The Lockerbie Bombing (Pan Am Flight 103; December 1988)

[ted_bloody_maul]

Lockerbie story heads to Hollywood

HE IS already responsible for one Hollywood blockbuster. Now a former Israeli secret agent is planning to turn the Lockerbie disaster into a big screen hit, blaming Iran, not Libya, for the atrocity.

Juval Aviv was behind the book that inspired the acclaimed Steven Spielberg blockbuster Munich.

His latest project is a fictional account of the Lockerbie disaster in which 270 people were killed and he hopes that the Jaws and ET filmmaker can make it into a major movie.

Flight 103 which alleges that the Iranians and the American secret services were complicit in the atrocity will be published early in the new year. The book is expected to become an international bestseller, and the former Mossad agent has revealed he is in talks with a number of high-profile Hollywood directors over the film rights.

Among those considering adapting the script is Spielberg the author's friend and former collaborator. The legendary director hired Aviv as a consultant for his award-winning 2005 film Munich, which depicted a campaign by Israel, in the wake of the 1972 Olympic massacre, to hunt down and kill alleged Palestinian terrorists.

Speaking from New York 19 years on from the disaster, Aviv said: 'I believe the book will have an impact around the world because what happened over Lockerbie that day affected so many people in so many countries, and continues to do so.

'It's a powerful story that will make a fantastic movie. Some very high-profile directors in Hollywood have seen the book and are very interested.

'Nothing has been signed yet, but I am very optimistic that a deal will be done.'

The former major in the Israeli Defence Force believes that Spielberg would be the ideal man to bring his vision to the big screen.

'Steven is looking at the book right now. I worked closely with him on Munich and he is someone whom I admire greatly. My initial fear was that Munich could become little more than a Jewish James Bond movie. But Steven created a thought-provoking political movie, which showed the heavy toll that the assignment took on the agents who participated.'

Aviv, who acted as lead investigator for Pan Am during the Lockerbie inquiry, admits that his book is a thinly veiled account of what he is convinced really happened in December 1988.

In the novel, retired Israeli agent Sam Woolfman discovers that Tehran ordered the destruction of an American plane in retaliation for the US downing an Iranian airbus, carrying 133 civilian partners, earlier in 1988.

The Iranians then enlist an experienced Palestinian terrorist; Ahmed 'The Falcon' Shabaan, to carry out the bloody reprisal.

In the book, the American secret services turn a blind eye to the plot and ensure that three CIA agents, who are due to blow this whistle on a internal heroin dealing racket, are aboard the doomed eponymous flight.

Woolfman, accompanied by his glamorous young Irish sidekick Orla Sheehy, discover that American Embassy staff around the world were warned not to board the Pan Am airliner.

The suggestion that Libya was not responsible for the atrocity was made forcibly by Aviv, who writes under the nom de plume of Sam Green, during the inquiry, but his evidence was rejected.

With a second appeal under way by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted for the Lockerbie bombing, the president of investigations firm Interfor is convinced that his version of events will finally be vindicated.

He said: 'Flight 103 is written as fiction, but it is based solidly on real-life facts. The US Government urged me to change my report (to the inquiry], but I wouldn't and I fully stand by my version of events.

'I think 2008 will be the year when the truth finally emerges. There is still an innocent person in jail, but hopefully not for much longer.'

An earlier appeal by Megrahi in 2002 upheld his life sentence and rejected claims of a miscarriage of justice.

However, screenwriter and film journalist Beth White was unsure if the public was ready for a Lockerbie movie.

She said: 'I'm not sure that enough time has passed, but it would certainly attract a huge amount of interest.

'I remember watching a French dramatisation of the events leading up to September 11 not long after it took place and being horrified.

'But in so

me circumstances, turning real events into entertainment can be justified as it can spark debate.'

One industry insider suggested that Harrison Ford would be ideal in the role of the rugged, retired secret agent Woolfman.

He said: 'Harrison has already played a similar character in Patriot Games where he was Jack Ryan, a CIA agent who becomes embroiled in a terrorist plot.

'I could see Kelly Macdonald playing Orla, his dark-haired young Celtic assistant.'

The Lockerbie disaster has featured in Ian Rankin's Rebus adventure A Question Of Blood as well in the novels The Passenger by Chris Petit and Double Shot by Anna Blundy.

But Scotland on Sunday literary editor Stuart Kelly felt many authors shied away from the subject for fear of causing offence.

He said: 'There's a patina of fear about writing about it.'

Flight 103 by Sam Green is published by Century on January 24

http://news.scotsman.com/movies/Lockerb ... 3616402.jp

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

More info. drips out on the question of who, apart from the Libyans, really had access to the timing mechanism for the Lockerbie bomb timer.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Truth-revealed-on-Lockerbie-bomb.4139925.jp

Truth revealed on Lockerbie bomb timer

Scotland On Sunday. By Marcello Mega. 01 June 2008

THE top-secret document at the heart of the Lockerbie bombing appeal confirms beyond doubt the bomb timer was supplied to countries other than Libya, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

The document also gives "considerable detail" on how the use of a small bomb concealed inside a radio-cassette recorder was consistent with Palestinian terrorists rather than Libyans, according to a prominent legal source who has seen the paper.

