[What follow are excerpts from a report in today's edition of The Herald:]
Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has previously criticised the decision to release Megrahi.
Last night he said the terms of his release were now in “chaos” following reports of his departure.
“Scots who were aghast at the original decision [to release him] will now be totally perplexed at the Scottish Government’s insistence the licence has not been breached. Is Alex Salmond in denial?” he added.
He also accused the Scottish Government of attempts to shift responsibility on to the council, and “wash their hands of the matter”.
Megrahi was released in 2009 suffering from terminal prostate cancer. If he has broken the conditions of his release he could, technically, be recalled.
A spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party said it was not for opposition parties to decide.
“It does seem if he is on the run as has been reported then he has broken the terms of his licence,” he said. “However, that is not for us to decide – that judgment is for the Scottish Government. It is not for the Scottish Labour Party to monitor his release licence. We do not have the information the Scottish Government and East Renfrewshire Council have.”
He added: “We are not going to say that the conditions of his release have been broken, that would be irresponsible. But people will be asking whether they have been broken.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it contacted the Libyan National Transitional Council in London and would discuss any change in Megrahi’s circumstances with it.
“However, all of the information we have about Megrahi is consistent with him dying of terminal prostate cancer, and he has not been in breach of his licence conditions,” he added.
He also said that contact with Megrahi by the criminal justice social work service of East Renfrewshire Council was not due for some time.
Last night, the council confirmed it was still attempting to speak to Megrahi. A spokesman also confirmed the council had received the latest monthly medical report on Megrahi and another was not due until next month.
[Two letters on the subject of Megrahi appear in the same newspaper. They read as follows:]
Well done to Iain Macwhirter for bringing some sanity back to the Megrahi debate (“If Megrahi is to be tried again, then let it be in the new Libya”, The Herald, August 25).
Many of those clamouring for Megrahi’s blood appear to have forgotten about the Scottish Criminal Courts Review Commission (SCCRC) decision to refer his case for appeal because they were of the view “that the applicant may have suffered a miscarriage of justice”.
What is astonishing is that there has been no outcry by our media and politicians over the enormous sum of money apparently paid to Tony Gauci for giving evidence. As Mr Macwhirter implies, this alone should render Megrahi’s conviction unsafe. Why are David Cameron, Nick Clegg and George Foulkes, among others, not demanding an explanation for this payment from the US?
Dr Hans Koechler, a university professor, was nominated by the United Nations to be an international observer at the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands. In his evaluation of the proceedings, he stated: “As to my knowledge, there is not one single piece of material evidence linking the two accused (in the original indictment Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were jointly accused of the bombing) to the crime. In such a context, the guilty verdict in regard to Megrahi appears arbitrary, even irrational.”
Dr Koechler also found it incomprehensible that when the indictment was based on the joint action of the two accused in Malta, Megrahi was found guilty and Fhimah not guilty.
It will be interesting to discover the content of the SCCRC report when it is published next month. [RB: The Scottish Government's legislative programme is to be published next month and is expected to feature primary legislation to enable the SCCRC Statement of Reasons to be published. It is most unlikely that the legislation will be enacted next month.]
Robert Woodcock.
If Megrahi’s release is good enough for Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter on Pan Am flight 103, and has conducted himself with dignity, balance and reason ever since, then it’s good enough for me – and forget the political posturing.
R Russell Smith.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Friday, 26 August 2011
Lamin Khalifa Fhimah on Gaddafi
[On the website of the Swedish newspaper Expressen today there appears an article based on an exclusive interview with Lamin Fhimah, the accused who was acquitted at the Zeist trial. It reads as follows:]
Expressen has met with Lockerbie bombing suspect Lamin Khalifa Fhimah who was tried on suspicion of involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Daring to speek openly about the Libyan dictator for the first time, Fhimah says Gadhafi "should be tried in court" in regards to whether he ordered the bombing and that he had his life taken away from him by the regime. "I don't know whether Gadhafi had anything to do with Lockerbie or not. There is a court and he is the one to explain whether he is innocent or not. He has to." Fhimah says.
Expressen met with Lamin Khalifa Fhimah in his home in Tripoli on Thursday. With the Libyan regime toppling, he feels that he is able to speak his mind on Muammar Khadaffi for the first time.
Fhimah was suspected of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, tried and found not guilty.
His arrival in Libya following the trial became a spectacle of large proportions and one of the four times Fhimah met with Gadhafi.
Despite being given a hero's welcome and what seemed like special treatment by Gadhafi, Lamin Khalifa Fhimah is now siding with the Libyan rebels.
Gadhafi made a show out of my arrival. We didn't say anything to each other. He welcomed me and nothing more. After that I stopped hearing from them.
He considers himself one of the victims of the Gadhafi regime.
I lost my travel agency in Malta. I had a farm that I was forced to sell in order to provide for myself and my family. I haven't received any compensation from the regime. The only thing they did after welcoming me was confiscating my passport. I dont't know why. They claimed that when the sentence against Al Megrahi would be repealed by them, I had to be here to testify.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi was found guilty of the Pan Am bombing but was set free in 2009 due to severe illness.
When he arrived in Libya, Lamin Khalifa Fhimah was one of the first to welcome him and news footage of the two, arm-in-arm at the airport, raised suspicion against the aquitted Fhimah.
"Al Megrahi was a friend and a colleague of mine. I don't know if he has anything to do with Lockerbie. There was a legal process and he was sentenced by a court," he says.
Lamin Khalifa Fhimah describes the fall of Gadhafi as a "blessed moment".
I was never a part of the regime. I am an ordinary citizen, who was connected to a crime I had nothing to do with and I don't know who made that connection.
In an interview with Expressen in February of this year Gadhafi's former Minister for Justice Mustafa Abdul Jalil now one of the integral forces of the ongoing revolution claimed that the Lockerbie bombing was in fact executed on Gadhafi's orders. [RB: But Mr Jalil has never supplied the evidence that he then promised.]
Expressen has met with Lockerbie bombing suspect Lamin Khalifa Fhimah who was tried on suspicion of involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Daring to speek openly about the Libyan dictator for the first time, Fhimah says Gadhafi "should be tried in court" in regards to whether he ordered the bombing and that he had his life taken away from him by the regime. "I don't know whether Gadhafi had anything to do with Lockerbie or not. There is a court and he is the one to explain whether he is innocent or not. He has to." Fhimah says.
Expressen met with Lamin Khalifa Fhimah in his home in Tripoli on Thursday. With the Libyan regime toppling, he feels that he is able to speak his mind on Muammar Khadaffi for the first time.
Fhimah was suspected of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, tried and found not guilty.
His arrival in Libya following the trial became a spectacle of large proportions and one of the four times Fhimah met with Gadhafi.
Despite being given a hero's welcome and what seemed like special treatment by Gadhafi, Lamin Khalifa Fhimah is now siding with the Libyan rebels.
Gadhafi made a show out of my arrival. We didn't say anything to each other. He welcomed me and nothing more. After that I stopped hearing from them.
He considers himself one of the victims of the Gadhafi regime.
I lost my travel agency in Malta. I had a farm that I was forced to sell in order to provide for myself and my family. I haven't received any compensation from the regime. The only thing they did after welcoming me was confiscating my passport. I dont't know why. They claimed that when the sentence against Al Megrahi would be repealed by them, I had to be here to testify.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi was found guilty of the Pan Am bombing but was set free in 2009 due to severe illness.
When he arrived in Libya, Lamin Khalifa Fhimah was one of the first to welcome him and news footage of the two, arm-in-arm at the airport, raised suspicion against the aquitted Fhimah.
"Al Megrahi was a friend and a colleague of mine. I don't know if he has anything to do with Lockerbie. There was a legal process and he was sentenced by a court," he says.
Lamin Khalifa Fhimah describes the fall of Gadhafi as a "blessed moment".
I was never a part of the regime. I am an ordinary citizen, who was connected to a crime I had nothing to do with and I don't know who made that connection.
In an interview with Expressen in February of this year Gadhafi's former Minister for Justice Mustafa Abdul Jalil now one of the integral forces of the ongoing revolution claimed that the Lockerbie bombing was in fact executed on Gadhafi's orders. [RB: But Mr Jalil has never supplied the evidence that he then promised.]
The Lockerbie convict's new war
[This is the headline over an article by William Underhill published yesterday night on the website of The Daily Beast. It reads in part:]
Now the collapse of the Gaddafi regime has brought calls for Megrahi’s extradition to the United States or his return to prison in Libya.
For a vocal lobby in Washington, his freedom—and continuing survival—represent an affront that can at last be addressed. In the words of Sen Kirsten Gillibrand: “Seeing him participate in good health at a pro-Gaddafi rally recently was another slap in the face not just for the families of the Lockerbie victims but for all Americans and for all nations of the world who are committed to bringing terrorists to justice.”
