been a scrutiny of intelligence…but it didn’t happen.’(n3)
With the abandonment of Mr Megrahi’s appeal against his conviction, there has been no resolution to any aspect of responsibility for the bombing (n4).
During the trial and subsequently, we heard of ‘significant information’ from a foreign power. On repeated occasions, Her Majesty’s Government has sought to prevent or obstruct access to documents (some viewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission) for reasons of ‘national security’. We seek access to documents previously the subject of Public Interest Immunity Certificates.
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights demands that an inquiry into the circumstances of a death conform to certain minimum standards where it has occurred at the hands of a state or at the hands of agents of a state. As host nation, the state - i.e. the UK – had responsibility for the security of the aircraft, as confirmed in the findings of the Lockerbie Fatal Accident Inquiry and for the safety of its country’s airports, as well as for the proficient use of intelligence that might have prevented the disaster (n5). We maintain that there has been no investigation compliant with the Article 2 rights of the families.
The outstanding questions about Lockerbie include:
· What was the motivation for the bombing of Pan Am 103?
· Who was responsible and in conjunction with whom? (Although Mr al-Megrahi was charged with “acting in concert with others”, no “others” have been brought to justice.)
· How was it financed?
· How was the bombing allowed to happen given the amount of information available to the intelligence and security services?
· What lessons have been learned from Lockerbie?
We have waited patiently for almost 21 years to learn the full truth of what happened. Now we await Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s response to our renewed calls for a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the bombing.
Notes to editors
Note 1 UK Families Flight 103 is a group of relatives and friends of those killed at Lockerbie. We came together early in 1989 with the aims of:
· Offering each other mutual support
· Establishing the full truth of what happened at Lockerbie
· Preventing similar disasters from happening in the future.
Note 2 Under section 1 of the Inquiries Act 2005, any government minister can appoint an inquiry if:
a) the events in question have caused or are capable of causing public concern, or
b) there is public concern that particular events may have occurred.
No inquiry has yet been set up under the auspices of this Act.
Note 3 Quote from Foreign & Commonwealth Office notes of the meeting between then Foreign Secretary of State Jack Straw and representatives of UK Families Flight 103, on 17th December 2002.
Note 4 Convicted of the bombing in 2001, Mr Megrahi maintains his innocence. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2007 found six possible grounds on which a miscarriage of justice might have taken place. Mr Megrahi abandoned his appeal and was released for return to Libya on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2009.
Note 5 Sheriff Principal Mowat’s determination following the Scottish Fatal Accident (FAI) Inquiry, October 1990 – February 1991 concluded that the bombing was preventable. No evidence concerning the political or criminal aspects of the case was heard at the FAI.
UKFF103 (n1) have delivered a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to instigate a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing under the auspices of the Inquiries Act 2005 (n2). We have also requested a meeting with him.
Since 1989 senior political figures from successive governments have agreed in principle to an inquiry but have qualified their comments by saying that it could not take place while the criminal investigation was ongoing.
As Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw told the families, ‘there should have been a full-scale enquiry after Lockerbie but it didn’t happen. There should have been a scrutiny of intelligence…but it didn’t happen.’(n3)
With the abandonment of Mr Megrahi’s appeal against his conviction, there has been no resolution to any aspect of responsibility for the bombing (n4).
During the trial and subsequently, we heard of ‘significant information’ from a foreign power. On repeated occasions, Her Majesty’s Government has sought to prevent or obstruct access to documents (some viewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission) for reasons of ‘national security’. We seek access to documents previously the subject of Public Interest Immunity Certificates.
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights demands that an inquiry into the circumstances of a death conform to certain minimum standards where it has occurred at the hands of a state or at the hands of agents of a state. As host nation, the state - i.e. the UK – had responsibility for the security of the aircraft, as confirmed in the findings of the Lockerbie Fatal Accident Inquiry and for the safety of its country’s airports, as well as for the proficient use of intelligence that might have prevented the disaster (n5). We maintain that there has been no investigation compliant with the Article 2 rights of the families.
The outstanding questions about Lockerbie include:
· What was the motivation for the bombing of Pan Am 103?
· Who was responsible and in conjunction with whom? (Although Mr al-Megrahi was charged with “acting in concert with others”, no “others” have been brought to justice.)
· How was it financed?
· How was the bombing allowed to happen given the amount of information available to the intelligence and security services?
· What lessons have been learned from Lockerbie?
We have waited patiently for almost 21 years to learn the full truth of what happened. Now we await Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s response to our renewed calls for a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the bombing.
Notes to editors
Note 1 UK Families Flight 103 is a group of relatives and friends of those killed at Lockerbie. We came together early in 1989 with the aims of:
· Offering each other mutual support
· Establishing the full truth of what happened at Lockerbie
· Preventing similar disasters from happening in the future.
Note 2 Under section 1 of the Inquiries Act 2005, any government minister can appoint an inquiry if:
a) the events in question have caused or are capable of causing public concern, or
b) there is public concern that particular events may have occurred.
No inquiry has yet been set up under the auspices of this Act.
Note 3 Quote from Foreign & Commonwealth Office notes of the meeting between then Foreign Secretary of State Jack Straw and representatives of UK Families Flight 103, on 17th December 2002.
Note 4 Convicted of the bombing in 2001, Mr Megrahi maintains his innocence. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2007 found six possible grounds on which a miscarriage of justice might have taken place. Mr Megrahi abandoned his appeal and was released for return to Libya on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill on 20 August 2009.
Note 5 Sheriff Principal Mowat’s determination following the Scottish Fatal Accident (FAI) Inquiry, October 1990 – February 1991 concluded that the bombing was preventable. No evidence concerning the political or criminal aspects of the case was heard at the FAI.
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Why the Lockerbie families deserve an inquiry
[This is the heading over an editorial in the current edition of The Sunday Telegraph. It reads as follows:]
Telegraph View: There are strong grounds for a thorough and independent investigation into Britain's worst terrorist atrocity
Lockerbie is a name burned into the consciousness of the British public. Like Omagh and other places associated with atrocious terrorist outrages, it retains a grim resonance, more than 20 years after this vicious mass murder that saw 270 innocent people, including 51 British citizens, subjected to an exceptionally cruel death. To this day it remains the worst act of terrorism perpetrated on British soil. For the victims' families it is a wound that can never heal. The trauma would be alleviated, however, if the bereaved and the wider public could confidently feel that the circumstances had been investigated to the core and the truth established.