Important pillars of the Crown's case against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan serving life for the atrocity, are "knocked down" by the contents of the document, added the source.

Last week, during a three-day hearing in Edinburgh, Scotland's senior judge, Lord Hamilton, and two of his colleagues listened to legal arguments about whether Megrahi's defence should be allowed to see the document, which was passed to the UK by a foreign power.

The UK Government, represented by Advocate General Neil Davidson QC, is opposing the defence application. Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini has indicated she would hand it to the defence team but for the public interest immunity status afforded to it by Westminster.

The existence of the document emerged during the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission's exhaustive three-year investigation into whether Megrahi may have suffered a miscarriage of justice when he was convicted of the murder of 270 people.

The information in the document was a key part of the Crown's case that the timer used in the bomb was supplied only to Libya. It also appears to confirm that the method of attack was typical of a Palestinian terror cell in Germany.

Scotland on Sunday's source confirmed: "The document dispels any doubts about the supply of MST-13s (timers] elsewhere."

He added: "There is considerable detail about the method used to conceal the bomb. The use of a small Semtex bomb concealed inside a Toshiba radio-cassette recorder was not linked to Libyan terror activity, but to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), the first suspects in the case."

The source conceded these matters had been "aired previously or pointed to by other evidence" but added: "(It] puts that evidence on another footing because it gives it 100% credibility because of where it comes from.

"I don't think, in itself, it either clears Megrahi or proves anyone else was responsible, but there is material that would undoubtedly be helpful to his defence and, in isolation, would lean away from the Crown's case and the verdict of the judges."

The source declined to reveal which country had provided the information. But, last night, another well-placed source said there were new and compelling indications that it may have been provided by Germany and contained information from an Iranian defector, Abolghasem Mesbahi.

The MST-13 timer used in the bomb was made by Swiss firm Mebo. Its co-owner, Edwin Bollier, has made it clear that the timers were supplied to others, including the Stasi, the former East German secret police

German intelligence would certainly be able to provide evidence of the Stasi's links to Mebo, and to the PFPL-GC's use of Semtex in Toshiba radio-cassette recorders.

In October 1988, two months before Lockerbie, the German secret police cracked a PFPL-GC cell operating in Neuss and recovered four such devices. The bomb-maker, Jordanian Marwan Khreesat, told German agents that a fifth device had been removed from the flat he was working in by the cell's leader, Hafez Dalkamoni, prior to their raid.

It was never recovered and many, including Khreesat himself, believe it was his device that brought down the flight over Lockerbie.

Mesbahi has provided the Germans with intelligence that has enabled them to clear up terror crimes, but he was discredited by the UK when he was put up as a potential witness at the trial of Megrahi and his co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was cleared.

In 1996, Mesbahi claimed the bombing had been ordered by his former masters in Tehran, not Tripoli, and it is believed that the document was handed over to the Foreign Office later that same year.

There is growing suspicion among Lockerbie experts that the document could even provide the UK with a way to get Megrahi out of jail without facing a re-trial and thorough examination of aspects of the case that would embarrass the Crown Office and Westminster.

It is possible Megrahi will be freed this year on the fairly straightforward grounds published by the SCCRC. The normal practice in such a landmark case would be to order a retrial, but that has the potential to discredit the UK and the US on the world stage.

However, if Megrahi's conviction were quashed and the appeal court ruled he could not have a fair re-trial without the hidden material going to his defence, he would be freed on those grounds and the matter would eventually draw to a quiet conclusion.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, Flora, in the Lockerbie bombing, said he was concerned that the document might prove to be more important than its contents. He said: "If the document is not available to the defence at the appeal, then that appeal will be seen around the world, quite rightly, as unfair.

"The significance is likely to be not in the content, but on the impact it will have on the process, unless we can crack the impasse we're in."

 

[rynner2]

The normal practice in such a landmark case would be to order a retrial, but that has the potential to discredit the UK and the US on the world stage.

And that has never happened in recent history (apart from the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, etc, etc... )

Maybe we should let the EU steamroller us - I'm not sure I'm proud to be British any more.

 

[Mal_Adjusted]

Page last updated at 21:13 GMT, Thursday, 28 August 2008 22:13 UK

Lockerbie evidence not disclosed

Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi called the families of the disaster greedy and materialistic

Scottish police had information that might have changed the outcome of the Lockerbie bombing trial, a BBC TV programme has learned.

The information could have affected the credibility of key evidence, but was not passed to the defence team.

Libyan national Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is serving life for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing.

A prosecution witness had seen a picture linking al-Megrahi to the bombing before he identified him.

Questionable identification

Al-Megrahi, 56, who maintains he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction for a second time.