A tad overstated? Such rhetoric certainly won’t find universal support in Britain. Megrahi is far from friendless back in Scotland, where Pan Am flight 103 crashed in 1988 killing 270 passengers and residents of the small town of Lockerbie. Campaigners convinced of his innocence are pressing the Scottish parliament for an inquiry leading to a possible appeal that would clear Megrahi’s name.
And the roll-call of big-name supporters for the Justice for Megrahi group can’t be easily ignored. On the list: Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu; the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien; Jim Swire, the parent of a Lockerbie victim, and Professor Robert Black, the lawyer who devised the special court which tried Megrahi in the Netherlands in 2001.
One more backer, the leading lawyer Ian Hamilton, has blogged: “I don't think there's a lawyer in Scotland who now believes Mr. Megrahi was justly convicted."
The group insists there’s no case for extradition on legal grounds. Says Robert Forrester, secretary of the campaign: “Mr. Megrahi is a Scots prisoner released under license and still falls under Scots jurisdiction therefore and neither Washington nor Westminster has any jurisdiction under Scots law.” But he concedes that politics may determine his fate. “The man should be left alone to continue with his medical treatment but he has become such a pawn that I can’t believe that is going to happen.”
Now the collapse of the Gaddafi regime has brought calls for Megrahi’s extradition to the United States or his return to prison in Libya.
For a vocal lobby in Washington, his freedom—and continuing survival—represent an affront that can at last be addressed. In the words of Sen Kirsten Gillibrand: “Seeing him participate in good health at a pro-Gaddafi rally recently was another slap in the face not just for the families of the Lockerbie victims but for all Americans and for all nations of the world who are committed to bringing terrorists to justice.”
A tad overstated? Such rhetoric certainly won’t find universal support in Britain. Megrahi is far from friendless back in Scotland, where Pan Am flight 103 crashed in 1988 killing 270 passengers and residents of the small town of Lockerbie. Campaigners convinced of his innocence are pressing the Scottish parliament for an inquiry leading to a possible appeal that would clear Megrahi’s name.
And the roll-call of big-name supporters for the Justice for Megrahi group can’t be easily ignored. On the list: Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu; the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien; Jim Swire, the parent of a Lockerbie victim, and Professor Robert Black, the lawyer who devised the special court which tried Megrahi in the Netherlands in 2001.
One more backer, the leading lawyer Ian Hamilton, has blogged: “I don't think there's a lawyer in Scotland who now believes Mr. Megrahi was justly convicted."
The group insists there’s no case for extradition on legal grounds. Says Robert Forrester, secretary of the campaign: “Mr. Megrahi is a Scots prisoner released under license and still falls under Scots jurisdiction therefore and neither Washington nor Westminster has any jurisdiction under Scots law.” But he concedes that politics may determine his fate. “The man should be left alone to continue with his medical treatment but he has become such a pawn that I can’t believe that is going to happen.”
“Spectacular” logic as MacAskill justifies discredited primary legislation argument over Megrahi miscarriage report
[This is the headline over a news item just published on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm. It reads as follows:]
The Secretary of the Justice for Megrahi Committee has dismissed the “spectacular” logic of the Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, who has written to the committee repeating that an Act of Parliament is required to facilitate the publication of the report which concluded Abdelbaset Al Megrahi may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
MacAskill had been asked to explain why such an Act was necessary when a simpler piece of secondary legislation introduced the mechanism which is currently blocking the report of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Professor Robert Black QC has previously said that an Act of Parliament is not required.
“As you will be aware, the Scottish Government made the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (Permitted Disclosure of Information) Order 2009, which provided that the SCCRC may publish information relating to a case it has referred to the Appeal Court which is subsequently abandoned, providing that persons who have provided information to the Commission have consented to its disclosure,” MacAskill said.
“In December 2010, the SCCRC announced that it had been unsuccessful in obtaining consent from all the relevant parties to the publication of the Statement of Reasons in the Megrahi case. In light of this, primary legislation is needed to provide the flexibility required to ensure that an appropriate legislative framework is put in place.
“The proposed legislation will facilitate the release of a statement of reasons by the Commission in circumstances where an appeal has been abandoned.”
The letter does not address the question put to it by the group, which asked why primary legislation was necessary, rather than secondary legislation.
“Whilst the text may be new, the logic, if that is not being too generous with the term, is spectacular,” JFM Secretary Robert Forrester said.
“This simply states what we already know then provides an answer which leaves us stranded somewhere."
The Secretary of the Justice for Megrahi Committee has dismissed the “spectacular” logic of the Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, who has written to the committee repeating that an Act of Parliament is required to facilitate the publication of the report which concluded Abdelbaset Al Megrahi may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
MacAskill had been asked to explain why such an Act was necessary when a simpler piece of secondary legislation introduced the mechanism which is currently blocking the report of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Professor Robert Black QC has previously said that an Act of Parliament is not required.
“As you will be aware, the Scottish Government made the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (Permitted Disclosure of Information) Order 2009, which provided that the SCCRC may publish information relating to a case it has referred to the Appeal Court which is subsequently abandoned, providing that persons who have provided information to the Commission have consented to its disclosure,” MacAskill said.
“In December 2010, the SCCRC announced that it had been unsuccessful in obtaining consent from all the relevant parties to the publication of the Statement of Reasons in the Megrahi case. In light of this, primary legislation is needed to provide the flexibility required to ensure that an appropriate legislative framework is put in place.
“The proposed legislation will facilitate the release of a statement of reasons by the Commission in circumstances where an appeal has been abandoned.”
The letter does not address the question put to it by the group, which asked why primary legislation was necessary, rather than secondary legislation.
“Whilst the text may be new, the logic, if that is not being too generous with the term, is spectacular,” JFM Secretary Robert Forrester said.
“This simply states what we already know then provides an answer which leaves us stranded somewhere."
Scottish officials still in dark as to whereabouts of Lockerbie bomber
[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Scotsman. It reads as follows:]
The Scottish justice secretary said officials are trying to contact Libyan rebel leaders as part of efforts to track down the Lockerbie bomber.
Kenny MacAskill said attempts are being made to reach the National Transitional Council (NTC) while fighting continues in Tripoli. Mr MacAskill released Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds two years ago after medical advice that the prisoner was three months from death. [RB: Three months from death was said to be a reasonable prognosis if he remained in prison in Scotland.]
As part of the terms, Megrahi is supposed to check in with officials at East Renfrewshire Council, but he has not been reached since fighting broke out in Tripoli. There have been growing calls in the US for Megrahi to be extradited there in the wake of the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.
But yesterday Mr MacAskill said: "Mr Megrahi is a Scottish prisoner. He's been released on licence in terms of the law that applies in Scotland.
"He remains a Scottish prisoner having been convicted by a Scottish court, albeit one that sat in the Netherlands, but it did so after the intervention of the United Nations, of Nelson Mandela and others, and he was tried by international agreement under the laws of Scotland."
He added: "There are obligations that go with him being a Scottish prisoner released on licence. But whilst we're in a war zone, which is accepted by everybody, I think we need to wait and see what happens there."
Asked if the Scottish Government is seeking contact with the NTC about Megrahi, Mr MacAskill said: "We're entering into communications. These matters are difficult, but we're seeking to make sure that we lock on to the authorities. But at present there is some doubt as to just which parts of Tripoli are controlled by whom. So, we seek to enter into discussions with the appropriate authorities."
He offered his support to council officials trying to contact Megrahi but said the "dust of battle" will have to settle before the picture is clear.
[The following, from an item posted yesterday on this blog, perhaps gives a more accurate picture than that painted above:]
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: “The next appointed date for scheduled contact with Al-Megrahi by the criminal justice social work service of East Renfrewshire Council is not for some time.
“He has not been in breach of his licence conditions to date, and if these circumstances were to change then that would be a matter for discussion with the new duly constituted authorities in Libya.
“As the Justice Secretary has said, we have already established a line of communication with the National Transitional Council in London.” A spokesman for Mr MacAskill added that Megrahi had never been under house arrest as part of his release conditions and was allowed to come and go from his property in Tripoli.
[A report in today's edition of The Herald contains the following:]
It is East Renfrewshire that will determine whether the convicted terrorist has breached the terms of his release licence. These include keeping in regular contact and producing monthly medical reports.
However, it is thought the Scottish Government would ensure the Libyan was recalled to prison, if it was deemed he had breached his licence. (...)
In the US, there are growing calls for Megrahi to be reincarcerated, with some senators and relatives of the bombing victims demanding his extradition to the US to stand trial there.
The Herald has been told that, on the ground in Libya, a race is now on between US and UK special forces to find and seize the convicted terrorist.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Gordon Brown has been rebuffed in his attempt to get a UK Government report on Megrahi changed.
In February, Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, concluded the Labour Government did “all it could” to facilitate the Libyan’s release. In six strongly-worded letters Mr Brown insisted he “did not propose, initiate, lead, adopt, or even know of a policy called facilitation” in relation to Megrahi. But Sir Gus said Government papers showed “facilitation” was the policy agreed by UK ministers. He has refused to change his report.