Today, therefore, we are proud to support the campaign being launched by relations of the victims to demand an independent inquiry into who ordered and carried out the bombing. This weekend, the families have written to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, requesting such a step. The demand is well founded: the Crown Office, the prosecuting authority in Scotland, is already pursuing fresh inquiries, following the withdrawal of a second appeal by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, in order to secure his release.
Particularly welcome is the assurance by Scottish authorities that this is no token gesture, but a thorough investigation, focusing partly on forensic evidence and with a full-time team of detectives assigned to it. The fact that the Scottish judiciary had given Megrahi permission to appeal for a second time testifies that experienced judges believed there was merit in further consideration of the case. This businesslike response by prosecutors and police requires to be supported by the Government ordering an independent inquiry.
Virtually nobody believes that the true facts about the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 have been revealed. Alongside the inevitable conspiracy theories, there are substantive allegations regarding possible Iranian and Palestinian involvement that have never been properly investigated, not to mention a suspicious break-in that occurred at Heathrow Airport 17 hours before Flight 103 took off from there.
Potential scrutiny of such evidence was aborted by Megrahi's abandonment of his appeal. An independent inquiry would effectively test his appeal in absentia.
It would also go some way to restoring the reputations of the Scottish and British justice systems. The decision taken by the Scottish justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, to release Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds and allow him to return to Libya, was the wrong one. The role of the British Government – the murky rumours of oil-related deals – was shameful. American officials remain angry at how the matter was handled.
If the authorities had investigated the case more rigorously and placed all the evidence in the public domain, an inquiry would not now be necessary. Considering the history of obfuscation surrounding the Lockerbie case, however, the details must be brought into the light of day. Nobody is asking for an open-ended, Bloody Sunday-style inquiry; but a full, detailed and public investigation of all the available evidence is now essential, if any kind of closure is to be achieved for the victims' families and the country.
[The same newspaper contains a report headed "Police relaunch Lockerbie bombing investigation" which reads in part:]
Authorities secretly ordered the re-examination of all evidence following the decision by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi to drop his appeal against his conviction for mass murder. (...)
The Sunday Telegraph has seen the email sent by the Crown Office, Scotland's prosecuting authority, to British relatives of victims informing them of the new investigation, which includes a review of forensic evidence.
In the email, Lindsey Miller, a senior Procurator Fiscal who was involved in preparing evidence for Megrahi's trial, wrote: "Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued.
"Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end a further review of the case is under way and several potential lines of inquiry, both through a 'desktop' (paper) exercise and consultation with forensic science colleagues are being considered.
"You will of course appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to elaborate on these lines but please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open case'."
The investigation is understood to be headed by Detective Chief Inspector Michael Dalgleish, a senior officer who was part of the original team that brought the case against Megrahi. Four detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police, which covers the Lockerbie area, are working full-time on the case. (...)
Pam Dix, whose brother Peter died in the explosion, said last night: "This new investigation gives us new hope. It has to be right that police don't see this as concluded.
"Even if Megrahi was guilty, he could not possibly have carried out the bombing unaided and if he is not guilty then not a single one of the conspirators of the Lockerbie bombing have been brought to justice.
"This email implies they are looking at all the forensics again and that has to be a good thing. Police have always said the case is open and not closed as such but they have never said they are looking at all the evidence afresh."
[Note by RB: As the editorial in The Sunday Telegraph recognises, what is needed is an independent inquiry. But the police open case review is at least a start. However, it is difficult to disagree with Dr Jim Swire, as quoted on the heraldscotland website:
“I think that if they are really going to a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. I would be all for it.
“But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid."
As regards the scope of this investigation, the Crown Office is quoted in Scotland on Sunday as saying:
"There is no question of reopening the case against Megrahi. The open case concerns only the involvement of others with Megrahi in the murder of 270 people and the Crown will continue to pursue such lines of inquiry that become available.
"The trial court accepted the Crown's position that Mr Megrahi acted on in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services and did not act alone.
"The Crown stood ready, willing and able to support his conviction throughout the appeal process which he abandoned."]
Telegraph View: There are strong grounds for a thorough and independent investigation into Britain's worst terrorist atrocity
Lockerbie is a name burned into the consciousness of the British public. Like Omagh and other places associated with atrocious terrorist outrages, it retains a grim resonance, more than 20 years after this vicious mass murder that saw 270 innocent people, including 51 British citizens, subjected to an exceptionally cruel death. To this day it remains the worst act of terrorism perpetrated on British soil. For the victims' families it is a wound that can never heal. The trauma would be alleviated, however, if the bereaved and the wider public could confidently feel that the circumstances had been investigated to the core and the truth established.
Today, therefore, we are proud to support the campaign being launched by relations of the victims to demand an independent inquiry into who ordered and carried out the bombing. This weekend, the families have written to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, requesting such a step. The demand is well founded: the Crown Office, the prosecuting authority in Scotland, is already pursuing fresh inquiries, following the withdrawal of a second appeal by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, in order to secure his release.
Particularly welcome is the assurance by Scottish authorities that this is no token gesture, but a thorough investigation, focusing partly on forensic evidence and with a full-time team of detectives assigned to it. The fact that the Scottish judiciary had given Megrahi permission to appeal for a second time testifies that experienced judges believed there was merit in further consideration of the case. This businesslike response by prosecutors and police requires to be supported by the Government ordering an independent inquiry.
Virtually nobody believes that the true facts about the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 have been revealed. Alongside the inevitable conspiracy theories, there are substantive allegations regarding possible Iranian and Palestinian involvement that have never been properly investigated, not to mention a suspicious break-in that occurred at Heathrow Airport 17 hours before Flight 103 took off from there.
Potential scrutiny of such evidence was aborted by Megrahi's abandonment of his appeal. An independent inquiry would effectively test his appeal in absentia.
It would also go some way to restoring the reputations of the Scottish and British justice systems. The decision taken by the Scottish justice minister, Kenny MacAskill, to release Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds and allow him to return to Libya, was the wrong one. The role of the British Government – the murky rumours of oil-related deals – was shameful. American officials remain angry at how the matter was handled.
If the authorities had investigated the case more rigorously and placed all the evidence in the public domain, an inquiry would not now be necessary. Considering the history of obfuscation surrounding the Lockerbie case, however, the details must be brought into the light of day. Nobody is asking for an open-ended, Bloody Sunday-style inquiry; but a full, detailed and public investigation of all the available evidence is now essential, if any kind of closure is to be achieved for the victims' families and the country.
[The same newspaper contains a report headed "Police relaunch Lockerbie bombing investigation" which reads in part:]
Authorities secretly ordered the re-examination of all evidence following the decision by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi to drop his appeal against his conviction for mass murder. (...)
