Al-Megrahi 'pressured into abandoning appeal'
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Supporters of the only man convicted of carrying out the Lockerbie bombing accused the Scottish officials today of pressurising him into abandoning his appeal against his conviction and called on the Government to hold a full public inquiry into Britain’s worst terrorist attack.
Lawyers for Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi announced this morning that the former Libyan intelligence officer would no longer pursue his second appeal against his conviction.
Megrahi is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in Britain’s worst terrorist attack but only has months to live because he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
His decision to abandon the appeal will likely bring him even closer to being returned to Libya, either on compassionate grounds because he is dying or under a controversial prisoner exchange treaty signed between Britain and Libya earlier this year which would only allow him to return to Tripoli if he abandoned his appeal.
Speaking to The Independent today, Pamela Dix - whose brother Peter was on board Pan Am flight 103 when it exploded above the skies of Lockerbie in December 1988 - said Megrahi’s decision to abandon the appeal would mean that those relatives of victims who believe the truth about the bombing has yet to be ascertained will be even further from discovering what really happened.
“It’s a massive disappointment,” said Mrs Dix, whose organisation UK Families Flight 103 represents a number of British families that believe the full facts of the bombing have yet to be fully explained. “I’m always a little hesitant to speak for other people but I certainly know that a number of families who lost loved ones and were very keen for the appeal process to reach its full conclusion.”
She added: “The actual appeal itself had a rather narrow focus but we wanted it because we would hopefully find out more about what actually happened and whether Megrahi was innocent or guilty. At the moment only one man has supposedly been found guilty for an act which would have involved a number of people.”
Megrahi has always staunchly maintained his innocence, a view that is shared by a number of British families of those who died in the attack he was convicted of carrying out – a view which is in stark contrast to most American families who are convinced of his guilt. Last year, however, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission gave Megrahi permission to appeal his conviction after a four year review of the evidence against him.
But a statement released by Megrahi’s lawyers today revealed that the 57-year-old had applied to the High Court in Edinburgh on the 12th of August to abandon that appeal after his health took a “significant turn for the worse”.
MSP Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi in prison on numerous occasions, said she believed the Libyan had been pressured into dropping the appeal.
"I saw Megrahi not so long ago and apart from his number one priority of seeing his family he was absolutely determined to clear his family’s name and prove his innocence,” she said.
“If he had found a way to do both I know he would have chosen that route. That’s why I’m highly surprised by his decision to drop the appeal and why I believe he has been leaned on.”
Mrs Grahame claimed she had seen an email from an official in the Scottish Justice Department warning that senior Scottish officials were exerting undue pressure to have Megrahi drop his appeal.
She added: “We will now absolutely do everything we can to push for a full public inquiry. There are six hundred pages of evidence from the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, much of which suggests Megrahi is innocent, which will no longer see the light of day and that is simply not right.”
Sources close to the Megrahi family say he is desperate to return to Triploi to spend the remainder of days with his wife and five children. The decision to abandon his appeal may stem from a hope that doing so could quicken his release. Although the BBC said earlier this week that Scotland’s Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill was about to release the Libyan on “compassionate grounds”, he is also potentially eligible for return to Tripoli under the prisoner exchange scheme as long as the appeal was abandoned or concluded.
In the statement Tony Kelly, Megrahi’s lawyer said: "As the appeal hearing has commenced... leave of the court is required before the appeal can be formally abandoned."
The Libyan’s decision to abandon his appeal has lead to fresh calls for a full independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing, a request which has been regularly rebuffed by the Government who have argued that an inquiry might prejudice Megrahi’s appeal.
“The next step we will have to take is to make sure a full inquiry is held if we are to ever find out the truth,” said Mrs Dix. “The ongoing criminal process surrounding Megrahi has always been used by the Government as an excuse not to hold an inquiry, but if that appeal is abandoned it is only right that a full inquiry should be held.”
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Comments
An appeal taken to the better end would have corroborated the existing findings that trial was a charactersitic Scotch kangaroo - a political 'trial' to cover up reality. There is a horse trade to the effect that if you don't rock the boat by pursuing it, we'll free you.
"Minutes before flight 103 took off from London's Heathrow airport, FBI Assistant Director Oliver 'Buck' Revell took his son and daughter-in-law off the plane."
There are people who know the truth who could settle this matter by admitting their guilt, but that's as likely as the Pope being a Protestant.
Ronnie Biggs robbed a train and there has been more debate about him being released than there has been this mass murderer. What Mr Biggs did wasnt right by any stretch.
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I've asked the question before and don't apologise for taking the opportunity to ask it again, since it is arguably on-topic. When can we expect to see those responsible for this crime http://www.geocities.com/cronyblatcher/
Good luck to Megrahi, maybe now he will get proper tretment for his cancer instead of the pathetic 3rd world system that passes for health care in Scottieland!
Then the stories in the press changed, and started to blame Libya. But there remained many unanswered questions. Why did so many well-connected people originally booked on the flight choose to change their reservations (South African President Pic Botha, several other high-ranking officials, and the family of Oliver 'Buck' Revell, then executive assistant director of the FBI)? And how did a large team of Americans arrive on the scene in Lockerbie so quickly? As one member of a mountain rescue team stated, "We arrived within two hours [of the crash]. We found Americans already there".
One compelling explanation for the bombing of PanAm 103 is that it was carried out on behalf of Iran for the reasons described above, and that some extreme elements of the CIA turned a blind eye to what was happening. They did so in part because Charles McKee and his team were booked on the flight. McKee was working on behalf of the CIA in Beirut and was about to expose (internally, within the CIA) some uncomfortable truths about arms and drug smuggling operations being carried out by parts of the CIA. They used their existing drug smuggling pipeline to put the bomb on Flight 103.
The evidence against Megrahi is weak, and the Maltese shopkeeper who testified against him is unreliable. There are two tragedies here: that of an innocent man sent to jail, and that of the 270 people who died, and whose true killers have never been brought to justice (and probably never will be).
The appeal should have proceeded even after Megrahi dies should that actually occur. It is the policy of the Scottish Justice (Injustice) System to encourage all appellants to abandon their appeals.
On another point, it is time the Yanks handed over the IRA terrorist scum who fled to the USA and thereafter have been given shelter by them. Hand them over now so that they can face British justice instead of hiding under the apron strings of their women!