Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Exactly what we have come to expect from GB sod all all he did was cover his own backside on the whole "was a deal done" when he should have backed up scotland or had the guts to criticise if that is what he believes. But then again were talking about GB he won't know what he believes untill tomorrows newspapers tell him and he thinks he can scrape some votes off it.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Dr Richard Simpson said that medical reports show there is “significant doubt” that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi will die within the next three months.

There's a shock!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...re-months.html

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

And another shock

Mr Straw's change of stance over Megrahi's inclusion the transfer agreement came at a crucial time in negotiations over an oil exploration contract for BP worth billions of pounds

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8229114.stm

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

it does seem that ,if we believe all the media stories and i don't doubt that they are a bit exagerated ,that the scotish justice system only played a very small part in his release

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6814939.ece

Yes, surprise, surprise..... :rolleyes:

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

On foot of Straw's denials below is the text of a letter from Dr Jim Swire (a parent of one of the victims - Flora Swire - who died in the Lockerbie bombing) which was sent to the media last week.

"Before the Lockerbie trial, brokered by Nelson Mandela, had begun, I believed that it would reveal the guilt of the two Libyans in the murder of my daughter and all those others.

I have always believed that we should look for how something of benefit to the world could be somehow squeezed out of the appalling spectacle of brutal mass murder laid before us on those gentle Scottish hills. From before the Lockerbie trial, whilst still believing in Megrahi's guilt, I hoped even then that commercial links could be rebuilt between Libya and Britain for the benefit of both in the future. That was one of the reasons I went to talk to Gaddafi in 1991. It seemed that Libya's 5 million people with that country's immense oil wealth could mesh well with the many skilled people available among the 5 million population of Scotland.

What I heard at Zeist converted me to believing that the Libyan pair were in fact not involved in the atrocity after all. I remembered Nelson's comment at the time when a trial was agreed "No one country should be complainant, prosecutor and Judge". Yet under Clinton's presidency, the composition of the court had been altered so that Nelson's warning had been ignored. It was President Clinton too who told us all to realise 'its the economy, stupid.' But the UK, in the form of Scottish law, was now to exclude any international element, and the methods used to assemble the evidence revealed that the UK/US collusion was so close that it was safe to consider that alliance as Nelson's 'one country' also.

These matters are political and we have no expertise in that field, which appears distasteful to many. I do feel though that Lord Mandelson's disingenuous comments on the issue of the 'Prisoner Transfer Agreement' should lead him to resign (yet again).

More than 20 years later, we, the relatives, are still denied a full inquiry into the real issues for us - Who was behind the bombing? How was it carried out? Why did the Thatcher government of the day ignore all the warnings they got before Lockerbie? Why did they refuse even to meet us to discuss the setting up of this inquiry? Why was the information about the Heathrow break-in concealed for 12 years so that the trial court did not hear of it till after verdict? Why were we constantly subjected to the ignominy of being denied the truth as to why our families were not protected in what even our crippled FAI (crippled because it too was denied the information about Heathrow) found to have been a preventable disaster?

Let us stop mulling over the why and wherefore of Megrahi's release, I for one am delighted that a man I now consider innocent because of the evidence I was allowed to hear at Zeist is at home with his family at last. Let there be a responsible replacement immediately for the appeal a dying man understandably abandoned to ensure his release. Scotland should now take responsibility for reviewing a verdict which her own SCCRC already distrusts.The public's knowledge of the shifty dealings surrounding the 'Prisoner Transfer Agreement' should help to swell demand for objective assessment of the Megrahi case. Overturning the verdict would open the way for a proper international inquiry into why Lockerbie was allowed to happen, who was really behind it, as well as how the verdict came to be reached.

Let us turn our attention now, please, at last to the question of why we the relatives have been denied our rights to know who really murdered their families, and why those precious lives were not protected."

Food for thought - indeed.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Well I never after the all posting about the UK government actually being responsible for his release and all the Scottish nationalists saying that the UK government had no part in the release we finally hear different, I am truly shocked to hear this nowhttp://www.smileyshut.com/smileys/ne...prised-004.gif

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

The SNP has just had a right kicking at Holyrood over this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8232734.stm

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Something is clearly not right in all this and i think it would be better for all the details to just come out rather then us having to suffer yet another indignity as details are dragged out.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

I'd be quite interested in knowing exactly why Megrahi dropped his appeal, given that he was under no legal obligation to do so to be considered for compassionate release...

