Gaddafi's son Saif offers to 'hand himself in' to International Criminal Court

[This is the headline over a report published today in the Daily Mail.  It reads in part:]

Colonel Gaddafi’s favourite son  – Saif al-Islam – has offered to  ‘surrender’ to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in return for a guarantee of his safety, Libyan officials said.

The 39-year-old British-educated playboy has been on the run since the Nato airstrike on the city of Sirte last Thursday that led to his father’s capture and execution.

The offer of surrender raises the prospect of a trial in The Hague which could include new details of the background to the Lockerbie bombing and murder of policewoman Yvonne Fletcher.

But it could prove embarrassing as Saif was close to leading figures in the last Labour government, not least Tony Blair.

A senior official in the National Transitional Council, Abdel Majid Mlegta, said Saif and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, the ousted tyrant’s brother-in-law, had been trying to broker a deal through a third country – believed to be Niger – to hand themselves in.

Senussi is said to have fled into Niger late last week and there were reports last night that Saif had also crossed into the country where hundreds of millions of pounds of Gaddafi’s smuggled money is held.

Saif and Senussi are wanted on ICC warrants for genocide and crimes against the Libyan people.

Commander Mlegta said the men believed ‘nowhere was safe’ for them. ‘They are proposing a way to hand themselves over to The Hague,’ he said. ‘They feel that it is not safe for them anywhere.’ (...)

Any court appearance by Saif would inevitably turn a spotlight on Britain’s attempts to foster a relationship with Gaddafi’s favoured son, who became the West’s ‘point man’ after Tony Blair signed the notorious ‘Deal in the Desert’ in March 2004.

Last year Saif described Mr Blair as a ‘personal family friend’ and said he had visited Libya ‘many, many times’ since leaving Downing Street. (...)

One Libyan official, quoted by Reuters, (...) said Saif’s escape was being masterminded by Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Senussi, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court.

A different take on Gaddafi's murder

[This is the headline over an article by Mike Carey published today in The Drum Opinion section of the Australian ABC News website. It reads in part:]

Mine is a conservative workplace and that's why I was surprised to hear Luke as he looked up at the TV monitor, "Don't people realise what's going on here, Europe and the US have just come in and taken over."

He was joined by a petite blond, "I think he should have been tried at the International Criminal Court" in The Hague. They both turned away as the worst excesses of Moamar Gaddafi's final humiliation and execution were shown around the country. If there had been a warning, I didn't see it!

We needed to be warned about the sadistic triumphalism that was to follow the gruesome death. "Wow!" said Hilary Clinton, hardly able to suppress a smile. British prime minister David Cameron said in many words what the Sun newspaper encapsulated in its headline, 'That's for Lockerbie'. Except the evidence for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie killing 270 people, right from the start, has pointed away from Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi and Libya to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command in the service of Iran. British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce devoted a chapter of her book, Dispatches From The Dark Side, to explaining why and how Megrahi was framed. A few brief examples: the Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, from whom the clothes which were wrapped around the bomb were bought, initially identified the purchaser but he was a Palestinian not al-Megrahi. German authorities arrested the Palestinian bomb makers but inexplicably released them. Evidence was tampered with or deliberately kept from the court and US authorities had written reports which claimed Iran was responsible but those too were suppressed. Tony Gauci was given a $2 million reward for his evidence and a new identity and life here in Australia.

Koussa denies Pan Am 103 involvement

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

Former Libyan intelligence Chief Moussa Koussa has issued a statement denying any involvement in the Pan Am 103 atrocity, affirming for the first time the denials attributed to him from former father of the House Tam Dalyell and Saif Gadaffi, who both also said that Koussa was not involved in the event.

Koussa, who was questioned in a highly choreographed move from the Crown Office, was not detained when he was interviewed in March this year. The Crown Office have revealed nothing about what was discussed at the interview, or whether they believed Koussa had a role to play in the events.

"I also had no involvement of any kind or knowledge of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988 or the murder of WPC Fletcher in 1984. I have voluntarily assisted the relevant investigatory authorities with their inquiries in relation to these matters," Koussa said in a statement today.

"I had no involvement in Libya's intelligence and security organisations until my appointment as Head of the External Security Organisation (ESO) in 1994. This was Libya's foreign intelligence agency.

"My appointment reflected Libya's new foreign policy to make a break with the past and my wide experience had placed me in a good position to begin rebuilding fractured international relations. As a result I was responsible for a number of key negotiations and initiatives that improved international relations and led to the lifting of UN Security Council and US sanctions which had been damaging to the Libyan people."

