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

titch said:
Tell that to that Scottish football fans when they sing "stand up if you hate the English" Hate and fear, great things to base your political views on.
Football is a a terrible thing to base your political views on.
 
Scotland has no aggressive or imperial pretentions to any other nation.

You really think Al Megrahi would have been released if he wasn't linked to a regime that both UK and Scottish governments were, at the time, keen to suck up to?
 
titch said:
Tell that to that Scottish football fans when they sing "stand up if you hate the English" Hate and fear, great things to base your political views on.

Why don't you? if the worste thing the Scots do is sing songs that mildly upset you...well you have to get over it really.
 
Quake42 said:
Scotland has no aggressive or imperial pretentions to any other nation.

You really think Al Megrahi would have been released if he wasn't linked to a regime that both UK and Scottish governments were, at the time, keen to suck up to?

So are you implying that th UK gov was involved??
 
US Senators call for extradition of Lockerbie bomber
Two US senators have demanded the extradition of the Lockerbie bomber from Libya, on the second anniversary of his release from prison in Scotland.

Terminally-ill Abdelbasset al Megrahi was freed by Scottish ministers on compassionate grounds.

New Jersey senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg want the rebel-led transitional Libyan government to send Megrahi to the US.

...

Meanwhile, the author helping Megrahi write his memoirs has told BBC Scotland that the convicted bomber wants the public to "know the truth" about the case.

Speaking ahead of the second anniversary of his release, British journalist John Ashton, who worked as a researcher alongside Megrahi's legal team, said the Libyan wanted evidence which would have been heard during his appeal to finally be made public.

Mr Ashton said: "His dream was always to overturn his conviction and to achieve freedom through that.
"When he made the decision to go home and abandon his appeal he called me in and said that he wanted me to write a book because he wanted the public to the know the truth.
"He wanted them to know the evidence that would have been heard during the appeal."

The author also echoed concerns raised by others that Megrahi may be attacked by or handed over to US forces in Libya.
He added: "If we are to believe what we read then yes he is under threat because the rebels have promised to hand him over to the Americans, apparently, and the Americans have said they are going to take him back to America and try him there, which is ridiculous and illegal."

....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... d-14590834
 
So are you implying that th UK gov was involved??

Both Westminster and Holyrood were up to the necks in it, as has been previosly established, if I'm not much mistaken, by some of the Wikileaks material.

But Rynner's right, if we want to continue with this discussion (not "flame war" btw Ryn), we should probably move it to the dedicated thread.
 
rynner2 said:
US Senators call for extradition of Lockerbie bomber
Two US senators have demanded the extradition of the Lockerbie bomber from Libya, on the second anniversary of his release from prison in Scotland.

Terminally-ill Abdelbasset al Megrahi was freed by Scottish ministers on compassionate grounds.

New Jersey senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg want the rebel-led transitional Libyan government to send Megrahi to the US.

Will be interesting to see what happens there, if the rebel Libyans see Al Megrahi as a stooge of Gadaffi and hand him over.
 
McAvennie_ said:
rynner2 said:
US Senators call for extradition of Lockerbie bomber
Two US senators have demanded the extradition of the Lockerbie bomber from Libya, on the second anniversary of his release from prison in Scotland.

Terminally-ill Abdelbasset al Megrahi was freed by Scottish ministers on compassionate grounds.

New Jersey senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg want the rebel-led transitional Libyan government to send Megrahi to the US.

Will be interesting to see what happens there, if the rebel Libyans see Al Megrahi as a stooge of Gadaffi and hand him over.

It appears that hes widely viewed as being innocent. If the new govt were to hand him over then they would be seen as US stooges. This might be a good time to reopen investigations into Syrian responsibility for the bombing.
 
This might be a good time to reopen investigations into Syrian responsibility for the bombing.

I had thought that one of the Wikileaks cables appeared to confirm Libyan responsibility? I may be mistaken on this, I lost interest in the Wikileaks stuff at a fairly early stage.
 
Quake42 said:
This might be a good time to reopen investigations into Syrian responsibility for the bombing.