The Sunday Telegraph has seen the email sent by the Crown Office, Scotland's prosecuting authority, to British relatives of victims informing them of the new investigation, which includes a review of forensic evidence.
In the email, Lindsey Miller, a senior Procurator Fiscal who was involved in preparing evidence for Megrahi's trial, wrote: "Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued.
"Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end a further review of the case is under way and several potential lines of inquiry, both through a 'desktop' (paper) exercise and consultation with forensic science colleagues are being considered.
"You will of course appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to elaborate on these lines but please be assured that this is not simply paying lip service to the idea of an 'open case'."
The investigation is understood to be headed by Detective Chief Inspector Michael Dalgleish, a senior officer who was part of the original team that brought the case against Megrahi. Four detectives from Dumfries and Galloway police, which covers the Lockerbie area, are working full-time on the case. (...)
Pam Dix, whose brother Peter died in the explosion, said last night: "This new investigation gives us new hope. It has to be right that police don't see this as concluded.
"Even if Megrahi was guilty, he could not possibly have carried out the bombing unaided and if he is not guilty then not a single one of the conspirators of the Lockerbie bombing have been brought to justice.
"This email implies they are looking at all the forensics again and that has to be a good thing. Police have always said the case is open and not closed as such but they have never said they are looking at all the evidence afresh."
[Note by RB: As the editorial in The Sunday Telegraph recognises, what is needed is an independent inquiry. But the police open case review is at least a start. However, it is difficult to disagree with Dr Jim Swire, as quoted on the heraldscotland website:
“I think that if they are really going to a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. I would be all for it.
“But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid."
As regards the scope of this investigation, the Crown Office is quoted in Scotland on Sunday as saying:
"There is no question of reopening the case against Megrahi. The open case concerns only the involvement of others with Megrahi in the murder of 270 people and the Crown will continue to pursue such lines of inquiry that become available.
"The trial court accepted the Crown's position that Mr Megrahi acted on in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services and did not act alone.
"The Crown stood ready, willing and able to support his conviction throughout the appeal process which he abandoned."]
Award for Dutch TV documentary 'Lockerbie Revisited'
Gideon Levy's documentary Lockerbie Revisited has won the 2009 Prix Europa for the best television current affairs programme of the year. The prize is donated by the Directorate of Communication of the Council of Europe.
The film has twice had showings before invited audiences in the Scottish Parliament, but has not been broadcast on television in the United Kingdom. Perhaps one of the UK TV channels will now show an interest. But I won't hold my breath.
The film has twice had showings before invited audiences in the Scottish Parliament, but has not been broadcast on television in the United Kingdom. Perhaps one of the UK TV channels will now show an interest. But I won't hold my breath.
The ghouls gather
The Scotsman, which was once a serious and respectable newspaper, today runs an article headlined "Megrahi outlives six other criminals released on compassionate grounds". For those who have the stomach for it, the piece can be read here. What I do recommend is reading the comments from members of the public that follow the article. This gives a truer reflection of Scottish opinion about Mr Megrahi and about The Scotsman.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Inquiry into Megrahi release announced
[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]
MPs will investigate the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing as part of a wider probe into relations between Westminster and Holyrood, it has been announced.
The inquiry by the Commons Scottish Affairs select committee will also study how a prisoner transfer agreement was negotiated between Libya and the UK.
The committee, chaired by Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, announced the move. (...)
The decision to free him on compassionate grounds was taken by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary in the minority SNP administration in Edinburgh.
But Mr MacAskill turned down a separate application for Megrahi to be sent home under a prisoner transfer agreement struck between the UK and Libya.
Throughout the controversy, Westminster insisted that decisions on Megrahi were the sole responsibility of the Scottish Government.
And the Scottish Government said the decisions were made by Mr MacAskill alone, acting in a quasi-judicial capacity.
Long before the controversy over Megrahi’s release the prisoner transfer agreement prompted a row between Edinburgh and London, when First Minister Alex Salmond complained his administration was not consulted over the “deal in the desert” that led to the agreement.
The Scottish Affairs committee said its inquiry would study the arrangements in place for communication between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive when London drew up the international policy affecting Scottish interests “with specific reference to the negotiation of the prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and the UK and the case of Mr Abdelbaset Al Megrahi”.
It would study whether there were effective two-way channels of communication, and the arrangements for assessing the impact of UK foreign policy on Scottish interests and vice versa.
Peter Wishart, a member of the committee and SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: “The Foreign Secretary, the Westminster Justice Secretary, and representatives of the Scottish Government will be asked to give evidence and I am looking forward to exploring with ministers the background and basis of the PTA.
“We will quite rightly not consider the decisions made by the Scottish Justice Secretary.”
[When, oh when, will some parliamentary committee -- UK or Scottish -- have the courage to launch an inquiry into the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi and the concerns about it raised by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission? At present all that our elected representatives seem to be willing to do in relation to Lockerbie is fritter their time away on peripheral issues. Talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees!]
MPs will investigate the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing as part of a wider probe into relations between Westminster and Holyrood, it has been announced.
The inquiry by the Commons Scottish Affairs select committee will also study how a prisoner transfer agreement was negotiated between Libya and the UK.
The committee, chaired by Mohammad Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, announced the move. (...)
The decision to free him on compassionate grounds was taken by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary in the minority SNP administration in Edinburgh.
But Mr MacAskill turned down a separate application for Megrahi to be sent home under a prisoner transfer agreement struck between the UK and Libya.
Throughout the controversy, Westminster insisted that decisions on Megrahi were the sole responsibility of the Scottish Government.
And the Scottish Government said the decisions were made by Mr MacAskill alone, acting in a quasi-judicial capacity.
Long before the controversy over Megrahi’s release the prisoner transfer agreement prompted a row between Edinburgh and London, when First Minister Alex Salmond complained his administration was not consulted over the “deal in the desert” that led to the agreement.
The Scottish Affairs committee said its inquiry would study the arrangements in place for communication between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive when London drew up the international policy affecting Scottish interests “with specific reference to the negotiation of the prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and the UK and the case of Mr Abdelbaset Al Megrahi”.
It would study whether there were effective two-way channels of communication, and the arrangements for assessing the impact of UK foreign policy on Scottish interests and vice versa.
Peter Wishart, a member of the committee and SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire, said: “The Foreign Secretary, the Westminster Justice Secretary, and representatives of the Scottish Government will be asked to give evidence and I am looking forward to exploring with ministers the background and basis of the PTA.
“We will quite rightly not consider the decisions made by the Scottish Justice Secretary.”