Koussa's statement was made in response to claims broadcast by the BBC that he was personally involved in torturing detainees, a claim he denies.

Koussa previously said the Pan Am 103 event was "none of my doing," a position supported by Saif Gadaffi.

[The full text of Moussa Koussa's statement can be read here.]

Hillary Clinton has no right to interfere in our justice system

[This is the heading over a batch of letters published in today's edition of The Herald.  The first two read as follows:]

If I wrote to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton demanding that all the uncharged and untried prisoners still held at Guantanamo Bay be set free, or that all the poor wretches who have spent sometimes 20 years under sentence of death in American prisons be released, I doubt if she would reply.

But if she did, it would probably be to tell me that as a foreigner my views were irrelevant as I had no authority to comment on or criticise the US justice system. 

And she would be correct.

So what gives her the right to publicly criticise the Scottish justice system for releasing Abdulbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, and to call for him to be put back in jail in Scotland, or even worse in America (“Clinton calls for Megrahi’s return to jail”, The Herald October 24)? 

The man is dying a slow and painful death from cancer, and would certainly have been dead by now if he had not been treated with expensive drugs manufactured and sold to Libya by an American company. 

Some human compassion would not go amiss, especially since there are still serious doubts about Megrahi’s conviction and the actions of the CIA in procuring the principal evidence for this.

As an avowedly Christian country, American citizens and their politicians too often reveal a very Old Testament thirst for vengeance, and little of the New Testament message of love and forgiveness. Sadly this is also often reflected in the application of US justice.

They would do well to follow instead the example of Scotland, the nation on whose founding principles their own Declaration of Independence is based.

Iain AD Mann

Conservative MSP John Lamont was quoted in The Herald as saying: “The last time Alex Salmond travelled to the Arab states to seek investment for Scotland he discussed the release of Mr Megrahi” (“Salmond trade trip defended against Megrahi claims”, October 25).

As a point of fact, the First Minister has never previously visited any Arab state, which renders the quote inaccurate.

In every regard the Scottish Government dealt with the case of Megrahi according to the rules and regulations of Scots Law, and without any consideration of the economic, political and diplomatic factors that the then Westminster Government based its position on – which as Sir Gus O’Donnell’s report revealed was in favour of Megrahi’s release.

The record demonstrates this beyond doubt. As the First Minister said in his reply to the Qatari ambassador of July 21, 2009: “The decision will be made on judicial grounds alone”; and the minute of his meeting with the Qatari representatives in Edinburgh on June 11, 2009 also makes it abundantly clear that the Megrahi case was being determined as a strictly “judicial matter”.

Exactly the same point was made to the UK, US and Libyan authorities, and indeed to any other interested party.

The issue of a trade mission to help Scottish companies succeed in growth markets is an entirely separate matter, and something to be supported in tough economic times.

There are clearly significant opportunities for Scotland in the region, given that, for example, IMF figures record economic growth of 16 % in Qatar in 2010.

Kevin Pringle,

Senior Special Adviser, First Minister of Scotland

Compare and contrast

A recent article by Dr Jim Swire in the high-circulation student newspaper The Journal entitled "Lockerbie relative: Scotland must review the verdict against Megrahi" can be read here.  A recent article in The Washington Times's Embassy Row blog headlined "Lockerbie avenged" setting out the views of Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am 103 Inc (not himself a Lockerbie relative) can be read here.

UK to discuss bomber with Libyans

[This is the headline over a Press Association news agency report issued yesterday evening.  It reads in part:]

Ministers will discuss the Lockerbie bomber's fate with their Libyan counterparts following the death of toppled dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, MPs have been told.

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said the legal position of Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi appeared to have been settled, but said it was one of several topics Britain planned to raise with the Arab country's new leadership, including supplying explosives to Irish terrorists and the killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

Mr Burt told the Commons: "There are two or three legacy issues which need to be dealt with, not only that (Megrahi), but also issues in relation to the provision of Semtex to the IRA and the death of WPC Fletcher.

"All these will be considered. It's an important part of the new bilateral relationship between the UK and Libya, but not all these issues are presently settled.

"The legal position of Mr Al Megrahi appears to have been settled by past actions, but the legacy issues will be examined anew by this Government and the new government of the National Transitional Council." (...)

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has called for Megrahi to be sent back to Scotland in the aftermath of Col Gaddafi's death last week.

[The report on this matter in today's edition of The Herald can be read here.]

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.