I had thought that one of the Wikileaks cables appeared to confirm Libyan responsibility? I may be mistaken on this, I lost interest in the Wikileaks stuff at a fairly early stage.

It wasn't my impression but a lot of the Wikis are based on opinion of diplomats, so not actual gospel. I don't believe there was enough there to discount the previous evidence of Syrian and/or Iranian involvement.
 
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is 'in coma'

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is in a coma at his Tripoli home in Libya, it is being reported.
CNN said Megrahi appeared to be "at death's door" in the care of family. He is technically on licence but his whereabouts were thought to be unknown.

Megrahi was freed from a Scottish prison in 2009 on health grounds. There have been calls for him to be returned to jail in the UK or tried in the US.
But Libyan rebel leaders have said they do not intend to allow his extradition.

Magrahi had been jailed in 2001 for the bombing of a US plane over Lockerbie, with the loss of 270 lives, before he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and freed.
Scotland officials had tried to contact him following the rebel advance into Tripoli.
Megrahi technically remains a Scottish prisoner released on licence and is obliged to remain in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council.
On Friday, the Scottish government said he had not been due to contact them for some time yet but social workers from East Renfrewshire Council had been endeavouring to contact him.

After reports Megrahi had been found, the government and council issued a statement saying they had been in contact with his family over the weekend and his licence had not been breached.
"Speculation about al-Megrahi in recent days has been unhelpful, unnecessary and indeed ill-informed," they said.
"As has always been said, al-Megrahi is dying of a terminal disease, and matters regarding his medical condition should really be left there," they said.
"Any change in al-Megrahi's circumstances would be a matter for discussion with the National Transitional Council as the legitimate governing authority in Libya."

A neighbour in Tripoli had earlier said he was whisked away by security guards last week as Gaddafi's forces crumbled.

CNN reported on Sunday that Megrahi was "comatose" and "near death... surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip" and not eating.
"We just give him oxygen, nobody gives us any advice," Megrahi's son, Khaled, told the US broadcaster.
"There is no doctor. There is nobody to ask. We don't have any phone line to call anybody."

CNN reporter Nic Robertson said he last saw Megrahi two years ago and described his appearance as "much iller, much sicker, his face is sunken... just a shell of the man he was".

Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted in connection with the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland in 1988.
The victims of the bombing were mainly US nationals and the decision to release him, taken by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, sparked an angry reaction in the United States.

The former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told BBC Radio 5 live Megrahi should have been given the death penalty and was lucky to be alive.
Mr Bolton said Megrahi should be in jail and called for him to extradited.
"To me it will be a signal of how serious the rebel government is for good relations with the United States and the West if they hand over Megrahi for trial," he said.
"He killed 270 people. He served roughly 10 years in jail before he was released by British authorities. Do the math - that means he served roughly two weeks in prison for every person he killed. Two weeks per murder. That is not nearly enough."

Stephanie Bernstein, whose husband Michael was one of those killed, told BBC Radio 5 live Megrahi's death would bring some regret to the victims' families.
"He was one person in a long line of people who I'm sure was responsible for the bombing and when he dies, some of the knowledge about what happened will go with him," she said.
She added that she hoped the rebels' National Transitional Council would be committed to finding out what happened.

Bob Monetti, the father of another victim, said Magrahi was a source of embarrassment to Scotland but "sort of irrelevant".
"Mr Magrahi just probably put the bomb on the plane, but somebody else made it, and somebody else told him to do it, somebody else planned the whole thing out," he told the BBC.
"I'd like to find out who those people were, and find out a lot more of the details about what went on and why they did it.
"That to me would be more important than whether Magrahi lives or dies."

Mohammed al-Alagi, justice minister for the new leadership in Tripoli, earlier refused to countenance handing Megrahi over.
"We will not hand over any Libyan citizen to the West," he said.
"And from points A, B and C of justice, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has already been judged once, and will not be judged again.
"We will not hand over any Libyan nationals, it's Gaddafi who hands over Libyan nationals."

