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Iain McKie · Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 262 Location: Ayr, Scotland.

As you state the Lord Advocate’s hypocrisy is truly staggering.

Having fought for years to prevent disclosure in the Lockerbie case we now have a public servant complaining when an accused frustrated by the Scottish system failures hits back by releasing information of his own.

I continue to hope that the Scottish Government will negotiate the release of all the appeal papers so that we can all see what a massive political cover up it has been. Even better of course would be a formal enquiry into the whole shambles.

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

The documents released are volumous and I wonder how many people will take the time to read them.

One link I think has 295 pages.

The Lord Advocate is a hypocrite to claim the court is the only place to debate this case considering she dropped her own appeal only after Megrahi was back on Libyan Soil.

Other people in Glasgow have been sentenced to 35 years for single murders, and for MacAskill to claim to stand by the conviction then Elish drop the appeal against sentence is utterly appalling.

If only they had proceeded expeditiously as they are supposed to, then perhaps Megrahi might have been able to clear his name and to debate his issues in Court, Everyone in Scotland knows Elish did not want the truth to be heard.

Shame on Scotland and in "Our Names"

The documents I want to see the most are the "Statement Of Reasons" from SCCRC, which will tell us all exactly why his case was considered a "Miscarriage Of Justice"
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scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 526

I am glad that this information is available to the public! Although I know it is not by the choice of the government. But if they want the openess and accountability they say they do, and they have nothing to hide, what is the problem?

I think there will be a lot of people who will want to read the information posted on that site.

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

Christine Grahame Has Shown Lockerbie Film To Holyrood:

http://news.scotsman.com/politics...r-Lockerbie-film-shown.5688890.jp

Row after Lockerbie film shown at Holyrood

Published Date: 30 September 2009
By TOM PETERKIN
A ROW erupted last night when a controversial documentary claiming to challenge the evidence that led to the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber was shown at Holyrood.
Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP who believes Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is innocent, arranged a showing of Lockerbie Revisited, by Dutch documentary-maker Gideon Levy, that raises questions about evidence linking the bomb to Libya.

The film– never screened on mainstream British TV – suggests a fragment of the device left the UK without permission and was examined in the US – a move which could have led to contamination of evidence.

Last night Richard Marquise, the FBI agent who led the US side of the Lockerbie investigation questioned whether it was helpful to show the film.

"I'm still certain the evidence was righteous," Mr Marquise said.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "The only appropriate forum for the determination of guilt or innocence is the criminal court."

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

More evidence released by Megrahi

http://video.stv.tv/?bcpid=37654293001&bctid=43139421001

Lawyers acting for the Lockerbie bomber say a crucial prosecution witness expressed an interest in receiving a financial reward before he gave evidence which helped convict the Libyan of mass murder.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's legal team claim that Tony Gauci later received more than $2 million from the American authorities.

The lawyers have released hundreds of pages of submissions which would have been aired in court had Megrahi not decided to abandon his second appeal six weeks ago.

The Libyan, who is dying of cancer, has always protested his innocence and is now trying to win over public opinion. At his trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, the prosecution alleged the bomb which destroyed Pan Am 103 and killed 270 people was held in a suitcase along with clothes bought at Mary's House, a shop in Malta.

The shopkeeper - Mr Gauci - told the trial Megrahi "resembled a lot" the Libyan who purchased the clothes before the bombing in 1988. The trial judges cited Mr Gauci's qualified identification of Megrahi as one of the reasons for the guilty verdict.

On Friday, Megrahi's legal team said there was "significant evidence" undermining Mr Gauci's credibility which was not disclosed at his trial, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.

They claim the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission found material which indicated that the shopkeeper had, at an early stage, expressed an interest in receiving payment or compensation for his cooperation in giving evidence.

They allege the US authorities offered to make substantial payments to Gauci from an early stage. They also suggest that Scottish Police applied for reward money from the US Department of Justice after the trial and that more than $2 million was given to Mr Gauci and more than $1 million to his brother, Paul.

Prosecutors at the Crown Office released a statement saying: "The only place to determine these issues is the criminal court.

"All of these issues could have been raised during the course of the appeal which Mr Megrahi abandoned. He had no reason to do so when his appeal did not interfere with his application for compassionate release."