FIND OUT MORE
The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie is on BBC Two on Sunday 31 August at 2100 BST or catch up on iPlayer after the broadcast
Visit The Conspiracy Files website

Timeline: Lockerbie bombing

One significant reason for the appeal is that Tony Gauci, who picked al-Megrahi out in a line-up, had looked at a magazine photograph of him just four days before he made the identification.

BBC TV programme The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie has now seen documentary evidence that Scottish police knew this was the case.

That information should have been passed to the defence, but the disclosure did not take place.

In the same programme Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, who many believe is being groomed to succeed his father, has called the families of the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster "greedy" and "materialistic".

Miscarriage of justice?

Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York was blown up by a bomb on 21 December 1988.

All 259 passengers and crew were killed along with 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, in Britain's worst air disaster.
Megrahi
Al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence in Greenock prison for the bombing

Al-Megrahi was convicted of the murders on 31 January 2001 after a lengthy investigation by the Scottish police and the FBI, and a nine-month trial at a specially convened Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.

But there have always been doubts expressed about who was behind the bombing and what was their motivation.

In June last year the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which has been investigating the case, concluded that al-Megrahi could have suffered a miscarriage of justice and recommended that he should be granted a second appeal.

The specific terms on which the recommendation was made have never been fully published.

Maltese connection

The prosecution case was that al-Megrahi took the bomb, wrapped in clothes bought from a shop in Malta, to the island's Luqa airport, where it was checked in and then transferred onto Pan Am flight 103.

A key witness against al-Megrahi was the Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who owned Mary's House, where the police say the garments were bought.
Magazine which Tony Gauci saw
This image was seen by Tony Gauci days before he picked al-Megrahi out

He identified al-Megrahi as having been in his shop some weeks before the bombing.

The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie reports that some of his evidence contradicted itself and that Mr Gauci had seen al-Megrahi's photograph in a magazine under a headline "Who planted the bomb?" a few days before he picked him out at an identity parade.

The SCCRC discovered this was the case, and this is one of the grounds on which they recommended that the case should be looked at again.

The BBC programme has discovered that the Scottish police knew Mr Gauci had looked at al-Megrahi's photograph just days before the line-up.

But contrary to police rules of disclosure, designed to ensure a fair trial, this crucial information was not passed on to the defence.

Families 'greedy'

Mr al-Gaddafi, who carries out political and diplomatic roles on behalf of his father, was interviewed in the programme about whether Libya truly accepts guilt for the Lockerbie bombing.


I think they were very greedy and I think they were trading with the blood of their sons and daughters
Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi
He admitted to the programme's producer Guy Smith that the Libyan government had merely accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in order to get international sanctions lifted.

"Yes, we wrote a letter to the Security Council saying we are responsible for the acts of our employees... but it doesn't mean that we did it in fact.

"I admit that we played with words - we had to.

"What can you do? Without writing that letter we would not be able to get rid of sanctions."

When Guy Smith put it to him that this was a cynical way to conduct foreign policy, he launched into an attack on the families of the Lockerbie victims.

"You have to ask the families of the victims. The negotiation with them, it was very terrible and very materialistic and was very greedy. They were asking for more money and more money and more money".

He said: "I think they were very greedy and I think they were trading with the blood of their sons and daughters."

Truth 'not out'

After the Libyan government agreed to pay $10m (£5.3m) per victim in compensation, sanctions against Col Gaddafi's regime were lifted and diplomatic ties renewed.


No one is trading a life for money. Every one of the clients would give back every penny received from Libya and from Pan Am had their family members not been killed
Families' lawyer Jim Kreindler

Families respond to Gaddafi
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on Pan Am 103 said: "From within Western culture Saif al-Gaddafi's comments will be found deeply offensive by some relatives, but I can see this as the Arab way of doing things.

"The Libyans have achieved what they want - and Western commerce has got what it wants too. In this, many of us feel like pawns."

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has visited Col Gaddafi, and the man who used to support terrorism against the West has now been welcomed as an ally in the so called "war on terror".

But ever since the Lockerbie bombing, conspiracy theories have circulated about who was behind the terrorist attack and what was their motivation.

Martin Cadman, whose son Bill died in the disaster, told the programme: "The truth has not come out. I think the investigation found what it was told to find".

Al-Megrahi's appeal is expected to be heard early next year.

The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie was broadcast on Sunday, 31 August, 2008 at 2100 BST on BBC Two.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot ... 573244.stm

anyone else catch this?

might be worth DL'ing and viewing in the BBC iplayer
(if you can, don't ask me, I don't have broadband ...)

 

[Mal_Adjusted]

Page last updated at 21:13 GMT, Thursday, 28 August 2008 22:13 UK

Lockerbie evidence not disclosed

Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi called the families of the disaster greedy and materialistic

Scottish police had information that might have changed the outcome of the Lockerbie bombing trial, a BBC TV programme has learned.

The information could have affected the credibility of key evidence, but was not passed to the defence team.