Hopes had also been raised in the case of the killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher, after a suspect was recently identified.
PC Fletcher was shot while policing a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
But the Sunday Times reported that senior Libyan officials would not hand anyone over.

The National Transitional Council is now recognised by Britain as the sole governmental authority for Libya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14705004
 
Libya: Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi's secret meetings
New questions over Tony Blair's ties to Col Muammar Gaddafi and his role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber have emerged from documents discovered in Tripoli.
By Colin Freeman, in Tripoli and Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter
8:30PM BST 17 Sep 2011

The letters and emails, found by The Sunday Telegraph, show Mr Blair held secret talks with Gaddafi in the months before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was freed from a British jail.

He was flown to Libya twice at Gaddafi's expense on one of the former dictator's private jets - visiting the him in June 2008 and April 2009, when Libya was threatening to cut all business links if Megrahi stayed in a British jail.

The disclosure of the meetings – of which Mr Blair makes no mention on his various websites – prompted calls by relatives of Lockerbie victims for Mr Blair to make public all his dealings with Gaddafi and his regime. Mr Blair even brought an American billionaire to one of the meetings. Sources say the financier was asked by Gaddafi for help in building beach resorts on the Libyan coast.

In the correspondence, Mr Blair's private office refers to Gaddafi deferentially as "The Leader". Pam Dix, whose brother died in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie on Dec 21 1988, said yesterday: "The idea of Gaddafi paying for Mr Blair's visit is deeply offensive.
"These new meetings between Mr Blair and Gaddafi are disturbing, and details of what was discussed should now be made public. I am astonished Tony Blair continued to have meetings like this out of office."

Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said: "Mr Blair is clearly using his Downing Street contacts to further his business interests."

The meetings took place at a time of intense negotiations with Gaddafi's regime over the release of Megrahi, convicted of murdering 270 people in the single biggest terrorist atrocity committed in Britain.
The bomber, who has cancer, was finally released in August 2009 after doctors wrongly gave him just three months to live.

Mr Blair has always denied involvement in Megrahi's release – saying it was a decision taken by the Scottish Executive alone. Last night a spokesman admitted Megrahi's release was raised by Gaddafi.
Mr Blair has refused to make public the full extent of his meetings in Libya since leaving office in June 2007.

The emails and letters – between Mr Blair's office, the British ambassador in Tripoli and the Libyan ambassador in London – raise concern over possible conflicts of interest regarding his varied roles as Middle East peace envoy, philanthropist and business consultant.

The documents will also add fuel to suggestions made last year by Gaddafi’s son, Saif, that Mr Blair had advisory links to the Libyan government and the Libyan Investment Authority, which controls a £41 billion fund.
Mr Blair has categorically denied the connection.

The documents outline arrangements for the trips in 2008 and 2009. Mr Blair also held a further private meeting with Gaddafi in June 2010 after Megrahi’s release.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tings.html
 
rynner2 said:
Libya: Tony Blair and Col Gaddafi's secret meetings
New questions over Tony Blair's ties to Col Muammar Gaddafi and his role in the release of the Lockerbie bomber have emerged from documents discovered in Tripoli.
By Colin Freeman, in Tripoli and Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter
8:30PM BST 17 Sep 2011

The letters and emails, found by The Sunday Telegraph, show Mr Blair held secret talks with Gaddafi in the months before Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was freed from a British jail.

...

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... tings.html
Strange sense of deja vu, here. The Telegraph seems to have rather a lot of luck in discovering incriminating documents in war torn Middel Eastern lands.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1477050/Galloway-documents-a-big-case-to-answer.html

Galloway documents 'a big case to answer'

Daily Telegraph on line. By Caroline Davies. 20 Nov 2004

Documents found in Baghdad and published by The Daily Telegraph that purported to show that George Galloway MP had received money from Saddam Hussein's regime provided a "thundering case to answer", the High Court was told yesterday.

...
Or, perhaps luck is the wrong word?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0620/p01s03-woiq.html

Galloway papers deemed forgeries

Iraq experts, ink-aging tests discredit documents behind earlier Monitor story.

By staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor / June 20, 2003

On April 25, 2003, this newspaper ran a story about documents obtained in Iraq that alleged Saddam Hussein's regime had paid a British member of Parliament, George Galloway, $10 million over 11 years to promote its interests in the West.

An extensive Monitor investigation has subsequently determined that the six papers detailed in the April 25 piece are, in fact, almost certainly forgeries.

...
And:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/dec/02/Iraqandthemedia.politicsandthemedia

Galloway wins libel case against Telegraph


MediaGuardian, Chris Tryhorn 2 December 2004

Former Labour MP George Galloway has won his libel action against the Daily Telegraph and been awarded £150,000 in damages.

High Court judge David Eady said the allegations that he was in the pay of Saddam Hussein were "seriously defamatory" and said he had no option but to award the Scottish MP, who was one of the most outspoken critics of the war compensation of the upper end of the scale awarded in a non-jury libel action.

The high court ruled that Telegraph had defamed Mr Galloway when it published a report claiming documents found in Baghdad during the Iraq war last year alleged he was in the pay of Saddam Hussein.

...
Although, it has to be said, the question of the authenticity of the documents doesn't appear to come up in the libel ruling.

I actually have been wondering whether the Telegraph would be 'finding' more incriminating documents in the present turmoil in the MIddle East. Cynical of me. I can remember when the Telegraph was a very respected newspaper.
 
Lockerbie bomber: 'I am an innocent man'
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi claims in 'final interview before death' that he never met shopkeeper who identified him
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 22 December 2011 09.19 GMT

The only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has again protested his innocence as Scotland's law chief pledged to find the answers victims' families are waiting for.

Two hundred and seventy people were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 at a Scottish court sitting at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands of carrying out the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

He reiterated his claim that he was not involved in the bombings in what he said was the last interview he would give before his death. The interview, published in several UK newspapers on Thursday, was reportedly filmed by the investigator and former policeman George Thomson on Saturday.
"I am an innocent man," the Libyan said. "I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family."

Megrahi said he had never seen a Maltese shopkeeper whose identification was central to his conviction. Tony Gauci had identified Megrahi as buying clothes, fragments of which were found among the plane wreckage.
"I never bought clothes from him," Megrahi said. "He dealt with me very wrongly. I have never seen him in my life before he came to court."

The interview was published soon after a memorial service marking the 23rd anniversary of the bombing was held in the US.
Scotland's lord advocate, Frank Mulholland, attended the service and laid a wreath on behalf of the people of Scotland. He also made a speech in remembrance of the victims and met their relatives.

Earlier, Mulholland met the FBI director, Robert Mueller, and the US attorney general, Eric Holder, to discuss opportunities for stepping up the investigation in Libya into the bombing.
He said: "I think I would be failing in my duty if I didn't properly seek to take advantage of the opportunity that has opened up with the fall of Gaddafi," he said. "I am determined to get the answers these families deserve."

Al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah stood trial with Megrahi, but was acquitted of any involvement.
Mulholland said the idea that Megrahi had acted alone was "risible".
"Opportunities have opened up in Libya this year and we are determined to seek to exploit the opportunities to get to Libya, to get Scottish police officers in there and seek out any evidence that is available.
"Justice has only partly been done. The evidence pointed to it being an act of state-sponsored terrorism.
"Megrahi was a member of the Libyan security service – it is risible to think that he acted alone. What we want to do is bring the others to book.

"A huge opportunity has opened up. It was very difficult when Gaddafi was alive and in power in Libya, and the answers are in Libya."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/de ... -lockerbie
 
Lockerbie bomber Megrahi makes appeal claims in book

The Lockerbie bomber has claimed he was urged to drop an appeal against his conviction to allow him to be released early from prison.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi made the claim in a new biography.
He said he was told the suggestion came in a private meeting between a Libyan official, Abdulati al-Obedi, and Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

The Scottish government has categorically denied doing any deal with Megrahi over his release.

