And what has this to do with the guilt of Megrahi?

[What follows is the text of an e-mail received by me this evening from the president of Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc, Frank Duggan (not himself a Lockerbie relative):]

Prof Black - this is a mind boggling list of reprehensible acts performed by Gadhafi and his state-sponsored murderers -  your clients. I am sure this will not wind up on your fawning website, but you might just peruse what he has done this year during his attempts to slaughter the citizens who finally rose up against his rule.

This is disgraceful, and so are you.

Frank Duggan

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B-B_2d4pgCD9YWQ5YTNhOTgtNzcyYy00NjY4LTkyZDUtYWJhNjBlZjYxZmRj&hl=en&authkey=COiSmpUN&pli=1

Bromsgrove father of Lockerbie victim remains resolute in quest for truth

[This is the headline over the first part of a special report featuring Dr Jim Swire published today on the website of the Birmingham Mail. The remaining two parts are to be published later. The second part of the special report can now - Wednesday, 26 October - be read here. The third part can now - Thursday, 27 October - be read here.

An article headlined Former Bromsgrove doctor says Gaddafi's involvement in Lockerbie remains unclear published today on the website of the Bromsgrove Advertiser contains the following:]

Dr Jim Swire, formerly of Pikes Pool Lane and whose 23-year-old daughter Flora was killed in the 1988 bombing, has always campaigned for justice for the only man convicted of the atrocity, Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. 

He suspects Iranian involvement, and believes Lockerbie was used to “get revenge” on Gaddafi. 

Speaking to the Advertiser, Dr Swire said: “I am satisfied al-Megrahi is innocent, but we have no idea whether Gaddafi was ever involved or not. 

“The world was misled about Lockerbie and I still believe Libya is a side issue. 

“The problem we now have is the documents that will come out of Tripoli and Libya, following Gaddafi’s death, need to be checked thoroughly as things could be planted to support the American view.” 

Dr Swire has always campaigned for justice for al-Megrahi ever since attending his trial.(...)

“I am hoping to stir up the Scottish population - it would be a major step,” he said. 

“If Scotland wants to become a separate nation it needs to have a free fair justice system, which requires a review of the Lockerbie verdict.”

Salmond trade trip defended against Megrahi claims

[This is the headline over a report published in today's edition of The Herald.  It reads in part:]

The Scottish Government has been forced to defend a trip Alex Salmond will make to the Middle East this week to promote Scottish business, in the face of continuing criticism over the release of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

The Scottish Government insists the trade trip is just that – a chance for high-end Scottish firms to make an impact in a wealthy region of the world.

A leading Scots law firm is involved, as is the opening of a Scottish University faculty in the region.

But critics of the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi from prison last year and allow his return to Libya on compassionate grounds raised questions about the “extent Mr Salmond is willing to go to to cajole Arab financial support”. 

John Lamont, Conservative MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, said: “The last time Alex Salmond travelled to the Arab states to seek investment for Scotland he discussed the release of Mr Megrahi. 

“As he has a history of going off topic it is important that thorough notes and minutes of meetings held on the trip are taken and subsequently published.

A Scottish Government aide responded: “This is astonishing hypocrisy from the Tories. The only people who suggested anything improper to the Scottish Government was the Tory peer Lord Trefgarne, who wanted commercial interests to play a part in a decision in favour of Mr Megrahi’s release, and the Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski who wrote to the Justice Secretary saying Megrahi should be used as a foreign policy ‘bargaining chip’.”

The First Minister said: “Scottish companies are operating in a highly competitive global economy, and they are raising their international aspirations to enable them to become more successful.

“The Middle East offers huge potential and Scottish companies can take advantage of the outstanding opportunities that are available.”

Mr Salmond will open the offices of Scottish international law firm McGrigors in Qatar on Sunday (...) and on Thursday, he will open Heriot-Watt’s new campus outside the city. 

[A similar report in The Scotsman can be read here.]

Man who could hold answers to Lockerbie atrocity found in Qatar

[This is the headline over a report published today on the website of the Birmingham Post.  It reads in part:]

The man who the father of a Midland Lockerbie victim believes could hold crucial answers about the atrocity has been traced to a luxury resort in Qatar.

