[This is the headline over a report published (behind the paywall) in today's Scottish edition of The Times. It reads in part:]
Scotland’s Lord Advocate has opened a dramatic new chapter in the Lockerbie saga by formally seeking evidence from the new Libyan authorities which could lead to a second trial for the atrocity, The Times has learnt.
Scotland’s Lord Advocate has opened a dramatic new chapter in the Lockerbie saga by formally seeking evidence from the new Libyan authorities which could lead to a second trial for the atrocity, The Times has learnt.
Frank
Mulholland, QC, has made the move in the growing belief that the Libyan
National Transitional Council (NTC) in Tripoli will release key
evidence and testimony relating to the blowing up of Pan Am Flight 103.
Scottish
prosecutors believe that the co-operation of the NTC will provide them
with the vital evidence they need to convict those who acted along with
Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in committing the terrorist act.
In
particular, the Crown Office is keen to obtain further evidence against
Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the man who originally stood trial for the
terrorist atrocity alongside al-Megrahi, but was acquitted of any
involvement.
Confirming the Lord Advocate’s approach to Libya’s new political
leaders, a spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The Crown will continue
to pursue lines of enquiry that become available and following recent
events in Libya has asked the National Transitional Council, through the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for assistance with the investigation.
In particular we have asked the NTC to make available to the Crown any
documentary evidence and witnesses, which could assist in the ongoing
enquiries.”
Mr Mulholland’s move reveals growing confidence within
the Crown Office that it can secure further convictions over the
Lockerbie bombing.
The Lord Advocate set up a specialist unit
earlier this year charged with gathering evidence against Mr Fhimah, 55,
after MSPs paved the way for a retrial by scrapping the country’s
800-year-old double-jeopardy law.
Mr Fhimah recently attempted to
side publicly with the Libyan rebels as the Gaddafi regime fell, in what
was seen as a desperate attempt to persuade them not to hand him over
to the Scottish authorities.
As the Crown Office has stepped up
efforts to secure evidence against him, Mr Fhimah also used an interview in a Swedish newspaper to deny any involvement in the Lockerbie
bombing. (...)
Colonel Gaddafi’s former justice minister, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, who
claimed to have evidence of Gaddafi’s involvement in the Lockerbie
outrage, is now one of the leaders of the NTC.
William Hague, the
Foreign Secretary, said Mr Jalil pleged his full co-operation with the
UK authorities when the two men met in London last month.
Although
some members of the NTC have rejected calls for the suspect in the
killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher to be handed over — or for Megrahi to be
returned to jail — the Crown Office is hopeful that it will take a
different approach in relation to the Lockerbie suspects, who have
remained loyal to Gaddafi until the final days of his regime.
Mr Fhimah was given a hero’s welcome by Gaddafi when he returned to Libya following his acquittal at the trial in the Hague.
Al-Megrahi’s
co-accused had been accused of helping to place the bomb in the baggage
system of the New York-bound plane while it was at an airport in Malta.
However,
Mr Fhimah’s defence argued that the case against him amounted to
“inference upon inference upon inference upon inference ... leading to
an inference”.
Earlier this year, Scottish police questioned the former Libyan
foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who has defected from the Gaddafi regime
and is believed to hold key information about the 1988 attack. Mr
Fhimah is understood to have formed a central part of their questioning
of Mr Koussa.
Other suspects in the case include Abdullah Senussi,
Colonel Gadaffi’s brother-in-law who headed Libya’s intelligence
services and was al-Megrahi’s immediate boss.
Ibrahim Nayili,
Libya’s former head of airline security, is also on the list of
potential suspects. He is said to have put al-Megrahi in contact with
potential sources of arms and aircraft components.
However, Sa’id
Rashid, who is suspected by US intelligence staff of being “the senior
government official who orchestrated the attack”, is believed to have
died during the current uprising.
Izz Aldin Hinshiri, a former
Libyan minister said to have taken possession of timers that may have
been used in the Lockerbie attack, may also be dead.
[This story has now been picked up on the BBC News website. The first paragraph of a commentary on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm by the editor, Steven Raeburn, reads as follows:]
[This story has now been picked up on the BBC News website. The first paragraph of a commentary on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm by the editor, Steven Raeburn, reads as follows:]
This morning’s announcement from the Crown Office that they have
contacted Libya’s newly changed regime in an effort to seek “assistance
with the investigation” into the Pan Am 103 atrocity is a dangerous,
disgraceful and disrespectful charade.