Libyan national Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is serving life for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing.

A prosecution witness had seen a picture linking al-Megrahi to the bombing before he identified him.

Questionable identification

Al-Megrahi, 56, who maintains he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction for a second time.

FIND OUT MORE
The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie is on BBC Two on Sunday 31 August at 2100 BST or catch up on iPlayer after the broadcast
Visit The Conspiracy Files website

Timeline: Lockerbie bombing

One significant reason for the appeal is that Tony Gauci, who picked al-Megrahi out in a line-up, had looked at a magazine photograph of him just four days before he made the identification.

BBC TV programme The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie has now seen documentary evidence that Scottish police knew this was the case.

That information should have been passed to the defence, but the disclosure did not take place.

In the same programme Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, who many believe is being groomed to succeed his father, has called the families of the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster "greedy" and "materialistic".

Miscarriage of justice?

Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York was blown up by a bomb on 21 December 1988.

All 259 passengers and crew were killed along with 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, in Britain's worst air disaster.
Megrahi
Al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence in Greenock prison for the bombing

Al-Megrahi was convicted of the murders on 31 January 2001 after a lengthy investigation by the Scottish police and the FBI, and a nine-month trial at a specially convened Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands.

But there have always been doubts expressed about who was behind the bombing and what was their motivation.

In June last year the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which has been investigating the case, concluded that al-Megrahi could have suffered a miscarriage of justice and recommended that he should be granted a second appeal.

The specific terms on which the recommendation was made have never been fully published.

Maltese connection

The prosecution case was that al-Megrahi took the bomb, wrapped in clothes bought from a shop in Malta, to the island's Luqa airport, where it was checked in and then transferred onto Pan Am flight 103.

A key witness against al-Megrahi was the Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who owned Mary's House, where the police say the garments were bought.
Magazine which Tony Gauci saw
This image was seen by Tony Gauci days before he picked al-Megrahi out

He identified al-Megrahi as having been in his shop some weeks before the bombing.

The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie reports that some of his evidence contradicted itself and that Mr Gauci had seen al-Megrahi's photograph in a magazine under a headline "Who planted the bomb?" a few days before he picked him out at an identity parade.

The SCCRC discovered this was the case, and this is one of the grounds on which they recommended that the case should be looked at again.

The BBC programme has discovered that the Scottish police knew Mr Gauci had looked at al-Megrahi's photograph just days before the line-up.

But contrary to police rules of disclosure, designed to ensure a fair trial, this crucial information was not passed on to the defence.

Families 'greedy'

Mr al-Gaddafi, who carries out political and diplomatic roles on behalf of his father, was interviewed in the programme about whether Libya truly accepts guilt for the Lockerbie bombing.


I think they were very greedy and I think they were trading with the blood of their sons and daughters
Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi
He admitted to the programme's producer Guy Smith that the Libyan government had merely accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in order to get international sanctions lifted.

"Yes, we wrote a letter to the Security Council saying we are responsible for the acts of our employees... but it doesn't mean that we did it in fact.

"I admit that we played with words - we had to.

"What can you do? Without writing that letter we would not be able to get rid of sanctions."

When Guy Smith put it to him that this was a cynical way to conduct foreign policy, he launched into an attack on the families of the Lockerbie victims.

"You have to ask the families of the victims. The negotiation with them, it was very terrible and very materialistic and was very greedy. They were asking for more money and more money and more money".

He said: "I think they were very greedy and I think they were trading with the blood of their sons and daughters."

Truth 'not out'

After the Libyan government agreed to pay $10m (£5.3m) per victim in compensation, sanctions against Col Gaddafi's regime were lifted and diplomatic ties renewed.


No one is trading a life for money. Every one of the clients would give back every penny received from Libya and from Pan Am had their family members not been killed
Families' lawyer Jim Kreindler

Families respond to Gaddafi
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on Pan Am 103 said: "From within Western culture Saif al-Gaddafi's comments will be found deeply offensive by some relatives, but I can see this as the Arab way of doing things.

"The Libyans have achieved what they want - and Western commerce has got what it wants too. In this, many of us feel like pawns."

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has visited Col Gaddafi, and the man who used to support terrorism against the West has now been welcomed as an ally in the so called "war on terror".

But ever since the Lockerbie bombing, conspiracy theories have circulated about who was behind the terrorist attack and what was their motivation.

Martin Cadman, whose son Bill died in the disaster, told the programme: "The truth has not come out. I think the investigation found what it was told to find".

Al-Megrahi's appeal is expected to be heard early next year.

The Conspiracy Files: Lockerbie was broadcast on Sunday, 31 August, 2008 at 2100 BST on BBC Two.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot ... 573244.stm

anyone else catch this?

might be worth DL'ing and viewing in the BBC iplayer
(if you can, don't ask me, I don't have broadband ...)

 

[Timble2]

I caught it, even if you ignore the silly conspiracy theories, there're a lot of unanswered questions and while the the man convicted may or may not be innocent, he was certainely set up to take the rap for it.