Musa Kusa is believed to have been an intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 Lockerbie bomb in which 270 people were killed.

He made a high-profile defection to Britain in March and was interviewed by police and Scottish prosecutors investigating the bombing.

He left the country following an EU decision to lift sanctions against him, meaning he no longer faces travel restrictions or an asset freeze. (...)

The Foreign Office said Kusa was a “private individual” who had been interviewed voluntarily.

Dr Jim Swire, from Worcestershire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the bombing, said that if anyone could offer any insight into the “huge questions still unanswered” on Libya’s role in Lockerbie, it would be Mr Kusa.

He said: “When I met Musa Kusa in Libya in 1991 it was clear to me he was the guy who was central to the Gaddafi administration.

“He could tell us just as much as Gaddafi about Lockerbie as he was at the core of the regime.

“He was a very, very key figure and we need answers as to why he was allowed to fly back and any probing over his crimes should be done by the International Criminal Court.”

Pamela Dix, who lost her 35-year-old brother Peter in the atrocity, said she was “incensed” at Mr Kusa being allowed to leave Britain in the first place.

She said: “We cannot turn a politically pragmatic blind eye.

“I do not know what Musa Kusa knows or does not know about Lockerbie but he needs to come back to answer those questions.

“I condemn the attitude of the UK Government in the strongest possible terms. A political hands-off attitude is inappropriate.”

Hillary Clinton: We want to see him returned to prison

[According to a transcript just released by the US Department of State, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the course of an interview for ABC's This Week, said the following:]

QUESTION: What about the bomber of Pan Am 104 [sic], al-Megrahi, who was freed and brought back to Libya. Do you want to see him recaptured, re-imprisoned, and if so, where? In Libya or in the United States or in Britain or Scotland?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Christiane, I never thought he should have been released in the first place. I’ve raised this with the highest levels of the TNC. I will raise it with the new Libyan government. We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland where he was serving the sentence, but if not, elsewhere, because we thought it was a miscarriage of justice that he was released from the sentence that had been imposed for the ghastly bombing of Pan Am 103.

[This story features in a report headed Clinton wants Megrahi back in Scottish jail in the edition of The Herald for Monday 24 October.]

Father of Lockerbie bombing victim says Gaddafi's son must stand trial

[This is the headline over a report published in today's edition of the Sunday Mail (not to be confused with the Mail on Sunday). It reads in part:]

Lockerbie campaigner Jim Swire has called for the son of dead tyrant Colonel Gaddafi to be put on trial to finally reveal the truth about the 1988 atrocity.

Dr Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, believes the dictator’s favourite son will know who was responsible.

In an exclusive interview, he said he feared that documents about Lockerbie being released from Libya could be faked by the CIA. 

He also revealed how he tried to help save the life of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who he doesn’t believe is responsible for the bombing.

Mahmud Nacua, charge d’affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, has promised the new regime will offer full disclosure to the Lockerbie families.

He said all files relating to Lockerbie and Gaddafi’s other crimes would be released.

But Dr Swire said: “I believe we should treat material coming out of Libya just now with great caution. There is a lot of material coming out, but all of it is a little suspect.

“There is an awful lot of people trying to settle scores with Gaddafi. Tripoli is a very dangerous place at the moment, with a lot of people looking someone to get even with, most of them brandishing Kalashnikovs.

“We should be careful about stories coming from Libya just now, even if it is from the Libyan ambassador in London.” (...)

But Dr Swire believes [Megrahi] is innocent and that Iran bombed the jet as revenge for the shooting down of an Iranair flight by a US missile five months earlier.

He said: “The CIA want the story about Libya being responsible for Lockerbie to remain valid in the public’s mind.

“They are perfectly capable of planting documents in Libya, or anywhere else they want to, and making them look authentic. Any documents that come out of that area will have to be vetted to see if they are genuine or not.”

Gaddafi’s favourite son Saif al-Islam, 39, is reported to be fighting for life in hospital after being critically injured during an RAF bombing raid.(...)

Dr Swire said Saif should be tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity if he recovers.

Dr Swire said: “I don’t know how, if at all, Gaddafi was involved in the Lockerbie disaster. I am satisfied his man Megrahi had no involvement.