The Libyan - the only man to be convicted of the 1988 atrocity - dropped his appeal against conviction in August 2009 and later the same month he was freed by Mr MacAskill on compassionate grounds due to his inoperable cancer.
In a biography just published, Megrahi claims he was told dropping the appeal would enhance his chances of gaining compassionate release.

The book states that Mr MacAskill met a delegation of Libyan officials 10 days before announcing his decision, including foreign minister Abdulati al-Obedi.
In the book, Megrahi claimed: "After the meeting, the Libyan delegation came to the prison to visit me.
"Obedi said that, towards the end of the meeting, MacAskill had asked to speak to him in private.
"Once the others had withdrawn, he stated that MacAskill gave him to understand that it would be easier to grant compassionate release if I dropped my appeal.

"He said he was not demanding that I do so, but the message seemed to me clear.
"I was legally entitled to continue the appeal, but I could not risk doing so. It meant abandoning my quest for justice."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "We can say categorically that neither the Scottish Government had any involvement of any kind in Mr Al-Megrahi dropping his appeal, or indeed any interest in it.
"That was entirely a matter for Mr Al-Megrahi and his legal team."

Meanwhile, a BBC Scotland Investigation to be screened on Monday evening reveals new evidence about the fragment of timer found in a Roxburghshire forest which was crucial to Megrahi's conviction.
The evidence was never revealed to his lawyers and campaigners claim it could have significantly affected the verdict of the trial judges.

The programme also sees Megrahi express forgiveness for the man whose evidence was crucial in finding him guilty.
Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci identified him as purchasing clothes found packed around the bomb.
His evidence linked Megrahi with the explosion in which 270 people died.

Megrahi, 59, denies buying the clothes, but in the interview to be shown on BBC Scotland he said he forgave Mr Gauci.
"I'll tell him he dealt with me very wrongly," he said.
"I have never seen him in my entire life except when he came to the court.
"I find him a very simple man. But I do forgive him."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... d-17152620
 
"Meanwhile, a BBC Scotland Investigation to be screened on Monday evening reveals new evidence about the fragment of timer found in a Roxburghshire forest which was crucial to Megrahi's conviction.

The evidence was never revealed to his lawyers and campaigners claim it could have significantly affected the verdict of the trial judges."

Is there really new evidence about this fragment? I seem to recall that it was at the centre of an investigatory documentary years ago. So when they say "new evidence," everybody may have heard it except the judges. :?:
 
JamesWhitehead said:
"Meanwhile, a BBC Scotland Investigation to be screened on Monday evening reveals new evidence about the fragment of timer found in a Roxburghshire forest which was crucial to Megrahi's conviction.

The evidence was never revealed to his lawyers and campaigners claim it could have significantly affected the verdict of the trial judges."

Is there really new evidence about this fragment? I seem to recall that it was at the centre of an investigatory documentary years ago. So when they say "new evidence," everybody may have heard it except the judges. :?:

If someone here has watched the show, could they post to what this new evidence was? I'm very curious, but it will probably take a couple of years until this show airs here...
 
Zilch5 said:
JamesWhitehead said:
"Meanwhile, a BBC Scotland Investigation to be screened on Monday evening reveals new evidence about the fragment of timer found in a Roxburghshire forest which was crucial to Megrahi's conviction.

The evidence was never revealed to his lawyers and campaigners claim it could have significantly affected the verdict of the trial judges."

Is there really new evidence about this fragment? I seem to recall that it was at the centre of an investigatory documentary years ago. So when they say "new evidence," everybody may have heard it except the judges. :?:

If someone here has watched the show, could they post to what this new evidence was? I'm very curious, but it will probably take a couple of years until this show airs here...
More here:
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/299134-...vidence-proves-timer-did-not-come-from-libya/

Lockerbie: Author claims new evidence proves timer did not come from Libya

John Ashton makes the claims in Megrahi: You Are My Jury, which he wrote after interviewing the convicted bomber.

STV. 27 February 2012

New evidence allegedly proves the timer used in the Lockerbie bombing could not have come from Libya.