Al-Gaddafi. more or less admits that there were some pretty murky polictics behind the Libyan compensation, and that taking the responsibility was part of a deal.

 

[rynner2]

Claims of Lockerbie cover-up as only man convicted of bombing drops appeal
Martin Fletcher, Angus Macleod and Charlene Sweeney

Relatives of Lockerbie victims were denied their final chance of discovering the truth yesterday when the only man convicted of the atrocity abruptly dropped his appeal.

The decision of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, who is expected to be freed from prison in Scotland next week allowing his return to Libya, sparked charges of a top-level cover-up.

Politicians, relatives and experts accused the Scottish government of striking a deal with the convicted terrorist: that in return for his repatriation he would abandon an appeal that might have exposed a grave miscarriage of justice. “It’s pretty likely there was a deal,” said Oliver Miles, a former British Ambassador to Libya, who told The Times that the British and Scottish governments had been very anxious to avoid the appeal.

Christine Grahame, a member of the Scottish Parliament, said: “There are a number of vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal because they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth behind Lockerbie.”

Robert Black, the Edinburgh law professor who was one of the architects of al-Megrahi’s trial before a special Scottish court in the Netherlands, said: “There would have been strong pressure from civil servants in the justice department and the Crown Office to bring this appeal to an end . . . I’m convinced they have never wanted it to go the full distance. Legitimate concerns about the events leading up to his conviction will not be heard.”

Al-Megrahi is suffering advanced prostate cancer and his anticipated release by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, on compassionate grounds caused outrage, particularly among American relatives of the 270 Lockerbie victims.

The Libyan’s decision to drop his appeal gives Mr MacAskill the slightly less controversial option of transferring him to a Libyan jail under a prisoner transfer agreement that Britain and Libya finalised in April. Such transfers cannot take place until all legal proceedings have ended.

Either way the Obama Administration will be angered, and the victims’ relatives will be deprived of an appeal that they saw as their last chance, short of the independent public inquiry that they have long demanded, of finding out who really killed their sons, daughter, spouses and parents when Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie in December 1988.

They and other experts have long doubted the evidence used to convict al-Megrahi and asked how a single man could have carried out such a deadly attack. They have questioned whether Syria or Iran was really responsible. Some even suspect that the CIA tampered with the evidence.

Al-Megrahi lost his original appeal in 2002 but when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission awarded him another in 2007 it said that it had identified six grounds where it believed that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.

etc...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 797172.ece

 

[rynner2]

Lockerbie bomber’s release ‘delayed by pressure from Hillary Clinton’
Lorraine Davidson

The Scottish government appears to have buckled under pressure from the Obama Administration and abandoned its plans to release the Lockerbie bomber this week.

Senior sources said that there was “no chance” of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi being sent back to Libya on Wednesday as had been expected.

The plan to release the convicted terrorist, who has dropped his appeal against conviction, and return him to his native Libya, was thrown out after the intervention of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.

It is understood that Alex Salmond, the First Minister, summoned Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to a meeting on Friday amid fears that the decision for a release on compassionate grounds would lead to an international backlash. Al-Megrahi has advanced prostate cancer.

Mr MacAskill has now dropped a plan to allow al-Megrahi to leave Scotland in time for the start of Ramadan, around August 22, as Libya had wanted, amid concerns that he would receive a hero’s welcome.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said that a decision would be made on al-Megrahi’s application for compassionate release before the end of the month. He denied that the timetable had slipped as a result of US pressure. The spokesman added: “We have always been aware of the American viewpoint.”

The latest situation was criticised by leading Scottish QCs. Paul McBride, QC, who acts as an adviser to the Conservative Party, said: “In America if you murder someone you go to jail and die there if necessary. Why should we let this man out, particularly now that he has dropped his appeal, therefore acknowledging he is a mass murderer?”

He added: “This is now beyond shambolic. Kenny MacAskill has not told us what he plans to do. There have been all sorts of different scenarios and this is all about seeing which one attracts the most favourable reaction. This is not about a brave man making a bold decision; it is about Kenny MacAskill trying to get the best publicity for himself.”

That criticism was echoed by Gordon Jackson, QC, a former Labour MSP. “There appears to be total panic and dither,” he said.

“There is a sense of no firm grip on the situation and they are starting to look a bit silly. One day one thing is happening and the next day something else is happening. They are letting the situation drift.

“I cannot see what information they will have next week that they don’t have this week. I am assuming there are other pressures on Kenny MacAskill.”

Al-Megrahi’s decision to withdraw his appeal led to speculation that a deal had been struck to allow his release from Greenock prison in return for the potentially embarrassing proceedings to be halted. The appeal, which could have continued after his death, is expected to be formally dropped in court tomorrow.

Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among the 271 people killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, is considering taking legal action against the Crown Office, which is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland.