“But some people tell me Gaddafi paid for the Lockerbie bombing. Others have told me he wasn’t involved.

“The way to go would be to get Saif out of Libya and for him to appear before the International Criminal Court.

“Saif knew everything his father was up to. He could, if he wished to, spill the beans about any part his father played in Lockerbie.

“I find it easy to be fond of Libyans, but I don’t think the world would believe a trial in Libya, particularly in its present demoralised and chaotic state, would be a fair one for anyone arraigned over the question of Lockerbie.” (...)

Leading human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, who represented the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, is trying to have Megrahi’s conviction overturned and get a full public inquiry held.

Dr Swire said she has received copies of documents from Libya, passed to her by Human Rights Watch.

Dr Swire said: “She has a stack of paper about eight inches deep and she and her firm will be wading through them.”

[An article by Dr Franklin Lamb on steps being taken to secure that Saif-al Islam Gaddafi survives to stand trial and does not suffer the same fate as his father can be read here.]

Gaddafi's spy chief 'personally tortured' prisoners

[This is the headline over a report published today on the BBC News website.  It reads in part:]

Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief who fled to Britain in March personally tortured political prisoners in Libya, the BBC's Panorama has been told.

Moussa Koussa was the slain ex-leader's right hand man and the key liaison with British intelligence in the aftermath of 9/11 when Libya sought new allies.

He has also been accused of involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

The BBC traced Koussa to a luxury hotel in Qatar but he refused to respond to the new allegations of torture.

In Libya, Muftah Al Thawadi told the programme that he was personally tortured by Koussa in 1996 in Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison.

"While I was being questioned Moussa Koussa was electrocuting me in my neck with the electric rod," he said of the interrogation.

In subsequent years, Moussa Koussa played a lead role in negotiations with British and American intelligence services over Libya's move to denounce terrorism and give up its weapons of mass destruction.

After the fall of Tripoli in early September, workers from Human Rights Watch uncovered documentation in Moussa Koussa's former office that revealed the extent of his ties to western intelligence services relating to the War on Terror.

The documentation revealed details of the kidnapping and rendition of suspected terrorists. (...)

Mr Thawadi said that, in the case of Moussa Koussa, it was time Western governments acknowledged who they were doing business with and forced him to face justice.

"He is a murderer and a criminal and his only concern was that this corrupt regime which ruled Libya with iron and fire should remain in power. Moussa Koussa practised torture.

"It is imperative that the West, whether it is government or people, must hand over this criminal to justice and he must receive his punishment," he added. (...)

Panorama: "Britain, Gaddafi and the Torture Trail", BBC One, Monday, 24 October at 2030BST and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

Gadhafi's death won't end Lockerbie controversy

[This is the headline over a report published overnight on the website of The Catholic Register.  It reads in part:]

The death of Moammar Gadhafi will do nothing to end years of controversy over the Lockerbie bombing, said the priest who served in the Scottish town in 1988.

Fr Patrick Keegans, now the administrator of St Mary Cathedral in Ayr, Scotland, said he regretted that the Libyan dictator was not allowed to live to stand trial for the "atrocities and crimes" he might have committed.

He also said that Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, will take to his grave valuable information about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and knowledge of who was truly culpable of the attack. (...)

Gadhafi was captured alive Oct. 20 by rebels in a drainage pipe outside the Libyan city of Sirte. He later died, although reports of how and when he died vary.

In an Oct 21 telephone interview with Catholic News Service, Keegans said Gadhafi "must have had information about who was the Lockerbie bomber," adding that the question of the guilt of the Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the bombing, remained unresolved.

The priest said he would continue to demand a full inquiry into the fairness of al-Megrahi's 2002 trial. The former Libyan intelligence officer was jailed for a minimum of 27 years.

"We would like the truth of what happened even though Gadhafi has died," Keegans said. "It is very convenient for some governments that Gadhafi has died because they clearly had connections with him that were rather suspect.

"I am talking about the British government and the US governments."

All the "evidence points to the innocence" of al-Megrahi, he added. "There was a verdict (of guilty) but that verdict was very, very suspect, and he and all the victims of Lockerbie deserve a full inquiry into the trial ... and a review of all the evidence and other facts that have come to light since then."