[When, oh when, will some parliamentary committee -- UK or Scottish -- have the courage to launch an inquiry into the conviction of Abdelbaset Megrahi and the concerns about it raised by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission? At present all that our elected representatives seem to be willing to do in relation to Lockerbie is fritter their time away on peripheral issues. Talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees!]
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Lockerbie: Megrahi reported dead
[This is the headline over a report which has just gone up on the heraldscotland website. It reads as follows:]
The man accused of the Lockerbie bombing has died, according to reports.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi had been released home to die in Libya from prison in Scotland in August.
In his only full-length interview since being released from prison, Megrahi told The Herald: "We all want to know the truth. The truth never dies."
Speaking from a hospital bed at his home in Tripoli, Megrahi talked extensively about his 10-year battle with the Scottish legal system and insisted he did not commit the worst terrorist act on mainland Britain.
Megrahi, who had terminal prostate cancer, revealed he dropped his appeal against the conviction because he would not live to see its outcome and was desperate to return to his family.
"It is all about my family, " he said. "People have said there was pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities, but it wasn't anything like this."
Instead, he put his faith in an appeal for compassion and said he was impressed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill during their meeting at Greenock Prison.
"I thought he was a very decent man and he gave me a chance to say what I wanted and to express myself. He gave me the chance to make a presentation to him and he was very polite."
From a report on The Scotsman website:
'But Megrahi's lawyer, Tony Kelly, told Reuters: "It's absolutely untrue. He's definitely not dead."
'"I'm not saying anything about his health condition other than the fact he is alive and breathing," Kelly said.'
The following report is from the website of The Tripoli Post:
'The family of the Libyan citizen Abdulbaset Al-Megrahi has denied that he had died and said reports in some British media outlets today are totally incorrect, and that he is doing fine.
'Speaking to The Tripoli Post by phone at 5:50 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi, a brother of Abdulbaset, said he is doing fine and is receiving his treatment as scheduled by his doctor.
'Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi said that his brother Abdulbaset was on the phone speaking to his mother less than half an hour ago.
'Al-Megrahi was unjustly convicted in the Lockerbie bombing in 2001 by a Scottish court and has been released on compassionate grounds on 20 August 2009.
'Legal experts around the world including those in UK and the US have said that Al-Megrahi has been innocent all the way and that the Scottish judicial system clearly committed a miscarriage of justice when it found him guilty in the Lockerbie case.'
The following is an extract from a report in The Scotsman of Thursday, 22 October:
'The Lockerbie bomber's lawyer last night called for an apology from the satellite broadcaster Sky News after it reported that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had died.
'Tony Kelly said he had spoken to his client yesterday afternoon in the minutes after Sky had reported that Megrahi had passed away. The report, which aired at about 4pm, was quickly altered to include Kelly's denial.'
The man accused of the Lockerbie bombing has died, according to reports.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi had been released home to die in Libya from prison in Scotland in August.
In his only full-length interview since being released from prison, Megrahi told The Herald: "We all want to know the truth. The truth never dies."
Speaking from a hospital bed at his home in Tripoli, Megrahi talked extensively about his 10-year battle with the Scottish legal system and insisted he did not commit the worst terrorist act on mainland Britain.
Megrahi, who had terminal prostate cancer, revealed he dropped his appeal against the conviction because he would not live to see its outcome and was desperate to return to his family.
"It is all about my family, " he said. "People have said there was pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities, but it wasn't anything like this."
Instead, he put his faith in an appeal for compassion and said he was impressed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill during their meeting at Greenock Prison.
"I thought he was a very decent man and he gave me a chance to say what I wanted and to express myself. He gave me the chance to make a presentation to him and he was very polite."
From a report on The Scotsman website:
'But Megrahi's lawyer, Tony Kelly, told Reuters: "It's absolutely untrue. He's definitely not dead."
'"I'm not saying anything about his health condition other than the fact he is alive and breathing," Kelly said.'
The following report is from the website of The Tripoli Post:
'The family of the Libyan citizen Abdulbaset Al-Megrahi has denied that he had died and said reports in some British media outlets today are totally incorrect, and that he is doing fine.
'Speaking to The Tripoli Post by phone at 5:50 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi, a brother of Abdulbaset, said he is doing fine and is receiving his treatment as scheduled by his doctor.
'Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi said that his brother Abdulbaset was on the phone speaking to his mother less than half an hour ago.
'Al-Megrahi was unjustly convicted in the Lockerbie bombing in 2001 by a Scottish court and has been released on compassionate grounds on 20 August 2009.
'Legal experts around the world including those in UK and the US have said that Al-Megrahi has been innocent all the way and that the Scottish judicial system clearly committed a miscarriage of justice when it found him guilty in the Lockerbie case.'
The following is an extract from a report in The Scotsman of Thursday, 22 October:
'The Lockerbie bomber's lawyer last night called for an apology from the satellite broadcaster Sky News after it reported that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had died.
'Tony Kelly said he had spoken to his client yesterday afternoon in the minutes after Sky had reported that Megrahi had passed away. The report, which aired at about 4pm, was quickly altered to include Kelly's denial.'
Crown statement accepts Pan Am 103 evidence chain broken
[This is the heading over an article posted today on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm. It reads as follows.]
A statement issued by the Crown Office which attempted to undermine MSP Christine Grahame does not challenge the key claim made by Grahame that the chain of evidence in the Lockerbie case was broken.
A fragment relied upon by the Crown during the trial travelled to the US and Germany, and Grahame said Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany," she said.
The Crown Office quickly issued a statement accusing Ms Grahame of promulgating “misleading” information, although crucially they did not deny the truth of Grahame’s story, and offered no explanation as to why the "chain of custody" label attached to the evidence fragment appears not to record the movements out of the country.
In 2007, MEBO engineer Ulrich Lumpert submitted an affidavit stating that the circuit board fragment produced in court at Zeist was part of a non-operational demonstration circuit board that he himself had removed from the premises of MEBO and had handed over to an investigator on 22 June 1989, six months after the destruction of Pan Am 103.
“If this is true, then it totally demolishes the prosecution version of how the aircraft was destroyed, as well, of course, as demonstrating deliberate fabrication of evidence laid before the court,” Professor Robert Black said at the time.
Former Police Investigator Stuart Henderson has stated on the record that if the crucial fragment had travelled abroad without being recorded, it would be tainted evidence and considered unreliable by the court.
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it,” he said.
“It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
The Crown Office acknowledged that the fragment had travelled to Germany in 1990, and claimed that “at no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment.”