In a further development on Friday, it has emerged that the Lockerbie trial judges have publicly denied they were under any pressure to find Abdelbaset al-Megrahi guilty of the mass murder of 270 people.

A spokesperson for Lord Sutherland, Lord Coulsfield and Lord MacLean was authorised to make the statement in a letter to the New York Times.

The respected US newspaper had published a claim from Dirk Vandewalle, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, that one of the judges told him during a conversation that "there was enormous pressure put on the court to get a conviction."

The judges' letter was written by Elizabeth Cutting, public information officer for the Scottish Judiciary. In it, she says: "I’m authorized to say that to the best of their knowledge the three deciding judges on the panel — Lord Sutherland, Lord Coulsfield and Lord MacLean — have never met Mr. Vandewalle.

"Moreover, they assert that none of them has ever said what Mr. Vandewalle reports one of them to have said. They were never under any pressure to return any particular verdict."

All three judges have retired. This is thought to be their first joint statement since they delivered their verdicts in 2001.

A senior Scottish QC told STV News: "There have been occasions in the past when there has been some public comment from a judge either directly or indirectly, but something like this is very, very, very rare.

"In the 40 years of my career I can't remember anything like this at all.”

Last updated: 02 October 2009, 22:36
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Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

No Surprise Scottish Police were involved asking for money for Gauci.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/new...-in-3m-lockerbie-pay-out-1.923750

Revealed: Scots link in $3m Lockerbie pay-out

Megrahi, who is now receiving treatment for prostate cancer in Tripoli
Lucy Adams, Chief Reporter

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

Why would Megrahi's Brother be paid reward money when he wasn't even a witness ?

See reference to Tim Valentines Evidence here:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/new...s-he-just-after-the-cash-1.923752

Is this man key to Lockerbie ...or was he just after the cash?
Lucy Adams, Chief Reporter

0 commentsPublished on 3 Oct 2009

He was supposed to be the key figure in solving the biggest terrorist atrocity mainland Britain has ever suffered.

Tony Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper, became the Crown’s key witness in the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, and was the one man who linked the suspect to clothes found in the suitcase that harboured the bomb.

But new allegations published yesterday, which would have been tested in court if the appeal that began in April had gone ahead, have undermined both his credibility and reliability.

Papers on Megrahi’s website reveal that Gauci and his brother Paul were interested in financial reward from the start of the case, and that between them they received at least $3m (£1.88m) at the end of the trial.

Previously-secret police reports dating back to 1999 indicate “the frustration of Tony Gauci that he will not be compensated” and that “in respect of Paul Gauci, it is apparent from speaking to him for any length of time that he has a clear desire to gain financial benefit from the position he and his brother are in relative to the case.

“As a consequence he exaggerates his own importance as a witness and clearly inflates the fears he and his brother have.

“He is anxious to establish what advantage he can gain from the Scottish police.

“Although demanding, Paul Gauci remains an asset to the case but will continue to explore any means he can to identify where financial advantage can be gained.”

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman....lammed-over-refusal-to.5722657.jp

SNP slammed over refusal to go public with latest Megrahi health reports

Published Date: 11 October 2009
By Eddie Barnes Political Editor
OFFICIALS are refusing to publish up-to-date medical reports about the health of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.
The reports, compiled by Megrahi's Libyan doctors, have been handed to East Renfrewshire Council as part of regular assessments the local authority is making on the bomber's licensed release.

The council's criminal justice social work team is in charge of monitoring Megrahi from his home in Tripoli and could, if the medical reports show an improvement in his health, ask him to return to jail.

East Renfrewshire Council claimed last week that the medical reports belonged to the Scottish Government's justice department, where they had been sent. But the Scottish Government then said it was up to East Renfrewshire to decide whether or not to release the reports, not them.

A spokesman said: "We have decided with East Renfrewshire that they should be the first point of contact. It is their responsibility."

An East Renfrewshire spokesman declared: "These reports contain personal information. They could be released only if Mr Megrahi agreed to it. It is the same as any other criminal justice case."

Opposition parties last night said all medical information about Megrahi should be placed in the public domain.

Megrahi, who is suffering from prostate cancer, was released on 20 August on compassionate grounds, after ministers declared that he would soon die. The official advice on compassionate release suggests that a prisoner can be released if death is likely to come soon, with three months as an "appropriate" time scale.