 Al-Megrahi, 59, who has maintained his innocence, was released from jail after seven years and returned to Libya in August 2009 on the grounds that he was suffering from prostate cancer and had just months to live. But just weeks ago, he was able gave an interview to Reuters news agency from his bedside in Tripoli. (...)

Keegans, a priest of the diocese of Galloway, befriended al-Megrahi during prison visits and became convinced of his innocence.

Libyan secret files to be made public, says envoy

[A report published today on the website of the London Evening Standard contains the following:]

Yvonne Fletcher's alleged killers will face justice in Libya, the country's top diplomat said today.

In an exclusive interview, Mahmud Nacua told the Standard: "They will face justice in Libya, not in Britain.

"Libya is an independent country, it has its constitution, it has its law, its lawyers."

He also said that "secret files" on the 1984 murder of Pc Fletcher, the Lockerbie bombing and Gaddafi-sponsored assassinations in London will soon be made public.

Relatives demand evidence linking despot to Lockerbie handed over

[This is the headline over an article in today's edition of The Herald.  It reads in part:]

Libya’s new Government must hand over evidence it claims proves Gaddafi’s involvement in the Lockerbie bombing, relatives of those killed have demanded.

Many expressed regret that the brutal dictator could now never reveal what he knew of the atrocity.

But the Libyan rebels faced calls to release all information they hold about the worst terrorist attack ever committed on UK soil, including evidence that led the head of the new Government to claim he had proof of Gaddafi’s guilt.

The calls came as the National Transitional Council (NTC) claimed Gaddafi’s death had “drawn a curtain” over his crimes.

That view appeared to be at odds with that of the Coalition Government, who said contact with the Libyans over Lockerbie was “ongoing”.

There was outrage last month when the NTC claimed that the Lockerbie case was closed.

It followed a request from the Crown Office for help with its inquiries into the bombing.

Following the outcry, however, the rebels changed their mind, saying they would help Scottish prosecutors.

But Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, suggested they were being less than forthcoming.

He said the relatives of those who died had received no help from the NTC, and called on the organisation to disclose everything it knows.

Earlier this year Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the NTC and Gaddafi’s former justice minister, said he had evidence of the dictator’s involvement in the bombing.

Dr Swire said: “The leader of the NTC has claimed that he has evidence implying Gaddafi’s guilt in the Lockerbie atrocity.

“If so maybe we should see it and be able to assess it.”

An “opportunity has been lost” to find out the truth about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 22, 1988, which claimed 270 lives, he said.

Father Patrick Keegans, the priest in Lockerbie at the time of the disaster, agreed.

“It really would have been preferable if he had been captured alive to have been able to bring some light and truth to bear on what happened with Pan Am 103,” he said. “Some governments will be relieved because they may have been implicated.”

But Professor Robert Black, QC, the architect of the Camp Zeist trial which convicted Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al Megrahi of the Lockerbie bombing, and who believes that the Libyan is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, said: “I don’t think this really makes a difference to the Lockerbie case.

“If people are expecting that lots of new information will now become available, I simply don’t think that is going to happen.

“You have got to appreciate where I am coming from on this, that Megrahi wasn’t involved [in Lockerbie] and I have seen no convincing evidence that Libya was involved.”

Speaking about Gaddafi, he said: “There is absolutely no debate that he was heavily engaged in terrorist activities and he may well have known about how Lockerbie happened through his contacts to terrorists.”

A Crown Office spokesman said they “stood ready” to investigate any new leads.

But another family member of one of the victims said that standing ready was not enough.

Pamela Dix, who lost her 35-year-old brother Peter in the Lockerbie bombing, said: “It must be a very chaotic time in Libya at the moment and of course this [the Lockerbie bombing] is not going to be a high priority for the authorities there just now.

“But when it has settled down I do not want the Scottish Government just to stand ready. I want them to be pro-active and not just wait to see what emerges.”

She added: “I think it is too soon to tell what difference this will make with the Lockerbie situation. It might be the case that Gaddafi knew a great deal about what happened. I don’t know yet if it changes anything for the families who have lost loved ones.

“However, what I would say is that if he did know something, he is unlikely to be the only one who did. “We are still advocating full disclosure of the facts.” (...)