[The following are extracts from a report to be found behind the paywall in today's edition of The Times:]
The Times twice went to al-Megrahi’s high-walled mansion in a war-torn area of Tripoli yesterday and was told first by his brother and then by his son that he had gone. They suggested that he was either at Tripoli central hospital or at his mother’s home near the Bab al-Aziziya compound, Colonel Gaddafi’s former stronghold. The Times visited both but he was not at either. His mother’s modest house was locked up and neighbours said that the family had left many days ago. (...)
Al-Megrahi’s son, Khalid, 25, said that he was afraid the rebel National Transitional Council would hand his father back to the Scottish authorities. When asked about those calling for his reimprisonment, he replied: “Shame on them. He’s a human being. He’s very sick. What’s the point of him going back? He will die, and they’re the ones who sent him back to Tripoli in the first place.”
Al-Megrahi’s brother, Abdul Nasser, 53, ridiculed the idea of his returning to a Scottish prison, saying that he would never survive the journey. He would not let The Times into the house.
Both insisted that al-Megrahi, 58, was a very sick man who now spent most of his time in bed. He could no longer go to the toilet alone, was fed by intravenous drip, found it hard to talk and used an oxygen mask. “Last month the doctor came and said his medicines didn’t work any more,” they said. (...)
Khalid al-Megrahi said that his father left for the hospital last Friday, accompanied by his nurse. “We don’t know if he’s still there or even alive. We can’t get through to him,” he said, adding that he might have gone on to his mother’s house.
A doctor who lives nearby told The Times: “Maybe the son’s a liar. Maybe they’ve just moved him to a safer place.”
[The paragraph that follows is taken from an editorial published yesterday on the website of The Washington Times. Comment seems superfluous:]
Regime change doesn’t end US focus on this North African nation. The United States has an interest in the fate of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, who was released from a British prison in 2009 on supposed humanitarian grounds after a faked cancer diagnosis claimed he had just weeks to live. Al-Megrahi was last seen on July 26 at a pro-Gadhafi rally. The murderer should not die in freedom.
The Scottish justice secretary said officials are trying to contact Libyan rebel leaders as part of efforts to track down the Lockerbie bomber.
Kenny MacAskill said attempts are being made to reach the National Transitional Council (NTC) while fighting continues in Tripoli. Mr MacAskill released Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds two years ago after medical advice that the prisoner was three months from death. [RB: Three months from death was said to be a reasonable prognosis if he remained in prison in Scotland.]
As part of the terms, Megrahi is supposed to check in with officials at East Renfrewshire Council, but he has not been reached since fighting broke out in Tripoli. There have been growing calls in the US for Megrahi to be extradited there in the wake of the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.
But yesterday Mr MacAskill said: "Mr Megrahi is a Scottish prisoner. He's been released on licence in terms of the law that applies in Scotland.
"He remains a Scottish prisoner having been convicted by a Scottish court, albeit one that sat in the Netherlands, but it did so after the intervention of the United Nations, of Nelson Mandela and others, and he was tried by international agreement under the laws of Scotland."
He added: "There are obligations that go with him being a Scottish prisoner released on licence. But whilst we're in a war zone, which is accepted by everybody, I think we need to wait and see what happens there."
Asked if the Scottish Government is seeking contact with the NTC about Megrahi, Mr MacAskill said: "We're entering into communications. These matters are difficult, but we're seeking to make sure that we lock on to the authorities. But at present there is some doubt as to just which parts of Tripoli are controlled by whom. So, we seek to enter into discussions with the appropriate authorities."
He offered his support to council officials trying to contact Megrahi but said the "dust of battle" will have to settle before the picture is clear.
[The following, from an item posted yesterday on this blog, perhaps gives a more accurate picture than that painted above:]
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: “The next appointed date for scheduled contact with Al-Megrahi by the criminal justice social work service of East Renfrewshire Council is not for some time.
“He has not been in breach of his licence conditions to date, and if these circumstances were to change then that would be a matter for discussion with the new duly constituted authorities in Libya.
“As the Justice Secretary has said, we have already established a line of communication with the National Transitional Council in London.” A spokesman for Mr MacAskill added that Megrahi had never been under house arrest as part of his release conditions and was allowed to come and go from his property in Tripoli.
[A report in today's edition of The Herald contains the following:]
It is East Renfrewshire that will determine whether the convicted terrorist has breached the terms of his release licence. These include keeping in regular contact and producing monthly medical reports.
However, it is thought the Scottish Government would ensure the Libyan was recalled to prison, if it was deemed he had breached his licence. (...)
In the US, there are growing calls for Megrahi to be reincarcerated, with some senators and relatives of the bombing victims demanding his extradition to the US to stand trial there.
The Herald has been told that, on the ground in Libya, a race is now on between US and UK special forces to find and seize the convicted terrorist.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Gordon Brown has been rebuffed in his attempt to get a UK Government report on Megrahi changed.
In February, Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, concluded the Labour Government did “all it could” to facilitate the Libyan’s release. In six strongly-worded letters Mr Brown insisted he “did not propose, initiate, lead, adopt, or even know of a policy called facilitation” in relation to Megrahi. But Sir Gus said Government papers showed “facilitation” was the policy agreed by UK ministers. He has refused to change his report.
[The following are extracts from a report to be found behind the paywall in today's edition of The Times:]
The Times twice went to al-Megrahi’s high-walled mansion in a war-torn area of Tripoli yesterday and was told first by his brother and then by his son that he had gone. They suggested that he was either at Tripoli central hospital or at his mother’s home near the Bab al-Aziziya compound, Colonel Gaddafi’s former stronghold. The Times visited both but he was not at either. His mother’s modest house was locked up and neighbours said that the family had left many days ago. (...)
Al-Megrahi’s son, Khalid, 25, said that he was afraid the rebel National Transitional Council would hand his father back to the Scottish authorities. When asked about those calling for his reimprisonment, he replied: “Shame on them. He’s a human being. He’s very sick. What’s the point of him going back? He will die, and they’re the ones who sent him back to Tripoli in the first place.”
Al-Megrahi’s brother, Abdul Nasser, 53, ridiculed the idea of his returning to a Scottish prison, saying that he would never survive the journey. He would not let The Times into the house.
Both insisted that al-Megrahi, 58, was a very sick man who now spent most of his time in bed. He could no longer go to the toilet alone, was fed by intravenous drip, found it hard to talk and used an oxygen mask. “Last month the doctor came and said his medicines didn’t work any more,” they said. (...)
Khalid al-Megrahi said that his father left for the hospital last Friday, accompanied by his nurse. “We don’t know if he’s still there or even alive. We can’t get through to him,” he said, adding that he might have gone on to his mother’s house.
A doctor who lives nearby told The Times: “Maybe the son’s a liar. Maybe they’ve just moved him to a safer place.”
[The paragraph that follows is taken from an editorial published yesterday on the website of The Washington Times. Comment seems superfluous:]
Regime change doesn’t end US focus on this North African nation. The United States has an interest in the fate of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, who was released from a British prison in 2009 on supposed humanitarian grounds after a faked cancer diagnosis claimed he had just weeks to live. Al-Megrahi was last seen on July 26 at a pro-Gadhafi rally. The murderer should not die in freedom.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Megrahi 'flees Tripoli with Col Gaddafi' rumour
[The following are excerpts from a report published this evening on The Telegraph website:]
Standing outside the smart modern two-storey villa belonging to Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi in the upmarket Hay Damascus suburb of Tripoli, [neighbours] said he had not been seen since the rebels’ sudden advance on the capital. (...)
“This man knows too many things,” Hussein Barba, a Canadian-educated doctor who lives behind Mr Megrahi’s house said. “Gaddafi has taken him with him, wherever he is.”
Some neighbours said they believed that Mr Megrahi’s wife was still living in the house. Though resolutely anti-Gaddafi, they also demonstrated Mr Megrahi’s ambiguous position in a society where many believe he is innocent of the accusation of placing the suitcase bomb on Pan-Am 103, killing 270 people, in December 1988.
They said they had promised to protect his house while he was away and prevent anyone trying to get in, whether or not his wife was still there.
One said his son was still living in the area – along with his father’s BMW – and staying with friends, though he refused to say where. “He goes from place to place to check on things,” he said. “He was an ordinary person, not involved with the government. He had no reason to leave.”
The Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said officials were trying to contact rebel leaders in Libya to ensure Mr Megrahi would continue with the monitoring that was a requirement under the terms of his early release from prison on compassionate grounds. (...)
“Tripoli and Libya is a war zone and until the dust of battle settles I think we have to allow them to continue to make the efforts that they’re doing,” he said.
“Hospitals are overrun, the British embassy is having difficulties operating, so I think East Renfrewshire have done a good job to date and I fully support them in the efforts they’re making.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: “The next appointed date for scheduled contact with Al-Megrahi by the criminal justice social work service of East Renfrewshire Council is not for some time.
“He has not been in breach of his licence conditions to date, and if these circumstances were to change then that would be a matter for discussion with the new duly constituted authorities in Libya.