The claims have been made in Megrahi’s book, You Are My Jury, launched on Monday.

The author, John Ashton, claims the evidence he has uncovered "destroys the case" against both Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Libya.

Mr Ashton has written the book based on exclusive interviews with Megrahi. He is a writer, researched and TV producer who spent three years as a researcher with Megrahi’s legal team.

At the launch on Monday, Mr Ashton showed a picture of a circuit board which was found in the wreckage of Pan Am flight 103. It is allegedly part of the timer from the bomb on board the plane.

He said the judges at Megrahi’s trial accepted it was identical to timers sold in Libya.

Just 20 timers were supplied to Libya by Swiss company Mebo. They had been made to order by another company. The fragment was found in a shirt collar linked to Megrahi and examination found the pattern patched the circuit boards sold to Libya.

But, Mr Ashton claims the coating on the fragment was not the same as that applied to the Libyan circuit boards. He says this means the timer could not have come from the country.

The author claims the Crown were told this in a 1992 report but the scientists did not "appreciate its significance".

Mr Ashton said: "Had this evidence been explored at Mr Megrahi’s trial, it’s very hard to see how he could have been convicted."


He claims there is other evidence contained in the book, some of which was not handed over to the Crown.

Mr Ashton was joined at the launch by Justice For Megrahi campaigners Dr Jim Swire, Rev John Mosey and Iain McKie who have demanded an independent inquiry into Megrahi's conviction.

In response to the book, a spokesperson for the Crown Office said: "The Crown has defended Mr al-Megrahi’s conviction including the appeal proceedings resulting from the SCCRC referral. The decision to discontinue the appeal proceedings was taken by Mr al-Megrahi and his legal team. In light of his abandonment of his appeal, the conviction for the murder of 270 people and the judicial determination of his guilt stand.

"The only appropriate forum for the determination of guilt or innocence is the criminal court. Mr Megrahi was convicted unanimously by three senior judges following trial during which the evidence was rigorously tested and his conviction was upheld unanimously by five judges, in an Appeal Court presided over by the Lord Justice General, Scotland’s most senior judge.

"As the investigation remains live, it would not be appropriate to offer further comment."
I also seem to remember that there was some dubiety over the way in which the timer in question was found.

Possibly more, here:
http://wearechangetv.us/2011/09/key-lockerbie-witness-admits-perjury/
 
I saw it, and thought it deserved more than the 30 minute time slot afforded to it.

There were three main points raised:
the chemical composition of the fragment of timer recovered from the crash site was different from the make-up of the timers made by the company that manufactured the circuit board;
Al-Megrahi was supposed to have acquired the clothing in Malta on December 7th, and the shopkeeper remembered that the Christmas lights were not up, and that it was raining. Al-Megrahi doesn't doubt that he was in Malta on that date, but records show that the it was dry that day and the decorations were up. The shop-keeper must have got his dates wrong.
 
Lockerbie: fresh moves to clear Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
Evidence not shown to defence team includes details of break-in that could have allowed access to Pan Am luggage
Stephen McPherson and Tracy McVeigh
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 3 March 2012 20.00 GMT

A new appeal is set to be launched in the Scottish courts to attempt to clear the name of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Campaigners, including Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the 1988 Pan Am bombing, say efforts to overturn Megrahi's 2001 conviction for the murder of 270 people will go ahead even after the terminally ill Libyan has died.

A book by a former member of Megrahi's legal team forced the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, to deny last week claims of a "nod and a wink" understanding, under which Megrahi dropped his appeal in exchange for his compassionate release and return to Libya.

Megrahi was convicted by a special court of three Scots judges who sat without a jury in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, but John Ashton's book, Megrahi, You Are My Jury, quotes the Libyan as saying that he was framed, claiming that evidence seen by prosecutors was never passed to the defence. "There was a huge pressure to convict and it's clear now there was blatant intellectual dishonesty surrounding his trial," said Ashton. "Along with significant new forensic evidence, it's pretty clear this is an unsafe conviction."