Under the conditions of his release, Megrahi, who was released from Scotland to Libya after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, must keep regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council. In light of Gaddafi’s death, a spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Our position with regards to the monitoring of Megrahi remains the same.”

Mahmud Nacua, charge d’affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, suggested the new regime would offer full disclosure to the families.

“When we are stable all the files of the crimes that have been committed by Gaddafi will open,” he said. “Everything will be known to the world what happened in the time of Gaddafi.”

'That's for Lockerbie': Press cheers Kadhafi demise

[This is the headline over a report on the UK press's treatment of the death of Gaddafi published by the Agence France Presse news agency. It reads in part:]

The death of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi is a triumph which serves as a warning to other Middle East dictators, but concerns linger over the embattled nation's future, media said Friday.

Newspapers also lauded Britain's role in bringing about the long-serving ruler's downfall, but public opinion appeared to be more muted.

"That's for Lockerbie", populist tabloid The Sun ran as its headline, above a picture of Kadhafi's dead body, in reference to the 1988 bombing of a US passenger jet over a Scottish town which killed 270 people.

The Times' editorial praised the "bravery of the Libyan people" and the "equally honourable" actions of Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for the "swift and timely aid offered in their struggle."

The Rupert Murdoch-owned title also recognised the "bravery, restraint and determination" of Britain's armed forces, who helped avert a massacre "on the scale of Srebrenica" in the once-besieged town of Benghazi.

However, only 42 percent of Guardian readers who took part in an online poll said they were proud of Britain's involvement in Kadhafi's fall from grace.

Uncertainties remain over the circumstances of Kadhafi's demise, but The Times reasoned his death was the preferable outcome as a trial "would probably have revealed little that the world did not already know".

Fellow broadsheet The Daily Telegraph suggested the death had helped redraw the political map of the restive region.

Kadhafi's ousting, along with those of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, had "undeniably transformed the politics of the Arab world, and we will need to adjust accordingly," its editorial said.

"For those despots still clinging to power in the region, notably Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the bloodied corpse of Kadhafi should serve as a chilling incentive to political reform," it added.

The left-leaning Guardian agreed that "there could have been no more prophetic sight for the tyrants who remain" than that of Kadhafi's body being carried away on a truck.

"This may well be the fate that awaits Assad or Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh, and they must now know it," the paper's editorial continued.

Looking to the future, the paper urged Libya's new leaders "to remake a future which guarantees both human rights at home and independence from foreign interference.

"This is a tall order in a country with no democratic tradition and lots of oil," it cautioned. "The next chapter in the history of Libya has now begun."

The Times advised Britain to "offer the hand of friendship to the National Transitional Council (NTC)", the republic's provisional government.

It also called for perseverance in the face of the "squalls of conflicting ambitions, exaggerated popular expectations and Islamist manoeuvrings" which now appear inevitable.

[A summary of international media reaction can be found on the website of The Tripoli Post.

One of the reports in today's edition of The Herald contains the following:]

David Cameron described it as a “momentous day” in which all of the dictator’s victims should be remembered, including those killed in the Lockerbie bombing, PC Yvonne Fletcher, gunned down outside the Libyan embassy in London, and all those killed by the IRA using Libyan Semtex explosives.

For its part Libya’s interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), claimed Gaddafi’s death had “drawn a curtain” over his crimes.

But it faced immediate pressure from victims to disclose all the evidence it has on his involvement in atrocities, including the Lockerbie bombing.

Despite a claim earlier this year from the head of the NTC he had proof of Gaddafi’s guilt over Lockerbie, that information has never been disclosed to families, said Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing.

An MP also claimed last night the death of the Libyan leader paved the way for the settlement of legal claims by IRA victims.

[A report in The Scotsman contains the following:]

Family members of those who died in the 1988 bombing, described the former dictator’s death as a “missed opportunity” to hold him to account.

Reverend John Mosey, who lost his 19-year-old daughter Helga in the attack, said: “I would much rather that Gaddafi had remained alive so that he could be tried, because I am a great believer in the law. Had he remained alive, we might also have been able to get some answers to the many questions that still remain over Lockerbie.” 

Rev Mosey believes Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – the man convicted over the Lockerbie bombing – is innocent of the crime, and Gaddafi could have shed light on who was responsible.

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, is similarly minded.