“As the Justice Secretary has said, we have already established a line of communication with the National Transitional Council in London.” A spokesman for Mr MacAskill added that Megrahi had never been under house arrest as part of his release conditions and was allowed to come and go from his property in Tripoli.
Standing outside the smart modern two-storey villa belonging to Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi in the upmarket Hay Damascus suburb of Tripoli, [neighbours] said he had not been seen since the rebels’ sudden advance on the capital. (...)
“This man knows too many things,” Hussein Barba, a Canadian-educated doctor who lives behind Mr Megrahi’s house said. “Gaddafi has taken him with him, wherever he is.”
Some neighbours said they believed that Mr Megrahi’s wife was still living in the house. Though resolutely anti-Gaddafi, they also demonstrated Mr Megrahi’s ambiguous position in a society where many believe he is innocent of the accusation of placing the suitcase bomb on Pan-Am 103, killing 270 people, in December 1988.
They said they had promised to protect his house while he was away and prevent anyone trying to get in, whether or not his wife was still there.
One said his son was still living in the area – along with his father’s BMW – and staying with friends, though he refused to say where. “He goes from place to place to check on things,” he said. “He was an ordinary person, not involved with the government. He had no reason to leave.”
The Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said officials were trying to contact rebel leaders in Libya to ensure Mr Megrahi would continue with the monitoring that was a requirement under the terms of his early release from prison on compassionate grounds. (...)
“Tripoli and Libya is a war zone and until the dust of battle settles I think we have to allow them to continue to make the efforts that they’re doing,” he said.
“Hospitals are overrun, the British embassy is having difficulties operating, so I think East Renfrewshire have done a good job to date and I fully support them in the efforts they’re making.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: “The next appointed date for scheduled contact with Al-Megrahi by the criminal justice social work service of East Renfrewshire Council is not for some time.
“He has not been in breach of his licence conditions to date, and if these circumstances were to change then that would be a matter for discussion with the new duly constituted authorities in Libya.
“As the Justice Secretary has said, we have already established a line of communication with the National Transitional Council in London.” A spokesman for Mr MacAskill added that Megrahi had never been under house arrest as part of his release conditions and was allowed to come and go from his property in Tripoli.
Scottish officials 'trying to trace Megrahi'
[This is the headline over a report published this afternoon on the website of The Independent. It reads in part:]
The Scottish Justice Secretary said officials are trying to contact Libyan rebel leaders as part of efforts to track down the Lockerbie bomber.
Kenny MacAskill said attempts are being made to reach the National Transitional Council (NTC) while fighting continues in Tripoli. (...)
Asked if the Scottish Government is seeking contact with the NTC about Megrahi, Mr MacAskill said: "We're entering into communications. These matters are difficult, but we're seeking to make sure that we lock on to the authorities.
"But at the present moment there is some doubt as to just which parts of Tripoli are controlled by whom. So, we seek to enter into discussions with the appropriate authorities."
He offered his support to [East Renfrewshire] council officials trying to contact Megrahi but said the "dust of battle" will have to settle before the picture is clear.
Earlier this week, council leader Jim Fletcher said his officials are in "uncharted water" in trying to track Megrahi.
Mr MacAskill, who was visiting a school in Edinburgh, said: "Tripoli and Libya is a war zone and until the dust of battle settles I think we have to allow them to continue to make the efforts that they're doing.
"Hospitals are over-run, the British embassy is having difficulties operating, so I think East Renfrewshire have done a good job to date and I fully support them in the efforts they're making."
He added: "Everybody is welcoming the fall of the Gaddafi regime - even those who welcomed him and glad-handed him or sold him weapons are delighted at what looks to be his imminent demise.
"But the primary responsibility, from what I hear from the NTC, is the saving of lives in Tripoli and Libya."
Calls have been made to extradite Megrahi from Libya to the US or bring him back to jail in Scotland.
Mr MacAskill said: "Mr Megrahi is a Scottish prisoner. He's been released on licence in terms of the law that applies in Scotland.
"He remains a Scottish prisoner having been convicted by a Scottish court, albeit one that sat in the Netherlands, but it did so after the intervention of the United Nations, of Nelson Mandela and others, and he was tried by international agreement under the laws of Scotland."
He added: "There are obligations that go with him being a Scottish prisoner released on licence. But whilst we're in a war zone, which is accepted by everybody, I think we need to wait and see what happens there."
The Scottish Justice Secretary said officials are trying to contact Libyan rebel leaders as part of efforts to track down the Lockerbie bomber.
Kenny MacAskill said attempts are being made to reach the National Transitional Council (NTC) while fighting continues in Tripoli. (...)
Asked if the Scottish Government is seeking contact with the NTC about Megrahi, Mr MacAskill said: "We're entering into communications. These matters are difficult, but we're seeking to make sure that we lock on to the authorities.
"But at the present moment there is some doubt as to just which parts of Tripoli are controlled by whom. So, we seek to enter into discussions with the appropriate authorities."
He offered his support to [East Renfrewshire] council officials trying to contact Megrahi but said the "dust of battle" will have to settle before the picture is clear.
Earlier this week, council leader Jim Fletcher said his officials are in "uncharted water" in trying to track Megrahi.
Mr MacAskill, who was visiting a school in Edinburgh, said: "Tripoli and Libya is a war zone and until the dust of battle settles I think we have to allow them to continue to make the efforts that they're doing.
"Hospitals are over-run, the British embassy is having difficulties operating, so I think East Renfrewshire have done a good job to date and I fully support them in the efforts they're making."
He added: "Everybody is welcoming the fall of the Gaddafi regime - even those who welcomed him and glad-handed him or sold him weapons are delighted at what looks to be his imminent demise.
"But the primary responsibility, from what I hear from the NTC, is the saving of lives in Tripoli and Libya."
Calls have been made to extradite Megrahi from Libya to the US or bring him back to jail in Scotland.
Mr MacAskill said: "Mr Megrahi is a Scottish prisoner. He's been released on licence in terms of the law that applies in Scotland.
"He remains a Scottish prisoner having been convicted by a Scottish court, albeit one that sat in the Netherlands, but it did so after the intervention of the United Nations, of Nelson Mandela and others, and he was tried by international agreement under the laws of Scotland."
He added: "There are obligations that go with him being a Scottish prisoner released on licence. But whilst we're in a war zone, which is accepted by everybody, I think we need to wait and see what happens there."
Hounding the innocent and dancing on the graves of the dead
[This is the headline over an article by G A Ponsonby published today on the Newsnet Scotland website. It reads in part:]
These last few days the conflict in Libya has dominated the airwaves. The awful dictator Muammar Gadaffi has been removed from power and all that remains of his crumbling regime are pockets of resistance as a few loyal soldiers fight to the finish.
The demise of the man who was second only to the late Saddam Hussein for the title of most irritating thorn in America’s side has been swift. A million dollar bounty now hangs over his head and only the most loyal of followers will resist the temptation to take the cash and make a run for it.
But as with all silver linings there hangs a cloud of despair. No, not just the anarchy that will surely envelope the streets of Tripoli and other cities and towns in Libya as old tribal scores are settled, but the sad ‘stalking’ of a dying and almost certainly innocent man by what passes for a media in Scotland.
Turn on a radio, switch on a TV or open a newspaper over the last few days and you will almost certainly be confronted with a headline proclaiming the hunt for a famous Libyan.
This is Scotland though, and whilst the world watches and listens for news of Gadaffi, we Scots are pelted with the same festering rhetorical dung that has so blemished the memory of the poor souls who perished in the bombing of Pan Am 103 - our journalists and reporters have turned into 'Megrahi stalkers'.
Let’s put one thing on the record here. This isn’t an attempt at changing the minds of those honest people who genuinely disagreed with the decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. There are very good reasons for many people to disagree with the decision, just as there are very good reasons for people to endorse Kenny MacAskill’s decision.
What this article is about is exposing the phoney journalism that pervades Scotland’s dying media outlets and has left such a stain on the memory of the victims of Lockerbie. When Megrahi was released in 2009 there were repeated claims from the opposition politicians that their ‘outrage’ was in part due to the suffering that the release would undoubtedly have on relatives of the victims.
However, instead of allowing the issue to draw to a natural close, many of these rapscallions have persisted in dredging the tragedy up again and again. What’s worse, rather than focus on the mounting evidence that the man, used by Gadaffi as a patsy in order to end sanctions on Libya, was almost certainly falsely convicted, they have instead sought to traduce the reputation of Dr Andrew Fraser in order to make political capital out of the tragedy.
There are far too many examples of these attacks to mention. Literally scores of BBC Scotland news items and bulletins since the weekend have contained attacks on the compassionate release and continued survival of Megrahi. When one BBC Scotland reporter calls the compassionate release of Al-Megrahi “The Lockerbie conspiracy” you know that things are deteriorating again at Pacific Quay. (...)