He believes that al-Megrahi is innocent and wants to use human rights legislation to sue the Crown Office for denying him the chance to discover who was responsible for his daughter’s death.

Dr Swire has written to Mr MacAskill telling him that he might also try to “seek annulment of the findings of the Lockerbie fatal accident inquiry on grounds of withholding of evidence and then seek a new inquiry or legitimate equivalent in its place”.

The Scottish Government is understood to want a public inquiry after al-Megrahi has been sent back to Libya and his appeal has been officially dropped.

Al-Megrahi’s medical condition is believed to be deteriorating and he is now receiving palliative care. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Prison Service said inmates in the final stages of cancer were moved to hospital when they could no longer be treated in jail.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 798447.ece

 

[Peripart]

The latest situation was criticised by leading Scottish QCs. Paul McBride, QC, who acts as an adviser to the Conservative Party, said: “In America if you murder someone you go to jail and die there if necessary. Why should we let this man out, particularly now that he has dropped his appeal, therefore acknowledging he is a mass murderer?”

This whole thing's a mess, but I don't think that Mr McBride's clumsy joining of the dots helps one bit. His circular argument proves nothing. Leaving aside for just one moment Megrahi's guilt or innocence, would it not be more likely that he has dropped his appeal because he reads the news, and doesn't want to rock the boat?

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Lockerbie bomber’s release ‘delayed by pressure from Hillary Clinton’
Lorraine Davidson

The Scottish government appears to have buckled under pressure from the Obama Administration and abandoned its plans to release the Lockerbie bomber this week.

...

The latest situation was criticised by leading Scottish QCs. Paul McBride, QC, who acts as an adviser to the Conservative Party, said: “In America if you murder someone you go to jail and die there if necessary. Why should we let this man out, particularly now that he has dropped his appeal, therefore acknowledging he is a mass murderer?”

...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 798447.ece

Perhaps, because, Scotland is not America? The US justice and prison system is one of the most brutal and barbaric on the planet.

Spineless.

 

[Quake42]

Perhaps, because, Scotland is not America? The US justice and prison system is one of the most brutal and barbaric on the planet.

Indeed, but if Megrahi really did murder 270 people, then I don't see that clemency is appropriate. We're not talking about a petty offender here. If there are doubts about the safety of the conviction then that should have been addressed. If not, he should have been left to die in jail.

Other notorious murderers are not released when they are terminally ill (Myra Hindley springs to mind) so why do so in this case?

 

[Dr_Baltar]

While Guantanamo Bay is still open, I don't think the US administration is any position to lecture another country about the rule of law. Nor are they entitled to accuse any country of allegedly making a political decision based on trade/oil deals (an insinuation, incidentally, that I find a disgusting slur on my country).

That aside, I'm proud of what Scotland has done. We've shown compassion where those that placed the bomb on Flight 103 showed none. We've demonstrated to the world exactly why we're better than them.

 

[Quake42]

That aside, I'm proud of what Scotland has done. We've shown compassion where those that placed the bomb on Flight 103 showed none. We've demonstrated to the world exactly why we're better than them.

I'm afraid I can't agree at all. I don't think Megrahi's release shown Scotland as a forgiving, compassionate country. The whole thing reeks of cover-up (of the doubts about the official verdict on Lockerbie) and political expediency (cuddling up to Libya, under pressure from Big Oil). It's very damaging for the UK and for Scotland in particular.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not aware of any policy which compels the release of criminals who are suffering from terminal illness. If people guilty of far less heinous crimes than Megrahi are left to die in prison hospitals, why release the man responsible for the biggest act of mass murder in UK history?

 

[Quake42]

If Megrahi had been Al Qaeda, rather than Libyan intelligence - ie representative of a country which the UK and EU are falling over themselves to suck up to - I can't imagine any "compassionate" release being countenanced.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

I'm afraid I can't agree at all. I don't think Megrahi's release shown Scotland as a forgiving, compassionate country. The whole thing reeks of cover-up (of the doubts about the official verdict on Lockerbie) and political expediency (cuddling up to Libya, under pressure from Big Oil). It's very damaging for the UK and for Scotland in particular.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not aware of any policy which compels the release of criminals who are suffering from terminal illness. If people guilty of far less heinous crimes than Megrahi are left to die in prison hospitals, why release the man responsible for the biggest act of mass murder in UK history?

It's very damaging for the UK and for Scotland whilst simultaneously being very beneficial for the UK and Scotland? I don't get it. You truly believe that Scotland decided that it was economically and politically expedient to suck up to the Libyans but piss off the Americans? And even if you believe in such a conspiracy-minded idea as "Big Oil" as a body that acts in unison, the Libyans have far more to gain by sucking up to them than vice versa.

You are not wrong, there is no policy which compelled Kenny MacAskill to do anything. However, Scots Law does allow for compassionate release due to terminal illness and justice demands that all cases are considered equally and impassionately, regardless of the crime originally committed. Fiat justitia, ruat caelum - Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall.