He said: “I would have loved to have seen Gaddafi appear in front of the International Criminal Court both to answer charges against his gross treatment of his own people and of citizens murdered abroad by his thugs.

“But I would also have loved to have heard about what Gaddafi knew about the Lockerbie atrocity.”

Jim Swire's reaction when it was thought Gaddafi had been taken alive

[What follows is the text of a commentary written by Dr Jim Swire for The Herald at a time when it was thought that Colonel Gaddafi had been captured alive. A revised version, prepared once it was confirmed that he had been killed, should appear in tomorrow's edition of the newspaper.]

At the time of writing it appears that Colonel Gaddafi should survive his injuries, though there will be many around him now with scores to settle. 

His record of torture and execution, (usually with no trial) among his own people, and abroad, is appalling, but cannot justify his own summary execution now. His safe extraction from Libya and hand over to the International criminal Court for trial for his crimes against his own people would be a huge endorsement of  responsible attitudes by Libya's Interim Council. 

It is true that in the days of Lady Thatcher and President Reagan in 1986, a attempt was made to assassinate Gaddafi, using the USAF. This attempt demolished part of his family’s house but missed him. It was the root cause of enduring loathing by Gaddafi supporters, and the families of those who did die in that raid, for all things American. It was a cause for seeking revenge. Incidentally, it cost the lives of as many Americans, flying F111s, as had died in the disco bombing.

'The consequence of the use of violence is the death of innocent people' 

In 1986 Reagan was trying to get revenge for the bombing of a disco in Berlin, which was alleged to have been caused by Libyans and which had killed one or two Americans. 

If it turns out that Gaddafi was trying to get revenge for 1986 by supporting the Lockerbie mass murders, then we need to hear that brought out in a fair court. 

If on the other hand he is able to supply evidence that Iran/Syria were behind the Lockerbie killings, as seems much more likely, despite the Zeist verdict, then Iran too would have been acting out of revenge for the shoot down of one of her airbuses in 1988 only six months before Lockerbie with the death of 290 pilgrims, after which the awarding of a medal to Captain Rogers of the USS Vincennes which had fired the missiles galvanised the calls for revenge from the land of the Ayatollahs...

Whichever way you look revenge is there, deeply imbedded in human nature. Let us avoid adding to it now. But remember proudly that Scotland did exercise compassion in the release of the Libyan Baset al Megrahi, yes, let’s be proud of that

My prayer is that Gaddafi will survive to stand trial in the ICC and that he will be enabled to assemble evidence and witnesses, not only about his domestic activities but also about his knowledge of Lockerbie.

Now that we have the ICC , a legacy supported by the late Robin Cook, though disliked by America, we have a superior instrument for the delivery of justice at the international level, not revenge over the dreadful murders at Lockerbie. Gaddafi’s case in the ICC might be able to throw some light on the truth about that. Fair trial is the civilised alternative to revenge.

This may be a time to remember Nelson Mandela’s 
wise words when the Lockerbie trial court was announced “No one country should be complainant, prosecutor and judge”.

Were the UK and US acting as ‘one country' at Zeist? A trial of Gaddafi at the ICC might throw light on that as well.

The ICC gives us the best route to avoiding the natural lust for revenge, and to avoid national preconceptions as to who is or is not guilty of what crimes. Let us pray that Gaddafi can be protected from revenge by elements in Libya and elsewhere. Humanity would gain most from a fair trial in this court. 

[By way of contrast, here is the text of the press release from the Scottish Government:]

Commenting on the confirmed reports that Colonel Gaddafi is dead, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond said:

"Gaddafi was a brutal dictator, who exploited his country and brutalised the Libyan people for over four decades - he lived by the sword, and has met his just-deserts. We now look forward to the end of conflict in Libya, and the emergence of a free and democratic country.

"Regarding the ongoing Lockerbie investigation, the Crown Office have always said that the Lockerbie atrocity remains an open case. The only person convicted, Al Megrahi, acted in his capacity as a Libyan intelligence agent - he was found guilty of an act of state-sponsored terrorism and did not act alone.

"Therefore, our police and prosecution authorities stand ready to investigate and follow any new lines of inquiry that may be emerging in Libya at the present moment - just as Scotland's justice system has dealt with all aspects of the Lockerbie atrocity over the last 23 years according to the precepts of Scots Law, and no other factor."