Nick Clegg, David Cameron, William Hague, George Foulkes, Gordon Banks, Iain Gray, Dr Richard Simpson and many more – an alliance of Lib Dem, Tory and Labour all joining right wing poorly informed US politicians.
Megrahi has survived two years against the odds. Imprisoned after being used as a convenient patsy by the Libyan and US/UK administrations keen to end sanctions and trade oil, he is nearing death.
If the reported findings of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission are to be believed he is also almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He now lies terminally ill somewhere in a country wracked by civil war and with the knowledge that those responsible for providing the ‘evidence’ on which his conviction relied are keen to find him.
Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the Lockerbie bombing, has said he now fears for Megrahi’s safety and believes the Libyan may be assassinated or snatched by the US. Mr Swire believes, as many do, that Megrahi is innocent.
The innocent are being hounded by people who are now dancing in delirium on the graves of the dead, oil and blood dripping from their hands.
“They’ve lost the Lockerbie bomber” announced Jackie Bird on last night’s late BBC Scotland news bulletin.
If only we had Jackie, if only we had … the Lockerbie bomber was lost when the US decided to switch the attention of their initial investigation from Syrian backed terrorists to oil rich Libya.
[Another compelling article on the subject by Judith Jaafar is to be found in today's edition of the Scottish Review. It is headed "If he is killed or jailed, will the truth about Lockerbie ever come out?" A contribution by Bob Low on the same page is also well worth reading.]
These last few days the conflict in Libya has dominated the airwaves. The awful dictator Muammar Gadaffi has been removed from power and all that remains of his crumbling regime are pockets of resistance as a few loyal soldiers fight to the finish.
The demise of the man who was second only to the late Saddam Hussein for the title of most irritating thorn in America’s side has been swift. A million dollar bounty now hangs over his head and only the most loyal of followers will resist the temptation to take the cash and make a run for it.
But as with all silver linings there hangs a cloud of despair. No, not just the anarchy that will surely envelope the streets of Tripoli and other cities and towns in Libya as old tribal scores are settled, but the sad ‘stalking’ of a dying and almost certainly innocent man by what passes for a media in Scotland.
Turn on a radio, switch on a TV or open a newspaper over the last few days and you will almost certainly be confronted with a headline proclaiming the hunt for a famous Libyan.
This is Scotland though, and whilst the world watches and listens for news of Gadaffi, we Scots are pelted with the same festering rhetorical dung that has so blemished the memory of the poor souls who perished in the bombing of Pan Am 103 - our journalists and reporters have turned into 'Megrahi stalkers'.
Let’s put one thing on the record here. This isn’t an attempt at changing the minds of those honest people who genuinely disagreed with the decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. There are very good reasons for many people to disagree with the decision, just as there are very good reasons for people to endorse Kenny MacAskill’s decision.
What this article is about is exposing the phoney journalism that pervades Scotland’s dying media outlets and has left such a stain on the memory of the victims of Lockerbie. When Megrahi was released in 2009 there were repeated claims from the opposition politicians that their ‘outrage’ was in part due to the suffering that the release would undoubtedly have on relatives of the victims.
However, instead of allowing the issue to draw to a natural close, many of these rapscallions have persisted in dredging the tragedy up again and again. What’s worse, rather than focus on the mounting evidence that the man, used by Gadaffi as a patsy in order to end sanctions on Libya, was almost certainly falsely convicted, they have instead sought to traduce the reputation of Dr Andrew Fraser in order to make political capital out of the tragedy.
There are far too many examples of these attacks to mention. Literally scores of BBC Scotland news items and bulletins since the weekend have contained attacks on the compassionate release and continued survival of Megrahi. When one BBC Scotland reporter calls the compassionate release of Al-Megrahi “The Lockerbie conspiracy” you know that things are deteriorating again at Pacific Quay. (...)
Nick Clegg, David Cameron, William Hague, George Foulkes, Gordon Banks, Iain Gray, Dr Richard Simpson and many more – an alliance of Lib Dem, Tory and Labour all joining right wing poorly informed US politicians.
Megrahi has survived two years against the odds. Imprisoned after being used as a convenient patsy by the Libyan and US/UK administrations keen to end sanctions and trade oil, he is nearing death.
If the reported findings of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission are to be believed he is also almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. He now lies terminally ill somewhere in a country wracked by civil war and with the knowledge that those responsible for providing the ‘evidence’ on which his conviction relied are keen to find him.
Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the Lockerbie bombing, has said he now fears for Megrahi’s safety and believes the Libyan may be assassinated or snatched by the US. Mr Swire believes, as many do, that Megrahi is innocent.
The innocent are being hounded by people who are now dancing in delirium on the graves of the dead, oil and blood dripping from their hands.
“They’ve lost the Lockerbie bomber” announced Jackie Bird on last night’s late BBC Scotland news bulletin.
If only we had Jackie, if only we had … the Lockerbie bomber was lost when the US decided to switch the attention of their initial investigation from Syrian backed terrorists to oil rich Libya.
[Another compelling article on the subject by Judith Jaafar is to be found in today's edition of the Scottish Review. It is headed "If he is killed or jailed, will the truth about Lockerbie ever come out?" A contribution by Bob Low on the same page is also well worth reading.]
Megrahi return to jail "illegal and preposterous"
[What follow are excerpts from a report headlined Search for al-Megrahi as Scottish officials lose touch behind the paywall in today's edition of The Times:]
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, used a visit to Edinburgh yesterday to say that he also believed al-Megrahi should be in jail. “My personal view is that he should be behind bars, he was convicted of one of the most atrocious crimes committed in Britain.” Mr Clegg’s view is shared by David Cameron, who opposed the Scottish Government’s decision to allow al-Megrahi to return on Libya in 2009 on compassionate grounds.
Under the terms of his release, al-Megrahi is required to keep in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. Failure to do so could render him in breach of his parole conditions.
Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, refused to disclose what would happen to al-Megrahi when he is traced. “I can’t speculate on what might happen,” he said. “He has fully co-operated to date, and we have to accept that there are difficulties in Libya that are self-evident on our television screens, of hospitals bursting at the seams, of people fighting in the streets. I think some latitude has to be given.” US politicians including Mitt Romeny, the Republican presidential contender, have called for al-Megrahi to be extradited to the US once he is traced.
Paul McBride, QC, said that any attempt to capture al-Megrahi and return him to jail would be “illegal and preposterous”.
“What do the Americans want him for?” he asked. “He has been convicted in a court they approved of and released. Just because they don’t agree with the decision to release him doesn’t mean they can kidnap him, take him to their country and throw him in jail. That would be a similar situation to Guantanamo Bay.”
The legal difficulties associated with returning al-Megrahi to jail were also cited by Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary. Asked if the Lockerbie bomber should be sent back to prison, he said al-Megrahi would be the responsibility of the Libyan authorities once he was found. “There are technical but important legal issues given that he has already been convicted,” he said.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, used a visit to Edinburgh yesterday to say that he also believed al-Megrahi should be in jail. “My personal view is that he should be behind bars, he was convicted of one of the most atrocious crimes committed in Britain.” Mr Clegg’s view is shared by David Cameron, who opposed the Scottish Government’s decision to allow al-Megrahi to return on Libya in 2009 on compassionate grounds.
Under the terms of his release, al-Megrahi is required to keep in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. Failure to do so could render him in breach of his parole conditions.
Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, refused to disclose what would happen to al-Megrahi when he is traced. “I can’t speculate on what might happen,” he said. “He has fully co-operated to date, and we have to accept that there are difficulties in Libya that are self-evident on our television screens, of hospitals bursting at the seams, of people fighting in the streets. I think some latitude has to be given.” US politicians including Mitt Romeny, the Republican presidential contender, have called for al-Megrahi to be extradited to the US once he is traced.
Paul McBride, QC, said that any attempt to capture al-Megrahi and return him to jail would be “illegal and preposterous”.
“What do the Americans want him for?” he asked. “He has been convicted in a court they approved of and released. Just because they don’t agree with the decision to release him doesn’t mean they can kidnap him, take him to their country and throw him in jail. That would be a similar situation to Guantanamo Bay.”
The legal difficulties associated with returning al-Megrahi to jail were also cited by Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary. Asked if the Lockerbie bomber should be sent back to prison, he said al-Megrahi would be the responsibility of the Libyan authorities once he was found. “There are technical but important legal issues given that he has already been convicted,” he said.
The CIA’s top priority in Libya
[This is part of the headline over an article by Wayne Madsen published today on the Intrepid Report website. It reads in part:]
Intelligence files held by Qaddafi’s government on the 1988 downing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the files on negotiations on the release of accused bomber, former Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset al Megrahi, will also be a high priority for seizure by the CIA. The files, if released to the public, will show that it was Iran, not Libya, that was responsible for the 1988 downing of PanAm 103 and that it was President George H W Bush who ordered Libya be blamed to clear the way for a showdown with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein by absolving Iran of any blame and ensuring Tehran’s neutrality in the Operation Desert Storm showdown with Iraq.