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Oh I thought he was under a legal obligation to do so, that if he had pending activity with the courts he had to stay in jail. Also that to be granted for compassionate release you had to admit guilt.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Everything I've read about it said that he only would have had to drop his appeal to qualify for prisoner transfer. There was no legal requirement to drop the appeal to qualify for compassionate release.

e.g.

http://www.firmmagazine.com/features..._justice,.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion...t-1776188.html

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

So...*Conspiracy Hat On* Do you think he government wanted to avoid the embarrassment of a unsafe conviction? That there was additional evidence to suggest the original conviction was for political gain?

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Could be to show a deal had already been done that he was going to be released.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Well, I do think it appears rather odd that he dropped his appeal despite there being no actual legal requirement to do so... and I think you have to admit that there would certainly have been some "embarrassment", at the very least, if the appeal had continued & the conviction had indeed been found to be unsafe & been quashed (which may have happened, given things such as the six grounds where the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred, given the inconsistencies, given the circumstantial evidence, given the expert opinions of people such as Dr. Hans Köchler & Prof. Robert Black, etc., ).



Two quotes from those links...

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Mmmmm..On the other hand what would Megrahi stand to gain from keeping quiet now he is released and in Libya? Surely he would rather die vindicated of the crime rather than respect an unenforcible agreement.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

I think megrahi if not guilty is a patriot and that is why he firstly took one for the team to get attention off lybia and secondly why he might keep quiet to ensure good relations between lybia and the uk. More and more people seem to be coming down on the "dodgy deal" side of the fence despite all the denials from gb and his ratpack and if nothing else this issue should send a clear message to gb and labour that even if they are telling the truth we have had so many lies and spin out of them that we will now never believe them. Really is time for that election so that all these dirty little issues can be flushed from our system once and for all and running the country can again be the main priority of whatever government.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Expect some troubling revelations / questions at the UN on the 23rd / 24th of this month.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

What's on the agenda on those dates?

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Tonys' mate "Mad Dog" is expected to raise the suspicion of South African involvement in the bombing.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3518749

It does not mean that I think it right that he should of been released, but creating/retaining jobs by allowing a guy to die in his home country will be seen as a small price to pay by those who have retained their jobs. (Count me as one)

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...s-release.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6823170.ece

It'll be interesting to see how this story pans out but nothing would surprise me.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...nd/8264119.stm


The website in question:

http://www.megrahimystory.net/

The site currently has PDFs of:

1. Summary of Grounds of Appeal 1 & 2
2. Grounds of Appeal 1 & 2
3. Written submissions relating to Grounds 1 & 2

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

It's no small wonder that Angiolini is a bit stressed out about these disclosures.

The two most recent posts by Robert Black are VERY telling. This case will only get more and more uncomfortable for the UK and America unless they hold a full, frank and honest reappraisal of how this conviction was arrived at.

As I mentioned in an earlier post - it will be interesting to see how Mad Dog behaves at the UN next week (assuming he's still allowed to attend that is).

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

I haven't read the transcript, but it seems he spent 90+ minutes (out of 15) doing no such thing.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Daniel, you need to consider the fact that Gaddafi's participation in this UN session is not limited to one partially televised speech. There is - for example - his decision not to partake in the Security Council meeting and his opting instead to attend the more influential Foreign Relations Council meeting and conduct interviews with Time - both of which he used to emphatically deny Libya's "guilt" over Lockerbie.

Notwithstanding these facts Libya is also taking over the mantle of the UN General Assembly before the end of this session.

That is the very same General Assembly which neither the UK nor US can veto. It is also the very same Assembly which appeared earlier this month to signal that an investigative commission on the matter would be established.

This is not over by a long chalk and Gadaffi will choose his time and place - no doubt with the assistance of messrs Koechler and Haseldine amongst others - to bring to bear what he knows will be incredible diplomatic pressure on the UK and US.

Study the subtext of his Wednesday interview with Time magazine to see where he's headed.

Don't be in such a rush - after all, he isn't.

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

'I told you I was ill'.

Megrahi has died, ten weeks after being let out. So much for the spin about 'the SNP are exaggerating his illness'.

Or maybe he hasn't, he says, backpedalling a bit. He's very ill </python>

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Linkage?

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Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

Headline says otherwise.:erm:

Quote:

Lockerbie: Lawyers deny reports that Megrahi has died

Re: Lockerbie bomber released
 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6958291.ece