However, they did not address the break in the chain of evidence or make any reference to the fragment’s travel to the United States, or challenge Grahame's contention that the evidence log is incomplete.
Former Lord Advocate Lord Fraser also stated that as far as he was aware, the evidence had never left the UK.
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US,” Grahame says.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
A statement issued by the Crown Office which attempted to undermine MSP Christine Grahame does not challenge the key claim made by Grahame that the chain of evidence in the Lockerbie case was broken.
A fragment relied upon by the Crown during the trial travelled to the US and Germany, and Grahame said Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany," she said.
The Crown Office quickly issued a statement accusing Ms Grahame of promulgating “misleading” information, although crucially they did not deny the truth of Grahame’s story, and offered no explanation as to why the "chain of custody" label attached to the evidence fragment appears not to record the movements out of the country.
In 2007, MEBO engineer Ulrich Lumpert submitted an affidavit stating that the circuit board fragment produced in court at Zeist was part of a non-operational demonstration circuit board that he himself had removed from the premises of MEBO and had handed over to an investigator on 22 June 1989, six months after the destruction of Pan Am 103.
“If this is true, then it totally demolishes the prosecution version of how the aircraft was destroyed, as well, of course, as demonstrating deliberate fabrication of evidence laid before the court,” Professor Robert Black said at the time.
Former Police Investigator Stuart Henderson has stated on the record that if the crucial fragment had travelled abroad without being recorded, it would be tainted evidence and considered unreliable by the court.
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it,” he said.
“It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
The Crown Office acknowledged that the fragment had travelled to Germany in 1990, and claimed that “at no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment.”
However, they did not address the break in the chain of evidence or make any reference to the fragment’s travel to the United States, or challenge Grahame's contention that the evidence log is incomplete.
Former Lord Advocate Lord Fraser also stated that as far as he was aware, the evidence had never left the UK.
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US,” Grahame says.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
‘Al-Megrahi defence knew bomb fragment was sent to US’
[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Times. It reads in part:]
A senior FBI investigator involved in the Lockerbie inquiry has entered the controversy over a vital piece of scientific evidence which secured the conviction of the Libyan bomber.
Richard Marquise, now retired, told The Times that a tiny bomb fragment at the heart of the prosecution case had been taken out of Scotland in the course of the investigation, and brought to Washington, where it was examined in the bureau’s laboratory. He said he believed it had also been taken to Germany His view appears to contradict a claim by Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, then Lord Advocate, who told a television documentary that to his knowledge, the fragment had never been outside Scotland. Lord Fraser, who led the prosecution, told a Dutch television crew that had evidence been sent abroad, the case against Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi would have been vulnerable.
Yesterday, however, Mr Marquise said no one denied that the fragment, part of the bomb’s timing device, had been examined by Scottish officials in the FBI laboratory in Washington, or that it had been scrutinised by experts in Germany. He added that these facts had been known by the defence team at the trial of al-Megrahi, who was convicted of planting the bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people, and dismissed the controversy as a “non-issue”.
“I do know it was never in the possession of the FBI but these Scottish/British officials examined PT-35 [the fragment] in the FBI lab in Washington,” he told The Times. “No one has ever tried to hide that fact.”
That information was not, apparently, known to Lord Fraser. Asked by the television team whether the fragment had been taken to the US, Lord Fraser responded: “Not that I am aware of.” He added: “What would have gone through my mind is ... could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no; I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [it] has been fiddled with.”
The controversy erupted after the Crown Office responded to a freedom of information request from Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP for South of Scotland, confirming that the fragment had been sent for analysis to the Siemens company in April 1990.
Ms Grahame said Lord Fraser “did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control”.
[I have now lost count of the number of different accounts of the movements of this item of evidence that have been given by Richard Marquise and Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson. Tracing and itemising them might be a nice research project for an enterprising law or journalism student.
Mr Marquise has e-mailed me the following response:
'I will try and make it simple for you---
'Marquise: told Levy in 2008 that the fragment came to US in custody and control of Scottish police/British forensic officials. Never out of their custody or control.
When he “cornered” me at Arlington, he said the Lord Advocate told him it never came to US. I told him there what I told him earlier in 2008 was what I thought the truth to be but perhaps I was mistaken (I did not see the fragment when it came to US in June 1990) I later clarified in an email that my first statement was correct.
'Henderson: as far as I know, the microphone in his face at Arlington in December 2008 was the first time Mr. Henderson ever said anything in public about Lockerbie. What he said was it was never in “US control.”
'In his official statement to prosecutors before trial, he acknowledged that it had traveled to the US for examination.
'Unfortunately, some things which happened over 20 years ago needed to be reflected upon. We are all aging and our recollections may not be perfect. However, I know one thing—none of us ever “fiddled with,” “tampered,” “changed,” “altered” or “manufactured” any evidence in this case to include PT-35.
'My brother once owned a football. He was so afraid it would get ruined, he kept it in the closet and never used it. It suffered “dry rot” and was eventually never useable. The same could be said about PT-35. Should police officials never shared its existence with anyone else, it might never have been identified. Try as they might, 6 months, 17 countries and 55 separate company visits failed to determine what it was. It was the sharing of the photograph and eventually the lab comparison which identified it.
'To listen to some in Scotland, this case should have been conducted ONLY by Scots without outside interference. It was only through the sharing of information that strides were able to be made to identify who was responsible for Lockerbie—despite what so many people do not want to believe. The sharing of information was vital to the Lockerbie case and is vital today as we try and prevent horrible acts of terrorism and other crimes.
'Those of us who have never taken money from anyone doing business in Libya are comfortable with that we did. Can you say the same? In the book, “The Price of Terror,” you are quoted as saying that you tried to resolve the (Lockerbie) deadlock at the behest of “a group of British businessmen whose desire to participate in major engineering works in Libya were being impeded by the UN sanctions.” Perhaps YOU were misquoted. Would you also like to get some law students on that as well?'
I am, of course, used to snide remarks to the effect that my stance on Lockerbie is due to my having been paid (which I have always thought a somewhat odd criticism to make of a lawyer). Here, from a forthcoming book, is the true account of how I came to become involved in the Lockerbie issue:
'I first became involved in the Lockerbie affair in January 1993. I was approached by representatives of a group of British businessmen whose desire to participate in major engineering works in Libya was being impeded by the UN sanctions. They had approached the then Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (the head of the Scottish Bar) and asked him if any of its members might be willing to provide advice to them -- on an unpaid basis! -- on Scottish criminal law and procedure in their attempts to unblock the logjam. The Dean of Faculty, Alan Johnston QC (later Court of Session judge Lord Johnston), recommended me. The businessmen asked if I would be prepared to provide independent advice to the government of Libya -- again on an unpaid basis -- on matters of Scottish criminal law, procedure and evidence with a view (it was hoped) to persuading them that their two citizens would obtain a fair trial if they were to surrender themselves to the Scottish authorities. There was, of course, never the slightest chance that surrender for trial in the United States could be contemplated by the Libyans, amongst other reasons because of the existence there of the death penalty for murder.']