Swire: Gadaffi death ensures “continuing difficulty” in securing Pan Am 103 truth

[This is the headline over a news item just published on the website of Scottish lawyers' magazine The Firm.  It reads as follows:]

Dr Jim Swire has said that the apparent death of Colonel Gadaffi in Libya will present “continuing difficulty” in reaching the truth about the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

Swire believes Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was not responsible for the destruction of the airliner, and is concerned that UK assistance in killing Gadaffi may serve the aims of those who “are determined that there shall be continuing difficulty discovering the whole truth” of the event. 

 “There is a lot of information still to come out. I shall be very interested in what information becomes reliably available about the manner of his death now, whether it was a NATO strike, a special forces action or direct action by the interim council, because there are a lot of people walking about on the face of this planet who I believe are determined that there shall be continuing difficulty discovering the whole truth about why Pan Am 103 was knocked out of the sky that night in 1988," he told Sky News.

“There is much still to be resolved about that issue, and Gadaffi, whether he was involved or not, might have been able to clear a lot of points up about that.

“If it is true now that he is dead we may have lost an opportunity for getting closer to the truth.

“A lot of information has accrued to us since the trial of Megrahi and much of that information is vividly contrasting to what was led and accepted by the court." 

Susan Cohen reacts to report of Gadhafi’s death

[A report just published on the CBS New York website reads as follows:]

Ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was killed when rebels stormed his hometown Thursday, according to the Libyan government.

Gadhafi was alleged to be behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 back in 1988.

The 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. The plane was bound for John F Kennedy International Airport. Among those on board was 20-year-old Theodora Cohen.

Her mother, Susan Cohen, lives in Cape May Court House, New Jersey.

“I’m just hoping, hoping it’s true,” she told CBSNewYork.com. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this. If this is true this is going to be the happiest day of my life since Dec 20, 1988. Lockerbie happened on Dec 21st. This would be a great day. A tyrant has fallen. If this is true, that is a wonderful thing.”

“I have waited many years for this,” Cohen said. “It doesn’t bring closure. Closure doesn’t exist. Closure is a myth. It will not bring closure. But it is helpful. It does bring a sense of having some justice. I can say in the morning, ‘Theo… he’s gone. He’s dead.’ There’s justice.”

Cohen applauded the recent United States operations in Libya.

“I will certainly give President Obama credit. It has been just horrible, Gadhafi has gotten away with the most horrible crimes for years,” she said.

“If this is true I want to thank the Libyan people, because they… if they had not done this, I think we would still be back in a so-called ‘alliance’ with Moammar Gadhafi. It never should’ve happened.” 

Cohen was referring to the recent warming of relations between the US and Libya, which started when the Libyan leader gave up his nuclear program during the George W Bush administration.

“You can not deal with him. You can not make deals with him. All the governments knew what was happening to the Libyan people… the human rights violations… but they turned a blind eye to  it because it was all about the oil.”

“I will be in grief, and pain and suffering for the rest of my life… but it makes a difference to know that he is gone. I hope he’s dead,” Cohen said.

[Further reactions from US relatives are to be found in this report on The Daily Beast website.  That delightful human being, Frank Duggan, president of the group Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc (not himself a Lockerbie relative) is quoted as follows:]

"May he rest in pieces. It's not just the Pan Am families who are celebrating, it's people all over the world who are glad this monster is gone."

Transcript of Hillary Clinton's Lockerbie remarks in Tripoli

[A transcript of the press conference held on 18 October by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Libyan TNC Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril has today been issued by the Department of State.  Mrs Cinton's remarks on Lockerbie read as follows:]

And we have made, of course, our strong views known about Megrahi, and I have said, many times, that we believe that he should never have been released. I raised this issue again with the leadership here. We – and we recognize the magnitude of all the issues that Libya is facing, but we also know the importance of the rule of law, and they have assured us they understand how strongly the United States feels about this and all the sensitivities around this case. We will continue to pursue justice on behalf of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. This is an open case in the United States Department of Justice, and we will continue to discuss it with our Libyan counterparts.

[Mr Jibril did not address the issue in his remarks.]