Megrahi will this week begin his ninth week of freedom at his home in Tripoli. Reports about his health have varied, some suggesting he is getting frailer, others declaring there remains optimism in Libya that he may make a recovery.

The decision not to release the new information on his health was slammed last night by opposition parties.

Bill Aitken, justice spokesman for the Scottish Tories said: "When the Lockerbie bomber became Britain's biggest mass murderer he lost the right to confidentiality. The SNP's handling of his release is riddled with doubts and this refusal to release the reports only adds to doubts."

Doubts about the medical reasons for Megrahi's release emerged not long after he was returned to Libya. The director of health and care at the Scottish Prison Service, Dr Andrew Fraser, said that Megrahi did meet the criteria for compassionate release. It then emerged that among those who had examined Megrahi "no specialist would be willing to say" whether or not he would live more or less than three months.

Dr Fraser's report did refer to another unnamed doctor who had observed a "significant" decline in Megrahi's health. As a result, Fraser concluded a three-month prognosis was a "reasonable estimate" for Megrahi's life expectancy.

No Chance of Megrahi ever returning to Prison.

Another article worth a read.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman....s-dodgy-dossier-Cracks.5601175.jp
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Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/s...ould-suffer-if-Megrahi.5726465.jp

So Megrahi was released so that trade would not suffer

Trade would suffer if Megrahi had died in jail, admits Miliband

Published Date: 13 October 2009
By David Maddox
FOREIGN Secretary David Miliband last night insisted that British interests "would be damaged, perhaps badly" if Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had been allowed to die in a Scottish jail.
His comments were the closest the British government has yet come to formally endorsing the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Miliband said: "Notwithstanding that any decision on release was for Scottish ministers and the Scottish judicial system, the UK government had a responsibility to consider the consequences of any Scottish decision.

"Although the decision was not one for the UK government, British interests, including those of UK nationals, British businesses and possibly security co-operation would be damaged, perhaps badly, if Megrahi were to die in a Scottish prison, rather than Libya.

"Given the risk of Libyan adverse reaction, we made it clear to them both that, as a matter of law and practice, it was not a decision for the UK government, and as a matter of policy we were not seeking Megrahi's death in Scottish custody."

He added that the government made "no apology" for its part in improving relations with Libya over the past decade, but insisted a prisoner-transfer deal signed with Tripoli was not an agreement to release the convicted mass murderer.

The statement follows hints by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he supported the controversial release in August by Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill of the only man convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988, which claimed 270 lives.

Former foreign minister Bill Rammell also confirmed that he gave the Libyans the same message in meetings running up to the decision.

And Mr Miliband's statement last night appeared to have left the Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray, who opposed the release, further isolated.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "All of the evidence supports the justice secretary's decisions to reject the prisoner transfer application and grant compassionate release to Mr Al-Megrahi to be sent back to Libya to die.

"The UK Labour position played no role whatever in the justice secretary's decisions to reject prisoner transfer and grant compassionate release.

However, in response to Mr Miliband, Tory MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who was Scottish secretary at the time of the Lockerbie bombing, accused the UK government of paying more attention to Libya than to the US.

Sir Malcolm said: "Never for a moment did I expect the person convicted of murdering 200 people to be released and sent home, after serving only eight years of a 27-year minimum sentence."

More:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/meg...amaged-british-interests-1.925781
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Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/l...9-fury-at-MacAskill39s.5742501.jp

Plenty of colourful comments on this article:

Lockerbie families' fury at MacAskill's 'taunts'

Outspoken: MacAskill at SNP conference.

Published Date: 17 October 2009
By Eddie Barnes

KENNY MacAskill was last night criticised by relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie disaster, after using his decision to release the bomber to taunt his political opponents.
In his keynote address to the SNP conference in Inverness, Scotland's justice secretary received two standing ovations from the party faithful as he said that to act without mercy towards Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was to "debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold". He also mocked Labour MPs and MSPs who, he claimed, had told him they supported his decision in private, only to oppose it in public.

But Mr MacAskill's attack appeared to have backfired last night as relatives in the United States of those who died in the bombing of PanAm flight 103 in December 1988 said they were "surprised" by the sight of the justice secretary being applauded at the conference.