A senior FBI investigator involved in the Lockerbie inquiry has entered the controversy over a vital piece of scientific evidence which secured the conviction of the Libyan bomber.
Richard Marquise, now retired, told The Times that a tiny bomb fragment at the heart of the prosecution case had been taken out of Scotland in the course of the investigation, and brought to Washington, where it was examined in the bureau’s laboratory. He said he believed it had also been taken to Germany His view appears to contradict a claim by Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, then Lord Advocate, who told a television documentary that to his knowledge, the fragment had never been outside Scotland. Lord Fraser, who led the prosecution, told a Dutch television crew that had evidence been sent abroad, the case against Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi would have been vulnerable.
Yesterday, however, Mr Marquise said no one denied that the fragment, part of the bomb’s timing device, had been examined by Scottish officials in the FBI laboratory in Washington, or that it had been scrutinised by experts in Germany. He added that these facts had been known by the defence team at the trial of al-Megrahi, who was convicted of planting the bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in December 1988, killing 270 people, and dismissed the controversy as a “non-issue”.
“I do know it was never in the possession of the FBI but these Scottish/British officials examined PT-35 [the fragment] in the FBI lab in Washington,” he told The Times. “No one has ever tried to hide that fact.”
That information was not, apparently, known to Lord Fraser. Asked by the television team whether the fragment had been taken to the US, Lord Fraser responded: “Not that I am aware of.” He added: “What would have gone through my mind is ... could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no; I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [it] has been fiddled with.”
The controversy erupted after the Crown Office responded to a freedom of information request from Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP for South of Scotland, confirming that the fragment had been sent for analysis to the Siemens company in April 1990.
Ms Grahame said Lord Fraser “did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control”.
[I have now lost count of the number of different accounts of the movements of this item of evidence that have been given by Richard Marquise and Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson. Tracing and itemising them might be a nice research project for an enterprising law or journalism student.
Mr Marquise has e-mailed me the following response:
'I will try and make it simple for you---
'Marquise: told Levy in 2008 that the fragment came to US in custody and control of Scottish police/British forensic officials. Never out of their custody or control.
When he “cornered” me at Arlington, he said the Lord Advocate told him it never came to US. I told him there what I told him earlier in 2008 was what I thought the truth to be but perhaps I was mistaken (I did not see the fragment when it came to US in June 1990) I later clarified in an email that my first statement was correct.
'Henderson: as far as I know, the microphone in his face at Arlington in December 2008 was the first time Mr. Henderson ever said anything in public about Lockerbie. What he said was it was never in “US control.”
'In his official statement to prosecutors before trial, he acknowledged that it had traveled to the US for examination.
'Unfortunately, some things which happened over 20 years ago needed to be reflected upon. We are all aging and our recollections may not be perfect. However, I know one thing—none of us ever “fiddled with,” “tampered,” “changed,” “altered” or “manufactured” any evidence in this case to include PT-35.
'My brother once owned a football. He was so afraid it would get ruined, he kept it in the closet and never used it. It suffered “dry rot” and was eventually never useable. The same could be said about PT-35. Should police officials never shared its existence with anyone else, it might never have been identified. Try as they might, 6 months, 17 countries and 55 separate company visits failed to determine what it was. It was the sharing of the photograph and eventually the lab comparison which identified it.
'To listen to some in Scotland, this case should have been conducted ONLY by Scots without outside interference. It was only through the sharing of information that strides were able to be made to identify who was responsible for Lockerbie—despite what so many people do not want to believe. The sharing of information was vital to the Lockerbie case and is vital today as we try and prevent horrible acts of terrorism and other crimes.
'Those of us who have never taken money from anyone doing business in Libya are comfortable with that we did. Can you say the same? In the book, “The Price of Terror,” you are quoted as saying that you tried to resolve the (Lockerbie) deadlock at the behest of “a group of British businessmen whose desire to participate in major engineering works in Libya were being impeded by the UN sanctions.” Perhaps YOU were misquoted. Would you also like to get some law students on that as well?'
I am, of course, used to snide remarks to the effect that my stance on Lockerbie is due to my having been paid (which I have always thought a somewhat odd criticism to make of a lawyer). Here, from a forthcoming book, is the true account of how I came to become involved in the Lockerbie issue:
'I first became involved in the Lockerbie affair in January 1993. I was approached by representatives of a group of British businessmen whose desire to participate in major engineering works in Libya was being impeded by the UN sanctions. They had approached the then Dean of the Faculty of Advocates (the head of the Scottish Bar) and asked him if any of its members might be willing to provide advice to them -- on an unpaid basis! -- on Scottish criminal law and procedure in their attempts to unblock the logjam. The Dean of Faculty, Alan Johnston QC (later Court of Session judge Lord Johnston), recommended me. The businessmen asked if I would be prepared to provide independent advice to the government of Libya -- again on an unpaid basis -- on matters of Scottish criminal law, procedure and evidence with a view (it was hoped) to persuading them that their two citizens would obtain a fair trial if they were to surrender themselves to the Scottish authorities. There was, of course, never the slightest chance that surrender for trial in the United States could be contemplated by the Libyans, amongst other reasons because of the existence there of the death penalty for murder.']
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Lockerbie victims' families seek answers
[This is the headline over a report on the Voice of America website. It recognises that some Lockerbie families harbour grave doubts that the Zeist trial came anywhere near to the truth regarding the destruction of Pan Am 103. Yet another sign, perhaps, that even in the United States the problems with the "authorised version" are at last being raised. The report reads in part:]
In 1988, an American airliner flying from London to New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. A Libyan man was the only person convicted of involvement, and he was released in late August by Scottish authorities because he is suffering from cancer. Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal before he was released, and some thought that might be the end of the 21-year Lockerbie saga. Some victims' relatives believe there are still unanswered questions and are seeking legal avenues to raise them. (...)
Scottish authories freed Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, because he has terminal cancer. Many families are angry because Megrahi served only eight and a half years of his 27-year sentence, others because they hoped he would be proven innocent.
Reverend John Mosey's 19-year-old daughter Helga was killed. He didn't object to Megrahi's release, but is upset because the Libyan decided to abandon the appeal of his conviction.
