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

I have no doubt Megrahi will be in libya by the end of this month after reading the following article:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/n...Libya_Lockerbie_families_told.php

Megrahi may return to Libya, Lockerbie families told
LUCY ADAMS, Chief Reporter April 18 2009

Senior legal officials, in a tacit acknowledgement that the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is likely to be allowed to return home, have written to all relatives of the victims explaining the transfer process.

After years of denial by ministers and officials, the Crown Office e-mail suggests that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, currently serving 27 years in Greenock Prison for the bombing that killed 270 people, will be allowed to return to Libya under a transfer agreement to be ratified before the end of this month.

The e-mail also suggests that ratification may take place on April 27, the day before Megrahi's long-awaited appeal begins in Edinburgh.

Earlier this year, The Herald revealed that Libyan officials had been encouraged by senior civil servants from both sides of the border, including Robert Gordon, the head of the Justice Department in Scotland, to apply for Megrahi to be transferred as soon as the agreement is ratified.

Megrahi, whose case was referred back for a fresh appeal in June 2007 because it "may be a miscarriage of justice", is suffering from terminal prostate cancer and relatives and campaigners are concerned that he will not survive the appeal, which is expected to last at least 12 months - partly because the court will only be sitting for four days a week on alternate months. His request for interim bail was last year turned down by three appeal court judges.

Yesterday's revelation coincided with the publication of a critical report on the transfer agreement by the Joint Committee on Human Rights at Westminster.

The report makes apparent the committee's disdain of Jack Straw, the UK Justice Secretary, for failing to delay ratification to allow for proper scrutiny.

Mr Straw wrote to the committee in March to say he would delay ratification only until the Easter recess because "a delay beyond early April is likely to lead to serious questions on the part of Libya in regards to our willingness to conclude this and three other judicial co-operation agreements".

Angeline · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 146

"The court will only be sitting four days a week on alternate months"???

What an absolute disgrace. They have done everything in their power to avoid accountability for this outrage, including stalling in the most cynical manner, in the hope that a seriously ill man will die before they have to address their wrong-doing.

I'm disgusted.
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As long as one heart still holds on, then hope will never really be gone

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 526

The simplest way to deal with this case was to grant interim lib pending the appeal. Allow the man to be with his family and then have the appeal.

Then it wouldnt matter how long the appeal took then.

Simple isnt it?

I know this is not what they want though. We cannot be having openess and fairness can we?

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

This latest story confirms Megrahi might be in Libya before his appeal is even started.

Having said that I believe behind the scenes talks have already taken place and Mehgrahi might have already signed a deal which would see his appeal dropped.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman....bomber-39to-be-allowed.5183930.jp

Libyan bomber 'to be allowed to return home'

« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date: 19 April 2009
By David Leask
SPECULATION was mounting last night that the cancer-stricken Lockerbie bomber will shortly be returned to Libya.
The Crown Office yesterday confirmed it had written to the families of all 270 victims of the 1989 bombing to spell out how any transfer would take place.

Insiders said the move amounted to an acknowledgement that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi will be sent home after a controversial prisoner transfer agreement is ratified at the end of this month.

Megrahi, who is suffering from incurable cancer, is currently serving 27 years in Greenock Prison but is awaiting an appeal against his conviction. The letter to families, which was sent by e-mail, is understood to suggest that the 2007 agreement between Libya and the UK will be ratified on April 27, the day before Megrahi's long-awaited appeal is due to begin in Edinburgh.

Megrahi is the only Libyan national currently serving a jail sentence in Scotland and is understood to be eager to return home to end his life close to his wife Aisha and children.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office declined to reveal the details of the letter but stressed that prosecutors had been keeping families up to date with the case.

She said: "Since the day the UK signed the agreement in 2007 we have communicated with the families about it because of their long-standing interest in any prisoner transfer arrangements between the UK and Libya."

The former Libyan security service officer was granted the right to take his case back to the Court of Appeal for a second time after the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission found that his conviction "may be a miscarriage of justice". Late last year he asked to be released on bail pending the plea but was refused.

Megrahi's relatives believe that he would not survive the appeal, which is expected to take as long as a year, partly because the court will not sit full time. His prostate cancer, as revealed in Scotland on Sunday, has spread to other parts of his body.

Some reports have suggested that officials in both England and Scotland have encouraged Libya to apply for Megrahi to be transferred as soon as the agreement is set in stone.

Last month it was claimed that Robert Gordon, the most senior civil servant in the Scottish Government's Justice Department, had been instructed by Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, to hold talks with the Libyans. In theory, however, the agreement on prisoner transfer is between Libya and the UK.

Talks on prisoner transfers between the two countries started in 2005 but the foreign office has always denied that the negotiations have anything to do with Megrahi specifically.

MPs on Westminster's Committee on Human Rights last month said they felt the treaty raised concerns and asked for ratification to be delayed until the end of this month.

The committee, which wants to carry out a full investigation of the draft treaty, said: "In our view, when a select committee states that it intends to scrutinise a treaty, ratification should be delayed until the committee's inquiry has concluded."

First Minister Alex Salmond has previously said he feels Megrahi should serve his entire term in Scotland. The initial prisoner transfer agreement, dubbed "the deal in the desert", sparked fury north of the border.

Even after the deal is finalised, it will be up to MacAskill to decide whether to release Megrahi to the Libyans. The UK Government has no power over prisoners in the Scottish system.

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

Jim Swire seems to think Megrahi is being coerced into abandoning his appeal in return for a transfer to Libya by the UK Government.

http://news.scotsman.com/lockerbi...rying-to-thwart-bomber.5191898.jp

Jack Straw goes back on his word to the Victims Families:

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 526

This is just typical!

We the public want the truth. These families NEED the truth.

What is being hidden from the families and the public?

Do the government REALLY think that if they pack this man off to Libya that people will just forget what has happened?

If this happens then all they will prove is that there is a huge whitewash and cover up and that they do not care about the victims or the families.

Let Megrahi have his appeal, even if they do give him interim lib on compassionate grounds. This appeal should continue in my opinion.