Frank Duggan, of the families group Victims of Flight 103, said: "I don't know what his political future will be, but the name 'MacAskill' will go down in history for his role in a miscarriage of justice."

He said that, instead of receiving ovations, Mr MacAskill must release all the medical information held on Megrahi's health, both before and since his release. The bomber, who was released on 20 August, is believed still to be at home in Tripoli, receiving treatment for prostate cancer.

He was released by Mr MacAskill on compassionate grounds after doctors concluded that a reasonable prognosis of his life expectancy was three months. That prognosis was vital, because guidelines suggest that inmates can be freed only if they have less than three months to live.

Megrahi will have been free for three months on 20 November, when Mr MacAskill can be sure to face further questions about the methodology behind his decision.

Yesterday, the Libyan embassy refused to comment on the convicted bomber's current state of health.

However, with the three-month date fast approaching, Mr MacAskill chose to go on the attack yesterday, claiming that his Labour opponents had failed a test of character over the decision.

In a parliamentary vote in September, all Labour MSPs, apart from the former health minister Malcolm Chisholm, voted against the decision to release Megrahi.

But Mr MacAskill said yesterday: "Iain Gray said he opposed my decision, but only after I had taken it. Gordon Brown couldn't decide whether he was for it or against it.

"Many Labour MPs and MSPs have since told me that they agreed with my decision, but none of them have spoken out."

He added: "Only Malcolm Chisholm had the courage of his convictions."

In a short, 18-minute speech, the justice secretary also said the Scottish Government's track record in taking "big decisions" had shown that "we've got what it takes".

He added: "Scotland's laws and Scottish values dictate that justice must be done, but that mercy must be available.

"To act otherwise would be to discard the values by which we see to live and debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold.

"I said in parliament that it was my decision and my decision alone," Mr MacAskill went on. "It was not based on political, economic or diplomatic grounds.

"It was taken the right way, for the right reasons, and I believe it was the right decision."

The claim that Labour MPs and MSPs had privately backed Mr MacAskill was rebutted by the party last night. However, at least one Labour MSP contacted by The Scotsman said there had been doubts expressed in private meetings before the parliamentary debate about the party's opposition to the decision.

The source said that there were only one or two MSPs who had expressed doubts about their opposition, before agreeing to swing behind their own leader.

Shadow justice secretary Richard Baker said that he was "personally sickened" by the sight of Mr MacAskill "grandstanding" on the issue of Megrahi's release.

He went on: "I know that most Scots agree with me that his decision to send Megrahi back to Libya was deeply wrong.

"Instead of trying to shift attention away from the mishandling of the process, I am challenging him to publish the representations of those who decried this decision."

But the pressure was applied by relatives in the US, who, following Mr MacAskill's speech, said he should release all the medical reports he received before Megrahi's release.

Mr Duggan said: "Instead of ovations, Mr MacAskill should have to release the medical diagnosis, if he has one, that he used as his reason to release the convicted bomber."

He said there were still questions about the advice which had been given to Mr MacAskill prior to the bomber's release.

He said: "The medical report (published by the Scottish Government] was redacted and presented privately by the doctors who were pressed into service.

"The report talked about Megrahi's mental problems and his depression from missing his family," said Mr Duggan. "That was totally irrelevant. What was at issue was his physical condition, not his mental state."

New medical reports have been received in Scotland from Megrahi's doctors in Libya.

Under the conditions of his licence, Megrahi must send back details of his condition every month. However, the authorities in Scotland say that, for legal reasons, they would not make it public. Theoretically, if Megrahi's health improved, he could be asked to return to prison in Scotland.

However, Mr Duggan said: "There are no privacy issues here that would prevent the release of medical information, since Megrahi was pleading for release based on his allegation that he had less than three months to live."

If Megrahi does survive for more than three months, focus is sure to return to the decision-making process. A report from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) released in August showed there were doubts about Megrahi's life expectancy among the specialists who saw him before he was released.

The SPS medical report disclosed that: "Whether or not prognosis is more or less than three months, no specialist would be 'willing to say'."

However, Megrahi's personal physician said his condition "declined significantly" between 26 July and 3 August. Consequently, the report concluded that a life expectancy of three months was deemed a "reasonable estimate".

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