"I'm pleased he's gone home because my opinion is colored by my feeling that he was almost certainly not guilty, but the important thing was that he dropped his appeal and that is [the] great tragedy in this," Mosey said. (...)
But some of the relatives say the trial was unsatisfactory. Among them is Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing. Swire wants to know more about an alleged break-in in the baggage area of London's Heathrow airport hours before Pan Am 103 took off. It wasn't addressed in the trial. (...)
Every year families on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean commemorate their loved ones on the anniversary of the bombing. Some blame Libya, others hope they will be able to find answers through their own legal appeal, possibly through the United Nations, a British government public inquiry or a legal case in the European Court of Human Rights.
"It's very easy to lose sight of the foundations of why we've been fighting for 20-odd years. All we want to know is who murdered our family members and why they were not prevented from doing so and it's that - why they were not prevented from doing so - that is causing a great deal of difficulty for us now because of what we do know which suggests that a causation of this was probably very different from what's been presented to the world," Swire said.
Libyan authorities allowed a television camera into the hospital to show that Megrahi was clearly very ill, and unwilling or unable to answer questions.
His release put the Lockerbie bombing firmly back in the public eye. Victim's families hope their quest to learn more about the attack will not die with him.
In 1988, an American airliner flying from London to New York exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. A Libyan man was the only person convicted of involvement, and he was released in late August by Scottish authorities because he is suffering from cancer. Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi dropped his appeal before he was released, and some thought that might be the end of the 21-year Lockerbie saga. Some victims' relatives believe there are still unanswered questions and are seeking legal avenues to raise them. (...)
Scottish authories freed Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, because he has terminal cancer. Many families are angry because Megrahi served only eight and a half years of his 27-year sentence, others because they hoped he would be proven innocent.
Reverend John Mosey's 19-year-old daughter Helga was killed. He didn't object to Megrahi's release, but is upset because the Libyan decided to abandon the appeal of his conviction.
"I'm pleased he's gone home because my opinion is colored by my feeling that he was almost certainly not guilty, but the important thing was that he dropped his appeal and that is [the] great tragedy in this," Mosey said. (...)
But some of the relatives say the trial was unsatisfactory. Among them is Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing. Swire wants to know more about an alleged break-in in the baggage area of London's Heathrow airport hours before Pan Am 103 took off. It wasn't addressed in the trial. (...)
Every year families on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean commemorate their loved ones on the anniversary of the bombing. Some blame Libya, others hope they will be able to find answers through their own legal appeal, possibly through the United Nations, a British government public inquiry or a legal case in the European Court of Human Rights.
"It's very easy to lose sight of the foundations of why we've been fighting for 20-odd years. All we want to know is who murdered our family members and why they were not prevented from doing so and it's that - why they were not prevented from doing so - that is causing a great deal of difficulty for us now because of what we do know which suggests that a causation of this was probably very different from what's been presented to the world," Swire said.
Libyan authorities allowed a television camera into the hospital to show that Megrahi was clearly very ill, and unwilling or unable to answer questions.
His release put the Lockerbie bombing firmly back in the public eye. Victim's families hope their quest to learn more about the attack will not die with him.
Key Lockerbie evidence "unsafe" claims MSP
[What follows is the text of a press release and note to editors from Christine Grahame MSP.]
Scottish police investigators did not make the key piece of evidential material used to convict Abdelbaset al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, secure an SNP MSP has claimed. Christine Grahame MSP has said the Crown Office has now confirmed to her that the fragment was taken to Germany and then to the US by Scottish investigating officers without the knowledge of the Defence team and more crucially the then Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of [Carmyllie], the senior prosecutor at the time of the investigation.
In an interview for Dutch TV yet to be shown on UK television Lord Fraser was asked if the fragment, known as PT-35 (alleged to be part of the bomb’s timer) had always remained in the UK. Lord Fraser responded:
“As far as I’m aware it’s always been in the UK.”
Asked if it had ever been to the United States, Lord Fraser responds:
“Not that I’m aware of,” adding that he would have known if it had left the UK, telling Dutch reporters: “What would have gone through my mind is, I’m not accusing the FBI or anything… [but] could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [the fragment] has been fiddled with.”
Now SNP MSP Christine Grahame has confirmed that the same fragment also went to Germany two months before being sent across the Atlantic to Washington without, it seems, the knowledge of the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office. Ms Grahame herself a former lawyer, also claims Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment. She said:
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
The senior Scottish police investigator involved in the case, retired Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson told Dutch journalists last December,
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it. It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
“But that is precisely what appears to have happened,” Ms Grahame said and separately confirmed she has seen additional documents yet to be made public that showed DCS Henderson had told Crown prosecution officials in a formal legal statement that the fragment had indeed been to the US. Ms Grahame added:
“I am not sure why DCS Henderson’s statements made separately to Dutch TV and to the Crown Office contradict each other so starkly. That is a matter for Mr Henderson to explain. Either this fragment was in the US or it was not.
“I am deeply concerned that during the investigation and indeed leading all the way up to the Trial that neither the Crown nor Megrahi’s Defence were ever made aware that this crucial piece of evidence was being ‘waved around for everyone to see’ as DCS Henderson put it.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany."
Note to editors:
The Crown Office responding to a Freedom of Information request from Ms Grahame stated:
“PT 35 was taken to the Siemens company in Munich, Germany in April 1990 by Scottish police officers.”
Now retired FBI Senior Investigating Officer Richard Marquise confirmed to Ms Grahame’s office last week that, “PT-35, the actual fragment, came to the US one time, in June 1990 in the possession of a Scottish police officer and Feraday (Alan Feraday of the UK forensic explosives laboratory, RARDE).”
DCS Henderson, the Senior Scottish Police Investigator in an interview with Dutch documentary makers VPRO stated: “[the fragment] was in his (Alan Feraday, RARDE) possession and my possession but it was never released for anybody to hold it… they (the FBI) came to where we had it to see it because it wasn’t possible to remove any evidence out of the jurisdiction of the Scottish control.”
In his precognition statement given to Scottish Crown prosecutors DCS Henderson confirms that on the 22nd of June 1990 Henderson, accompanied by Chief Inspector McLean, DI Williamson and Alan Feraday from RARDE took the fragment to the US and “Met in Washington with metropolitan field officers of the FBI and Thomas Thurman.” The FBI’s Thomas Thurman was the officer who later claimed to have identified the fragment and the link to Libya, but later retired from the FBI following accusations by colleagues that he had [altered] forensic reports related to other criminal murder investigations.
[A report on the issue on the BBC News website can be read here. A radio interview with Christine Grahame can be heard here.