There are now calls for Megrahi to be renditioned to the United States to stand trial for the PanAm 103 bombing. Megrahi was freed by the Scottish government in close consultation with Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government, because he was suffering from cancer and was believed to be terminally ill. However, it is believed that the deal was cut to give British Petroleum expanded access to Libyan oil fields and guarantee Libyan bailout funds for failed British banks. Libyan documents on the British-Libyan deals are also highly sought by the CIA and Britain’s MI-6 intelligence service.
A secret report that alleges that Megrahi was innocent of carrying out the PanAm 103 bombing is due to be released soon by the Commission (SCCRC). New Jersey senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both recipients of large amounts of Israeli campaign cash through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), have called for Megrahi to be extradited by the Libyan rebel government to stand trial in the United States for Lockerbie. However, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond stands by his decision to free Megrahi and any move by the United States to second-guess Scotland may result in frayed relations between the Scottish government and the United States, especially seen as important with Scotland’s government striving for independence from Britain and the US submarine base at Holy Loch a potential casualty of a fracture in relations between Washington and Edinburgh.
In the record of the CIA’s sordid operations in the Middle East, Operation Desert Storm led to Operation Iraqi Freedom and finally, Operation Mermaid Dawn, the capture of Tripoli by Libyan rebel forces. One of the casualties of Mermaid Dawn will be the continued secrecy of the power politics that led to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and now NATO’s proxies’ invasion and occupation of Libya.
Intelligence files held by Qaddafi’s government on the 1988 downing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland and the files on negotiations on the release of accused bomber, former Libyan intelligence agent Abdelbaset al Megrahi, will also be a high priority for seizure by the CIA. The files, if released to the public, will show that it was Iran, not Libya, that was responsible for the 1988 downing of PanAm 103 and that it was President George H W Bush who ordered Libya be blamed to clear the way for a showdown with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein by absolving Iran of any blame and ensuring Tehran’s neutrality in the Operation Desert Storm showdown with Iraq.
There are now calls for Megrahi to be renditioned to the United States to stand trial for the PanAm 103 bombing. Megrahi was freed by the Scottish government in close consultation with Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government, because he was suffering from cancer and was believed to be terminally ill. However, it is believed that the deal was cut to give British Petroleum expanded access to Libyan oil fields and guarantee Libyan bailout funds for failed British banks. Libyan documents on the British-Libyan deals are also highly sought by the CIA and Britain’s MI-6 intelligence service.
A secret report that alleges that Megrahi was innocent of carrying out the PanAm 103 bombing is due to be released soon by the Commission (SCCRC). New Jersey senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both recipients of large amounts of Israeli campaign cash through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), have called for Megrahi to be extradited by the Libyan rebel government to stand trial in the United States for Lockerbie. However, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond stands by his decision to free Megrahi and any move by the United States to second-guess Scotland may result in frayed relations between the Scottish government and the United States, especially seen as important with Scotland’s government striving for independence from Britain and the US submarine base at Holy Loch a potential casualty of a fracture in relations between Washington and Edinburgh.
In the record of the CIA’s sordid operations in the Middle East, Operation Desert Storm led to Operation Iraqi Freedom and finally, Operation Mermaid Dawn, the capture of Tripoli by Libyan rebel forces. One of the casualties of Mermaid Dawn will be the continued secrecy of the power politics that led to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and now NATO’s proxies’ invasion and occupation of Libya.
Should Mr Al-Megrahi be sent back to prison? Newsnight and the curious thoughts of Geoffrey Robertson QC
[This is the heading over a long article published today by Paul McConville on his blog Random Thoughts Re Scots (and Other) Law. It deals with last night's Newsnight Scotland segment on the issue of the fate of Abdelbaset Megrahi, featuring English QC Geoffrey Robertson and Scottish QC Gordon Jackson. After a detailed dissection of Robertson's contribution, the author concludes as follows:]
There is clearly great public interest in this issue. Mr Al-Megrahi stands convicted of a heinous crime and it appears that there are people looking for him to remove him from Libya.
However this debate was not helped by one of the contributors having no knowledge at all, it seemed, of the relevant legal rules applicable to the matter at hand. This could be contrasted with the later appearance on the programme of Lord Foulkes to discuss the differing university tuition fees charged in Scotland depending on the domicile of the student. His Lordship, notwithstanding a distinguished career in the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament, is not a lawyer. Legal niceties might understandably escape him.
Mr Robertson however does not have that excuse. His failure to acknowledge the “rule of law” in this matter is surprising given his very public stance regarding that doctrine over the years, and the rights people have to protect them from the vagaries or abuses of State power. I suspect John Cooke would not be demanding Mr Al-Megrahi’s return to Scottish imprisonment were he here today. [RB: Geoffrey Robertson is the author of a biography of Cooke and has recently written about him in The Guardian.]
Perhaps next time Newsnight Scotland considers having a lawyer on as a guest, they should ask if the person actually knows about what the topic under discussion is.
There is clearly great public interest in this issue. Mr Al-Megrahi stands convicted of a heinous crime and it appears that there are people looking for him to remove him from Libya.
However this debate was not helped by one of the contributors having no knowledge at all, it seemed, of the relevant legal rules applicable to the matter at hand. This could be contrasted with the later appearance on the programme of Lord Foulkes to discuss the differing university tuition fees charged in Scotland depending on the domicile of the student. His Lordship, notwithstanding a distinguished career in the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Scottish Parliament, is not a lawyer. Legal niceties might understandably escape him.
Mr Robertson however does not have that excuse. His failure to acknowledge the “rule of law” in this matter is surprising given his very public stance regarding that doctrine over the years, and the rights people have to protect them from the vagaries or abuses of State power. I suspect John Cooke would not be demanding Mr Al-Megrahi’s return to Scottish imprisonment were he here today. [RB: Geoffrey Robertson is the author of a biography of Cooke and has recently written about him in The Guardian.]
Perhaps next time Newsnight Scotland considers having a lawyer on as a guest, they should ask if the person actually knows about what the topic under discussion is.
If Megrahi is to be tried again, then let it be in the new Libya
[This is the headline over Iain Macwhirter's column in today's edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]
‘More bad news for Megrahi,” said the London newspaper headline.
“Scottish probation officers are on his trail.” I’m not sure the man convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in British history is exactly shaking in his wheelchair at the prospect of East Renfrewshire Council being on his case. Under the terms of his release from Greenock Prison two years ago, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi is supposed to be in regular contact, but I doubt if a crack team of special probation officers is preparing to be dropped into the war zone to track him down.
I would worry rather more about those reports in June that a deal has been struck between Barack Obama and the Libyan rebels to hand Megrahi over to American special forces so he can be extradited to America. There’s something of a bidding war underway among US politicians right now over bringing back the head of Megrahi.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, says he wants the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing seized and brought to face trial in America. This would raise some interesting legal issues, not least because Megrahi has already been convicted by a Scottish court in Camp Zeist in 2001 and the US doesn’t have any jurisdiction in Scots Law. Of course, the US Navy Seals have a tried and tested way of cutting through these legal technicalities, as the late Osama bin Laden discovered in Pakistan.
It’s all becoming just a little tasteless, this hot pursuit of a dying man. David Cameron, William Hague and Nick Clegg didn’t help by saying that they agreed Megrahi should be brought back to jail. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues have no jurisdiction here either and they would have been wiser to keep their traps shut. Many US politicians and Lockerbie parents believe the British Government shared responsibility for springing Megrahi in the first place.
The New York lawyer, James Kreindler, who has represented the Pan Am 103 victims is in no doubt. “It was all a scam so (British Petroleum) could get its oil leases for Libyan oil fields,” he said yesterday (...)
Of course, as we in Scotland know, oil and UK policy had nothing to do with the release of Megrahi in August 2009 by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill. He was released on compassionate grounds under due process of Scots Law on the basis of evidence from Dr Andrew Fraser, the director for health and care for the Scottish Prison Service, that Megrahi had only three months to live.
It’s hardly surprising the Americans find this account hard to swallow, and not just because Megrahi is still going strong two years on. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, admitted in February that Britain had pursued a covert policy to “discreetly” help the Libyans to repatriate Megrahi. The former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown was fully aware of this policy even as he condemned the Scottish Government for releasing Megrahi – one of the most blatant examples of diplomatic hypocrisy since, well, since Britain sold £100 million of arms to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, including tear gas and sniper rifles, while condemning his record on human rights.
No-one comes out of this affair untainted, except, of course, the victims. Even their families were criticised for accepting £1.7 billion in “blood money” from the Libyan government. The release of Megrahi has undoubtedly caused damage to Scotland’s image abroad, especially in the US, and has raised awkward questions about the competence of Scots Law. Perhaps, indeed, reopening the case could be the way to resolve this whole issue. But it has to be in Libya. It would surely be in the interests of everyone – victims, lawyers, politicians in America and Britain – if, rather than be assassinated by US special forces, or extradited to face an unfair trial in the America, Colonel Gaddafi’s former intelligence officer were to be tried on Libyan soil. He has a lot to tell the world about what had been going on under his watch. From IRA arms shipments, to bombs on planes. Hopefully, the Transitional National Council will see the opportunity here to begin the process of peace and conciliation by making Megrahi face trial in Tripoli.