 

[Quake42]

It's very damaging for the UK and for Scotland whilst simultaneously being very beneficial for the UK and Scotland? I don't get it.

It's damaging for the reputation of the UK and Scotland, but very attractive in terms of trade with Libya, which is surprisingly substantial - the Observer had some figures on this yesterday.

You truly believe that Scotland decided that it was economically and politically expedient to suck up to the Libyans but piss off the Americans?

It's a matter of relative importance to the two countries. The Americans may be unimpressed with Megrahi's release and issue statements condemning it, but aside from a handful of people in the midwestern states boycotting Scotch, the affair is unlikely to have any lasting effect on relations between the UK/Scotland and the US.

For Libya, on the other hand, the imprisonment of Megrahi was a huge blow to national pride and the issue was apparently on the agenda at every trade and diplomatic discussion over the last few years.

So yes, it was economically and politically expedient to "suck up" to Libya on this issue.

As I said on another thread, it is also unthinkable that the release was not given tacit approval by Westminster.

justice demands that all cases are considered equally and impassionately, regardless of the crime originally committed

Does it? I don't believe that it does. It's one thing to allow a petty or non-violent criminal who is suffering from a terminal illness to spend his or her final months at home with family and friends. It's quite another to extend such compassion to a man who has - if his conviction is indeed safe - murdered 270 innocent people in cold blood.

As I say, if Megrahi was Al Qaeda or a notorious child murderer there is no way he would have been released, prostate cancer or not. It is extraordinarily naive to believe that his release was unrelated to wider political and economic issues.

 

[quinney121]

facts

people are forgetting that the CIA paid £1 million to the witness in the case and his brother to stand up in court............

i believe he is tottally innocent and the situation has nothing to do with american politcs

 

[quinney121]

agree

I totally agree with you Dr_Baltar

 

[rynner2]

As I said on another thread, it is also unthinkable that the release was not given tacit approval by Westminster.

Yes, many of the papers are asking about this. Why is Gordon Brown so silent on this issue? What did he discuss with Gaddafi?

eg:

Lockerbie bomber release: Gordon Brown silence 'absurd', says Nick Clegg
By Jon Swaine
Published: 11:21AM BST 24 Aug 2009

"Although the decision to release Megrahi was a Scottish one for which Gordon Brown was not personally responsible," Mr Clegg said, "the fallout puts the UK at the centre of an international storm.

"In these circumstances, it is absurd and damaging that the British Prime Minister simply remains silent in the hope that someone else will take the flak."

Mr Brown remains under increasing pressure to break his "astonishing" silence over the release after it was disclosed he had discussed the issue with Colonel Gaddafi six weeks ago.

The Prime Minister, who was in Scotland when Megrahi was released last week, was also urged to clarify whether he used the opportunity to talk with members of the Scottish administration over the matter.

Opposition spokesmen accused Mr Brown of a "complete failure of leadership" as he maintained his refusal to speak about the early release from prison of the only man convicted of Britain's worst terrorist atrocity.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Clegg.html

 

[linesmachine]

Dr_baltar, I totally agree with the principle of your "We've shown compassion where those that placed the bomb on Flight 103 showed none." I truly believe that those that can should lead by example. And if Scotland had stood up and said to Libya "As a political and cultural act of compassion we will release Megrahi in an effort to better the relationship between our two countries and prevent another Lockerbie" I would be the first to applaud.

But that's not the way it happened and I'm not convinced we can apply the compassion thang to Megrahi's release and be satisfied. It completely ignores the bizarre, ham-fisted way in which he was released. At times it felt like he was being smuggled out of the country.

If we assume for a minute he was innocent then Scotland, the UK and the EU have ways and means to deal with that through procedure. It wouldn't be the embarassing debacle people make out, just more investigations.

 

[MsPix]

Actually if the CIA paid the witness it has everything to do with American, politics and British politics. Megrahi was the fall-guy, the USA and UK wanted someone and Libya were willing to sacrifice Megrahi for political expediency. It's possible that Libya wasn't the only country behind the plot, but it was expedient for them to take the rap.

Actually letting him go back is better from a PR viewpoint in the Middle East, OK, there was a welcome committee, which doesn't go down too well here or in the US, but what would it have done for Middle East relations if it had been family members wailing over his coffin?

It's not nice, it's not moral, it's realpolitik...

 

[Quake42]

believe he is tottally innocent and the situation has nothing to do with american politcs

There are certainly questions about the conviction and whether Libya was involved at all. But if the conviction is unsafe, then that needs to be addressed. What's not acceptable is fudging the issue by releasing him on "compassionate grounds".

Either Megrahi is an innocent patsy who was coerced into taking the fall because Libya wanted an invite to the West's party, in which case he should be released without a stain on his character, or..

..he is a cold blooded mass murderer who killed an plane load of entirely innocent people, as well as others on the grouns, in which case he deserves to die in prison.