Evidence not seen by the defence includes a break-in at Heathrow in the early hours of 21 December 1988, that could have allowed a device to be planted among security-screened Pan Am luggage. Doubts have also been cast over payments made to a key prosecution witness and a circuit board fragment found in the wreckage that prosecutors said was part of bomb timer made for Libyan authorities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/0 ... es-megrahi
 
That compassionate leave really was very compassionate: three and a half years of freedom before the man died.

If he was innocent, he should have had his sentence quashed: if he was guilty he should have died in jail.
 
theyithian said:
That compassionate leave really was very compassionate: three and a half years of freedom before the man died.

If he was innocent, he should have had his sentence quashed: if he was guilty he should have died in jail.

People live longer than expected. A friend of mine was given 6 months to live but she lasted 18 months and even at the end was able to get out and socialise. Then just died suddenly.

On balance I reckon he was innocent.


Edit to fix typo.
 
Pretty inhumane to ask a cancer patient "Why aren't you dead yet?" for three years, albeit one on a shaky conviction for murder.
 
Getting out of prison and being back surrounded by his family and friends, probably did wonders for his health. Even if he was still dying and spending most of his time in a hospital bed.
 
Alex Salmond 'begged' leading world figures to support Lockerbie decision
Alex Salmond personally “begged” leading world figures to publicly support his government’s decision to free the Lockerbie bomber, the man responsible for Britain’s biggest ever mass murder.
By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor
7:59PM GMT 07 Dec 2012

After Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed on what Mr Salmond said were compassionate grounds in August 2009, both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu issued statements backing the decision.

But, in a highly embarrassing development for Scotland’s First Minister previously confidential papers show that far from being spontaneous these messages were solicited by Mr Salmond.
Following world condemnation of the decision, the First Minister’s office sent a round-robin letter to influential figures suggesting it would be “very helpful” for them to make a “public statement”.

Documents disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act show that his spin doctors were less than satisfied with Archbishop Tutu’s contribution, complaining that it was “not the best quote”.
Mary Robinson, the former Irish President, refused the First Minster’s invitation. It has previously been disclosed that Donald Trump, the US tycoon, also turned down his advances.

The Scottish Government last night argued Mr Salmond was “perfectly entitled” to drum up support for the release of Britain's worst mass murderer.

However, opposition parties described the lobbying operation as a “cynical exercise” and an “insult” to the families of the bomber’s 270 victims.

Megrahi, who was terminally ill, was supposed to die within three months but returned to Libya to a hero’s welcome before living a further two years and nine months. He eventually passed away in May this year.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... ision.html
 
Lockerbie bombing: Libyan government set to release files

The new Libyan government in Tripoli is prepared to open all files relating to the Lockerbie bombing, the country's ambassador to the UK has confirmed.
However, Mahmud Nacua said it would be at least another year before Libya was in a position to release whatever information it holds.

The move comes on the 24th anniversary of the of bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, which killed 270 people.
Bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi died this year after being released in 2009.
Megrahi, a Libyan agent, was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds, suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
He remains the only person ever convicted of the bombing, but Scottish police hope to pursue other suspects in Libya following the country's revolution and downfall of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

Scotland's top prosecutor recently wrote to the new Libyan prime minister for help and the UK government has said it was pressing Tripoli "for swift progress and co-operation" on the Lockerbie case.

Mr Nacua told the BBC no formal agreement had yet been reached, but that Libya would open the files it holds on the case.
He said that would only come when his government had fully established security and stability - a process he believes will take at least a year.

In April of this year, Scotland's Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland travelled to Tripoli with the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, requesting co-operation after the fall of Gaddafi.

This was followed in May by a meeting with Libya's interim prime minister in London to discuss further inquires into the bombing.
At the time, a Crown Office spokesman said: "The prime minister asked for clarification on a number of issues relating to the conduct of the proposed investigation in Libya and the lord advocate has undertaken to provide this.
"The prime minister made it clear that he recognised the seriousness of this crime and following the clarification he would take this forward as a priority."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... d-20806873
 
Hard to believe it was 24 years ago - but this will be interesting to see.
 
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