In the end, they and only they have legal authority to hold Megrahi to account for actions that have so damaged Libya abroad and at home. American lawyers and Scottish civil rights activists would be free to provide the new Libyan prosecution service with all the evidence that has been collected on this extraordinary case over the last quarter century, including the evidence re-examined by the Scottish Criminal [Cases] Review Commission (SCCRC).
One reason why feelings run so high in America is that they still believe Megrahi really did bomb Pan Am 103 in 1988, killing 273 passengers. In Scotland, many prominent public figures, like the former Labour MP, Tam Dalyell, and Dr Jim Swire, of the Lockerbie victims’ groups, are adamant that there was a miscarriage of justice and that Megrahi is innocent.
Kenny MacAskill claims this climate of opinion didn’t influence his decision, but it provided the backdrop. He must have known the SCCRC also had serious doubts because it agreed to allow Megrahi the right to make another appeal. This was only abandoned when Megrahi was released on health grounds, thus saving Scottish law any further embarrassment. We will know more when the SCCRC report is published next month. But for most people the revelation that the key prosecution witness, Maltese shop owner Tony Gauci, had been offered large sums of money, perhaps $2m, to give evidence fatally undermines the prosecution case.
If there were to be another trial, all this could be re-examined and the conspiracies laid to rest. Assuming, of course, that Megrahi lives that long – as well he might since he is believed to be on expensive drugs that slow the progress of prostate cancer.
We don’t need lynch law here. The best way to honour the dead of Pan Am 103 would be to let the new democratic Libya settle its own account with its bloody past.
[In the same newspaper three letters appear on this subject, under the headline Cameron and Hague should keep their counsel on Megrahi’s future.]
‘More bad news for Megrahi,” said the London newspaper headline.
“Scottish probation officers are on his trail.” I’m not sure the man convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in British history is exactly shaking in his wheelchair at the prospect of East Renfrewshire Council being on his case. Under the terms of his release from Greenock Prison two years ago, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi is supposed to be in regular contact, but I doubt if a crack team of special probation officers is preparing to be dropped into the war zone to track him down.
I would worry rather more about those reports in June that a deal has been struck between Barack Obama and the Libyan rebels to hand Megrahi over to American special forces so he can be extradited to America. There’s something of a bidding war underway among US politicians right now over bringing back the head of Megrahi.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, says he wants the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing seized and brought to face trial in America. This would raise some interesting legal issues, not least because Megrahi has already been convicted by a Scottish court in Camp Zeist in 2001 and the US doesn’t have any jurisdiction in Scots Law. Of course, the US Navy Seals have a tried and tested way of cutting through these legal technicalities, as the late Osama bin Laden discovered in Pakistan.
It’s all becoming just a little tasteless, this hot pursuit of a dying man. David Cameron, William Hague and Nick Clegg didn’t help by saying that they agreed Megrahi should be brought back to jail. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues have no jurisdiction here either and they would have been wiser to keep their traps shut. Many US politicians and Lockerbie parents believe the British Government shared responsibility for springing Megrahi in the first place.
The New York lawyer, James Kreindler, who has represented the Pan Am 103 victims is in no doubt. “It was all a scam so (British Petroleum) could get its oil leases for Libyan oil fields,” he said yesterday (...)
Of course, as we in Scotland know, oil and UK policy had nothing to do with the release of Megrahi in August 2009 by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill. He was released on compassionate grounds under due process of Scots Law on the basis of evidence from Dr Andrew Fraser, the director for health and care for the Scottish Prison Service, that Megrahi had only three months to live.
It’s hardly surprising the Americans find this account hard to swallow, and not just because Megrahi is still going strong two years on. The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, admitted in February that Britain had pursued a covert policy to “discreetly” help the Libyans to repatriate Megrahi. The former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown was fully aware of this policy even as he condemned the Scottish Government for releasing Megrahi – one of the most blatant examples of diplomatic hypocrisy since, well, since Britain sold £100 million of arms to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, including tear gas and sniper rifles, while condemning his record on human rights.
No-one comes out of this affair untainted, except, of course, the victims. Even their families were criticised for accepting £1.7 billion in “blood money” from the Libyan government. The release of Megrahi has undoubtedly caused damage to Scotland’s image abroad, especially in the US, and has raised awkward questions about the competence of Scots Law. Perhaps, indeed, reopening the case could be the way to resolve this whole issue. But it has to be in Libya. It would surely be in the interests of everyone – victims, lawyers, politicians in America and Britain – if, rather than be assassinated by US special forces, or extradited to face an unfair trial in the America, Colonel Gaddafi’s former intelligence officer were to be tried on Libyan soil. He has a lot to tell the world about what had been going on under his watch. From IRA arms shipments, to bombs on planes. Hopefully, the Transitional National Council will see the opportunity here to begin the process of peace and conciliation by making Megrahi face trial in Tripoli.
In the end, they and only they have legal authority to hold Megrahi to account for actions that have so damaged Libya abroad and at home. American lawyers and Scottish civil rights activists would be free to provide the new Libyan prosecution service with all the evidence that has been collected on this extraordinary case over the last quarter century, including the evidence re-examined by the Scottish Criminal [Cases] Review Commission (SCCRC).
One reason why feelings run so high in America is that they still believe Megrahi really did bomb Pan Am 103 in 1988, killing 273 passengers. In Scotland, many prominent public figures, like the former Labour MP, Tam Dalyell, and Dr Jim Swire, of the Lockerbie victims’ groups, are adamant that there was a miscarriage of justice and that Megrahi is innocent.
Kenny MacAskill claims this climate of opinion didn’t influence his decision, but it provided the backdrop. He must have known the SCCRC also had serious doubts because it agreed to allow Megrahi the right to make another appeal. This was only abandoned when Megrahi was released on health grounds, thus saving Scottish law any further embarrassment. We will know more when the SCCRC report is published next month. But for most people the revelation that the key prosecution witness, Maltese shop owner Tony Gauci, had been offered large sums of money, perhaps $2m, to give evidence fatally undermines the prosecution case.
If there were to be another trial, all this could be re-examined and the conspiracies laid to rest. Assuming, of course, that Megrahi lives that long – as well he might since he is believed to be on expensive drugs that slow the progress of prostate cancer.
We don’t need lynch law here. The best way to honour the dead of Pan Am 103 would be to let the new democratic Libya settle its own account with its bloody past.
[In the same newspaper three letters appear on this subject, under the headline Cameron and Hague should keep their counsel on Megrahi’s future.]
US lawmakers urge new moves against Lockerbie bomber
[This is the headline over a Reuters news agency report issued yesterday evening. It reads in part:]
New York and New Jersey politicians are demanding that any new government in Tripoli extradite to the United States a Libyan official convicted in Britain for the December 1988 bombing of a US-bound airliner. (...)
Representative Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, called on the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council "to engage responsibly with the world community by extraditing Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to the United States to face justice for the Lockerbie bombing."
New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, also a Democrat, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggesting that if Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ever brought before the International Criminal Court, he should also be prosecuted, for ordering the Pan Am 103 bombing.
However, a representative of the TNC indicated the US discussion about Megrahi and Lockerbie is premature. In a written statement, Libyan ambassador Ali Aujali said: "Before we can deliver justice to Gaddafi's many victims, we must first bring down the regime and then turn to the important work of forming a new government, writing a constitution, and establishing the rule of law."
"The Libyan people, the TNC will obviously have to look at this when they can," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
"The secretary's made clear this guy should be behind bars. The Department of Justice has the lead on these issues," she said. "No decisions have been made, we have to let Justice do its job here and we also have to have a Libyan government back in Tripoli before these conversations can happen." (...)
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd, said: "We remain firmly committed to bringing to justice everyone who may have been involved in the Pan Am 103 bombing. The Justice Department investigation into the Pan Am 103 bombing that was initiated on December 21, 1988 remains open and active."
While the decision to release Megrahi was made by Scottish officials, documents published by the Scottish government indicated that officials of the British government, which at the time was headed by Labor Party prime minister Gordon Brown, supported the Scottish decision.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington sought to distance Britain's current Conservative leader, David Cameron, from the Megrahi release decision, saying that the "Prime Minister has made clear that the Scottish Government decision to release Al-Megrahi was wrong and misguided."
But the spokesperson added that Britain had "no mechanism in place to request a person who has been released on compassionate grounds to be returned to prison if they have survived for longer than the period diagnosed by the relevant medical authorities."
New York and New Jersey politicians are demanding that any new government in Tripoli extradite to the United States a Libyan official convicted in Britain for the December 1988 bombing of a US-bound airliner. (...)
Representative Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, called on the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council "to engage responsibly with the world community by extraditing Abdel Baset al-Megrahi to the United States to face justice for the Lockerbie bombing."