Releasing him for rather shaky "compassionate" reasons is the worst of all worlds.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

I have doubts about the trial and convinction too, but they are a side issue. It is clear to me that such doubts played no part in the decision. Due procedure was followed. Unless, of course, you believe Mr MacAskill is a liar, in which case anything I say is already meaningless.

It is a personal view, of course, but I can't see or imagine of a single situation where a display of humanity is something to be ashamed of. If people see it as a sign of weakness or expediency then so be it. I regard this decision as a defining moment in what the Scottish nation stands for and what it means to be a human being.

Anyone who hasn't already done so would do well to read Mr MacAskill's full statement http://tinyurl.com/lz2q79

 

[Dr_Baltar]

..he is a cold blooded mass murderer who killed an plane load of entirely innocent people, as well as others on the grouns, in which case he deserves to die in prison.

Well, I guess that's where we differ. He was sentenced to 27 years in jail, he was not sentenced to death. A desire for vengeance doesn't excuse the accusation that the requirements for consideration of compassionate release have not been met.

 

[linesmachine]

Thanks to Dr_Baltar for the link of the full statement. I had only read the BBCs edited version before.

The US opposition to the transfer on the basis that it contravenes an international agreement made after the trial was new to me. But I still find US attitudes to this bizarre...maybe we could swap Megrahi for Gary McKinnon!

The second to last paragraph brilliantly sums up the central issue; "Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

Wether this statement is "true" is a debate for philosophers. But I do remember an old Roman saying that if you fight the barbarians with barbarian tactics...they will win, because you have become a barbarian, and that is what they want.

 

[Quake42]

Do you really think that Megrahi would have been released if the West wasn't in a period of rapprochement with Libya?

I'll ask again - do you think he would have been released if he was an Al Qaeda terrorist or a notorious child murderer?

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Do you really think that Megrahi would have been released if the West wasn't in a period of rapprochement with Libya?

I'll ask again - do you think he would have been released if he was an Al Qaeda terrorist or a notorious child murderer?

Hypothetical situations are pretty much irrelevant. All that can be questioned here is whether you believe the right decision was made in this case. However, I would like to believe that due process would be followed in every case and I only wish that every politician was as principled and dilligent as Mr MacAskill. But, as I indicated before, if you believe he's a liar and that there's some kind of grand conspiracy behind the scenes then the argument is kind of pointless.

 

[Quake42]

But, as I indicated before, if you believe he's a liar and that there's some kind of grand conspiracy behind the scenes then the argument is kind of pointless.

I'm not implying a "grand conspiracy" along the lines of that believed by the 9/11 "truthers". However, the following facts are not in dispute:

- For 7 or 8 years now the West has been making a determined effort to bring Libya in from the cold
- There are vast amounts of oil and gas just off the Libyan coast which British oil companies such as BP and Shell are desperate to exploit
- Megrahi has been brought up by Libya in every trade and diplomatic discussion in recent years as an obstacle to further co-operation
- There is widespread disquiet about the safety of the conviction and Megrahi was in the process of an appeal, which he agreed to drop quietly in exchange for "compassionate" release

I appreciate that you are impressed by McAskill, but even if he is more principled than most politicians, I think it is wildly improbable that he will not have been influenced by any of the above points.

As I said the release of terminally ill prisoners is not automatic. I would be very, very surprised if every single request by such prisoners in Scotland has been granted since responsibility for such decisions passed to Holyrood. If even one such request has been denied, then why release Megrahi, who is supposedly guilty of the greatest act of mass murder in Scotland's history? It makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Dr_Baltar]

I'm not implying a "grand conspiracy" along the lines of that believed by the 9/11 "truthers". However, the following facts are not in dispute:

- Megrahi has been brought up by Libya in every trade and diplomatic discussion in recent years as an obstacle to further co-operation

A claim made by Gaddafi's son, hardly an indisputable fact.

- There is widespread disquiet about the safety of the conviction and Megrahi was in the process of an appeal, which he agreed to drop quietly in exchange for "compassionate" release

This appears to be a widely-believed "fact", but it is untrue that there was a requirement for the appeal to be dropped in order for the compassionate release to be considered.

 

[Quake42]

This appears to be a widely-believed "fact", but it is untrue that there was a requirement for the appeal to be dropped in order for the compassionate release to be considered.

It may not be a requirement of the law - I haven't checked the statute - but the fact remains that Megrahi dropped his appeal last week when the likelihood of compassionate release became imminent. It's ludicrous to think this was entirely coincidental - I'm quite sure Megrahi or his lawyers were informed that the compassionate release would be much easier if the appeal was dropped. Why bother dropping it otherwise?

A claim made by Gaddafi's son, hardly an indisputable fact.

Yes, Gadaffi's son has made the claim that the issue was raised repeatedly, but it has not been denied by Mandelson or any of the others who met with him, who have been careful instead to say that no deal was done.

I think it's fairly clear that what's happened here is a rather large helping of realpolitik. It is ridiculous to dress it up as some sort of shining beacon of Scottish caring and forgiveness.