What follows is the text of a Crown Office press release:
"There is absolutely nothing new in this misleading story. Contrary to what is being claimed by Ms Grahame, the fact that the fragment of MST-13 timer known as PT 35 was taken to West Germany in 1990 by Scottish police officers was known to Mr Megrahi's defence team prior to his trial and indeed was presented to the Court by the Crown as evidence in the trial. During the trial Hans Brosamle of Siemens was called as a Crown witness and described examining PT 35 in Munich to the Court. Mr Megrahi's defence team did not dispute during the trial, after analysis by their own experts, that the fragment was part of an MST-13 timer.
"At no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE)."
It will be noticed that this response does not address (a) the issue of the transfer of the fragment to the United States; (b) the issue of the then Lord Advocate's ignorance of the movement of the fragment out of the UK; and (c) his reasons for stating that no such movements should have occurred. Nor does it explain why the "chain of custody" label attached to the fragment appears not to record these movements.]
Scottish police investigators did not make the key piece of evidential material used to convict Abdelbaset al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, secure an SNP MSP has claimed. Christine Grahame MSP has said the Crown Office has now confirmed to her that the fragment was taken to Germany and then to the US by Scottish investigating officers without the knowledge of the Defence team and more crucially the then Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of [Carmyllie], the senior prosecutor at the time of the investigation.
In an interview for Dutch TV yet to be shown on UK television Lord Fraser was asked if the fragment, known as PT-35 (alleged to be part of the bomb’s timer) had always remained in the UK. Lord Fraser responded:
“As far as I’m aware it’s always been in the UK.”
Asked if it had ever been to the United States, Lord Fraser responds:
“Not that I’m aware of,” adding that he would have known if it had left the UK, telling Dutch reporters: “What would have gone through my mind is, I’m not accusing the FBI or anything… [but] could this evidence get lost, or damaged or tampered with? No, no I would want to keep everything so that there can be no accusations at a trial that in some way [the fragment] has been fiddled with.”
Now SNP MSP Christine Grahame has confirmed that the same fragment also went to Germany two months before being sent across the Atlantic to Washington without, it seems, the knowledge of the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office. Ms Grahame herself a former lawyer, also claims Scottish police investigators did not record the fragment’s transportation across the world and in doing so broke the vital chain of evidence undermining the integrity of the fragment. She said:
“The Crown Office have confirmed to me that the fragment, PT-35, the piece of evidence that it was claimed by prosecutors linked Libya to the attack was also sent to Germany in April 1990 as well as the US.
“On the 22nd of June 1990 it was then taken to the FBI lab in Washington for examination by FBI officials there. Lord Fraser makes it clear he did not know and would not have allowed this evidence to be taken out of Scottish jurisdiction and control, but that is precisely what did happen. That leaves a very serious question mark over the central piece of evidence used to convict Mr Megrahi."
The senior Scottish police investigator involved in the case, retired Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson told Dutch journalists last December,
“We couldn’t afford to let something like that go. It has never been in their [US] control at all. It couldn’t be, because it was such an important point of evidence it wasn’t possible to release it. It had to be contained to be produced at the court therefore you couldn’t afford to have it waved around for everyone to see it because it could have got interfered with.”
“But that is precisely what appears to have happened,” Ms Grahame said and separately confirmed she has seen additional documents yet to be made public that showed DCS Henderson had told Crown prosecution officials in a formal legal statement that the fragment had indeed been to the US. Ms Grahame added:
“I am not sure why DCS Henderson’s statements made separately to Dutch TV and to the Crown Office contradict each other so starkly. That is a matter for Mr Henderson to explain. Either this fragment was in the US or it was not.
“I am deeply concerned that during the investigation and indeed leading all the way up to the Trial that neither the Crown nor Megrahi’s Defence were ever made aware that this crucial piece of evidence was being ‘waved around for everyone to see’ as DCS Henderson put it.
“Questions also need to be answered about the associated evidence log that was meant to accompany PT-35. It mysteriously does not record that the fragment went to the US or Germany, even though the Crown Office has confirmed in writing that it definitely went to Germany."
Note to editors:
The Crown Office responding to a Freedom of Information request from Ms Grahame stated:
“PT 35 was taken to the Siemens company in Munich, Germany in April 1990 by Scottish police officers.”
Now retired FBI Senior Investigating Officer Richard Marquise confirmed to Ms Grahame’s office last week that, “PT-35, the actual fragment, came to the US one time, in June 1990 in the possession of a Scottish police officer and Feraday (Alan Feraday of the UK forensic explosives laboratory, RARDE).”
DCS Henderson, the Senior Scottish Police Investigator in an interview with Dutch documentary makers VPRO stated: “[the fragment] was in his (Alan Feraday, RARDE) possession and my possession but it was never released for anybody to hold it… they (the FBI) came to where we had it to see it because it wasn’t possible to remove any evidence out of the jurisdiction of the Scottish control.”
In his precognition statement given to Scottish Crown prosecutors DCS Henderson confirms that on the 22nd of June 1990 Henderson, accompanied by Chief Inspector McLean, DI Williamson and Alan Feraday from RARDE took the fragment to the US and “Met in Washington with metropolitan field officers of the FBI and Thomas Thurman.” The FBI’s Thomas Thurman was the officer who later claimed to have identified the fragment and the link to Libya, but later retired from the FBI following accusations by colleagues that he had [altered] forensic reports related to other criminal murder investigations.
[A report on the issue on the BBC News website can be read here. A radio interview with Christine Grahame can be heard here.
What follows is the text of a Crown Office press release:
"There is absolutely nothing new in this misleading story. Contrary to what is being claimed by Ms Grahame, the fact that the fragment of MST-13 timer known as PT 35 was taken to West Germany in 1990 by Scottish police officers was known to Mr Megrahi's defence team prior to his trial and indeed was presented to the Court by the Crown as evidence in the trial. During the trial Hans Brosamle of Siemens was called as a Crown witness and described examining PT 35 in Munich to the Court. Mr Megrahi's defence team did not dispute during the trial, after analysis by their own experts, that the fragment was part of an MST-13 timer.
"At no time during the investigation was the timer fragment ever outside the custody and control of the Scottish police officers, or forensic scientists at the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE)."
It will be noticed that this response does not address (a) the issue of the transfer of the fragment to the United States; (b) the issue of the then Lord Advocate's ignorance of the movement of the fragment out of the UK; and (c) his reasons for stating that no such movements should have occurred. Nor does it explain why the "chain of custody" label attached to the fragment appears not to record these movements.]
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