New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, also a Democrat, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggesting that if Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ever brought before the International Criminal Court, he should also be prosecuted, for ordering the Pan Am 103 bombing.
However, a representative of the TNC indicated the US discussion about Megrahi and Lockerbie is premature. In a written statement, Libyan ambassador Ali Aujali said: "Before we can deliver justice to Gaddafi's many victims, we must first bring down the regime and then turn to the important work of forming a new government, writing a constitution, and establishing the rule of law."
"The Libyan people, the TNC will obviously have to look at this when they can," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
"The secretary's made clear this guy should be behind bars. The Department of Justice has the lead on these issues," she said. "No decisions have been made, we have to let Justice do its job here and we also have to have a Libyan government back in Tripoli before these conversations can happen." (...)
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd, said: "We remain firmly committed to bringing to justice everyone who may have been involved in the Pan Am 103 bombing. The Justice Department investigation into the Pan Am 103 bombing that was initiated on December 21, 1988 remains open and active."
While the decision to release Megrahi was made by Scottish officials, documents published by the Scottish government indicated that officials of the British government, which at the time was headed by Labor Party prime minister Gordon Brown, supported the Scottish decision.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington sought to distance Britain's current Conservative leader, David Cameron, from the Megrahi release decision, saying that the "Prime Minister has made clear that the Scottish Government decision to release Al-Megrahi was wrong and misguided."
But the spokesperson added that Britain had "no mechanism in place to request a person who has been released on compassionate grounds to be returned to prison if they have survived for longer than the period diagnosed by the relevant medical authorities."
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
UK deputy PM wants Lockerbie bomber back in jail
[This is the headline over a Reuters news agency report issued this afternoon. It reads in part:]
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Wednesday he would like to see convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi put back in jail after the overthow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Many US politicians and victims' relatives are pressing for Megrahi's extradition to the United States following his release on compassionate grounds two years ago. (...)
"My personal view is that I would like to see al Megrahi behind bars, because whatever you think he was convicted in a court of law for one of the most atrocious terrorist acts this country has ever seen," Clegg told Sky TV. [RB: That "whatever you think" is interesting. Is it perhaps a reference to the widespread disquiet about the conviction -- disquiet shared most significantly by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission?] (...)
Prime Minister David Cameron, who took office in May 2010, has called the release a mistake.
However, Scotland has responsibility for its own legal system following devolution in 1999.
"At the end of the day this is an issue for the Scottish government alone," said Clegg.
Scottish government sources said Megrahi had abided by the licence terms of his release -- submitting regular medical reports and reporting in though telephone conference calls.
[A related report appears on the BBC News website. In it Dr Jim Swire is quoted as follows:]
"I think he is at great risk of being assassinated, either by the incoming rebels or perhaps being snatched by an American special forces team - I can't know which is the most likely.
"But if he escapes that the question will be how will the rebels - when they are victorious - deal with him?"
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Wednesday he would like to see convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi put back in jail after the overthow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Many US politicians and victims' relatives are pressing for Megrahi's extradition to the United States following his release on compassionate grounds two years ago. (...)
"My personal view is that I would like to see al Megrahi behind bars, because whatever you think he was convicted in a court of law for one of the most atrocious terrorist acts this country has ever seen," Clegg told Sky TV. [RB: That "whatever you think" is interesting. Is it perhaps a reference to the widespread disquiet about the conviction -- disquiet shared most significantly by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission?] (...)
Prime Minister David Cameron, who took office in May 2010, has called the release a mistake.
However, Scotland has responsibility for its own legal system following devolution in 1999.
"At the end of the day this is an issue for the Scottish government alone," said Clegg.
Scottish government sources said Megrahi had abided by the licence terms of his release -- submitting regular medical reports and reporting in though telephone conference calls.
[A related report appears on the BBC News website. In it Dr Jim Swire is quoted as follows:]
"I think he is at great risk of being assassinated, either by the incoming rebels or perhaps being snatched by an American special forces team - I can't know which is the most likely.
"But if he escapes that the question will be how will the rebels - when they are victorious - deal with him?"
The Megrahi debate: justice done or justice denied?
[This is the main heading over a page in today's edition of the Scottish Review. It contains interesting contributions from Labour-supporting Brian Fitzpatrick; SNP-supporting David McEwan Hill; and Dr Alasdair Galloway. This last item addresses recent criticisms of the medical evidence on which Kenny MacAskill acted. It reads as follows:]
Its interesting that Dr Simpson's comments on Megrahi's release should appear within a few days of the intervention by Professor Roger Kirby, who has suggested that much of the reason for his survival can be explained by the use of a hormone drug that isn't available in the UK even now. Professor Kirby refers specifically to abiraterone which he says 'is transforming the prospects for patients with advanced prostate cancer. They just are living longer and longer'. However, he then goes on to condemn the decision to offer a three month prognosis since treatment advances could keep him alive for several years.
This point of view seems to be extremely unfair for several reasons. First of all abiraterone is not, and was not then, available in the UK, so Megrahi couldn’t have been treated with it, either then or now. Moreover, as with many other such advanced treatments, there may well be a high cost associated, and it's very easy to imagine the furore there would have been had Megrahi been medically treated at that sort of cost.
This leads on to the issue of what question Dr Fraser and his colleagues were required to address. Were they asked to consider what his prognosis would be as a prisoner in Greenock Prison? Or were they asked to give an estimate of his survival were he to be released and returned to Libya? The problem with the latter question is that those charged with answering it have no idea and no control over what treatment he might receive in Libya. The only treatment regime they could be sure of, would be that extended to him in the UK prison system. Given that the specific treatment Professor Kirby refers to was not available, and that it is very likely there would have been serious political ructions if it had been made available to him, then, even on the basis of Professor Kirby’s argument, had he not been treated with abiraterone (or similar) it does seem more likely that he would have succumbed by now.
Dr Simpson, as we know, had serious doubts about the prognosis at the time, but with his considerable expertise in this area of medicine, I am sure he knows that prognosis with advanced cancer is more art form than science. He also knows that a comparison of Megrahi’s survival in Libya – with his family around him, not to mention the different treatment regimes that he will be on – to his likely survival in Greenock is a classic comparison of an apple with a pear.
I have no background in medical matters, but it does seem obvious that a longer life span could have been predicted for Megrahi back in Libya. But since Dr Fraser had no knowledge or control over Megrahi’s conditions in Libya, it seems reasonable for him to have addressed the question of prognosis on the basis of his continuing imprisonment at Greenock. Therefore, perhaps we need to understand the prognosis of three months as being 'if he continues to be held in Greenock Prison, his life expectancy is approximately three months'. To contrast that with the outcome at home in Libya is not comparing like with like.
Its interesting that Dr Simpson's comments on Megrahi's release should appear within a few days of the intervention by Professor Roger Kirby, who has suggested that much of the reason for his survival can be explained by the use of a hormone drug that isn't available in the UK even now. Professor Kirby refers specifically to abiraterone which he says 'is transforming the prospects for patients with advanced prostate cancer. They just are living longer and longer'. However, he then goes on to condemn the decision to offer a three month prognosis since treatment advances could keep him alive for several years.
This point of view seems to be extremely unfair for several reasons. First of all abiraterone is not, and was not then, available in the UK, so Megrahi couldn’t have been treated with it, either then or now. Moreover, as with many other such advanced treatments, there may well be a high cost associated, and it's very easy to imagine the furore there would have been had Megrahi been medically treated at that sort of cost.
This leads on to the issue of what question Dr Fraser and his colleagues were required to address. Were they asked to consider what his prognosis would be as a prisoner in Greenock Prison? Or were they asked to give an estimate of his survival were he to be released and returned to Libya? The problem with the latter question is that those charged with answering it have no idea and no control over what treatment he might receive in Libya. The only treatment regime they could be sure of, would be that extended to him in the UK prison system. Given that the specific treatment Professor Kirby refers to was not available, and that it is very likely there would have been serious political ructions if it had been made available to him, then, even on the basis of Professor Kirby’s argument, had he not been treated with abiraterone (or similar) it does seem more likely that he would have succumbed by now.
Dr Simpson, as we know, had serious doubts about the prognosis at the time, but with his considerable expertise in this area of medicine, I am sure he knows that prognosis with advanced cancer is more art form than science. He also knows that a comparison of Megrahi’s survival in Libya – with his family around him, not to mention the different treatment regimes that he will be on – to his likely survival in Greenock is a classic comparison of an apple with a pear.
I have no background in medical matters, but it does seem obvious that a longer life span could have been predicted for Megrahi back in Libya. But since Dr Fraser had no knowledge or control over Megrahi’s conditions in Libya, it seems reasonable for him to have addressed the question of prognosis on the basis of his continuing imprisonment at Greenock. Therefore, perhaps we need to understand the prognosis of three months as being 'if he continues to be held in Greenock Prison, his life expectancy is approximately three months'. To contrast that with the outcome at home in Libya is not comparing like with like.
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