Lockerbie bomber released

[Mr Angry]

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.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Osem

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

Yes, surprise, surprise.....

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 now

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

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

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.

[Tezcatlipoca]

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...

Originally Posted by Matt D

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...

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.

[Tezcatlipoca]

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

Originally Posted by Matt D

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

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?

[soicky]

Originally Posted by Matt D

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...

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

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Damien

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?

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...

Originally Posted by Dr. Hans Köchler, international observer at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands

The public is also kept in the dark about what Scotland’s Justice Secretary discussed at his meeting with Mr. al Megrahi at Greenock prison, which was indeed an unprecedented step in Scottish legal history. One thing should be taken for certain, however: If Mr. MacAskill is a man of honour, he will not have made granting the prisoner’s request for “compassionate release” conditional upon the latter’s dropping the ongoing appeal. This would not only be morally outrageous, it would also be illegal in terms of Scots law and, as infringement upon a convicted person’s freedom to seek judicial review, in outright violation of the European Human Rights Convention the provisions of which are binding upon Scotland.

Originally Posted by Christine Grahame, SNP MSP

Last week he abandoned his appeal. His counsel advised the court that he believed that to do so would "assist" with his "applications".

The previous week I had received an email from a whistleblower in the Justice Department telling me that the Libyan officials were being told in no uncertain terms that he must drop his appeal or there would be no compassionate release.

Al-Megrahi was a desperate man, but I believe there are other desperate men and women – in the US Justice Department and in Whitehall, – all with their own reasons for wanting that appeal to be ditched. Now he is home, but he is still, officially, a guilty man.

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.

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.

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by Damien

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.

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

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Mr Angry

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

What's on the agenda on those dates?

[Mr Angry]

Originally Posted by danielf

What's on the agenda on those dates?

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