LOCKERBIE - it wasn't the man in prison

Who is this?

At the UK Independent, 21 December 2008, Hugh Miles wrote about Lockerbie.

Among the points made:

1. Al Megrahi's conviction was "the biggest miscarriage of justice in Scottish legal history."

Megrahi's conviction "was a shocker".

2. There was no material evidence linking him to the bombing.

There was no material evidence that he put the bomb on the plane or that he handled any explosives.

Even the prosecution subsequently questioned the credibility of its star witness.

3. Libya, being crippled by UN sanctions, was forced to pay money to the victims' families, but, it has never accepted guilt.

US lawyers took approximately a third of the final amount.

4. The British Government is hoping Megrahi will abandon his appeal so he can die at home in Libya.

If Megrahi dies before he is found not guilty, then Scottish prosecutors, police, and intelligence hope (wrongly) that they may not have to answer a lot of difficult questions.

(Such as - did the CIA bring down PanAm 103 over Lockerbie?)

5. In November 2008, a general agreement on the exchange of prisoners was signed between Libya and Britain paving the way for such a transfer. The agreement will be ratified in January.

6. "The Crown and the prosecution are using every delaying tactic in the book to close off every route available to Megrahi except prisoner transfer, as this means he has to abandon his appeal," says Professor Robert Black QC, the Scottish lawyer who was the architect of the original trial who feels partly responsible for the miscarriage that occurred.

"It is an absolute disgrace. It was 27 June 2007 when the SCCRC released its report and sent its case back to the criminal appeal court, and here we are 18 months later and the Crown has still not handed over all of the material that the law requires it to hand over and it is still making every objection conceivable."

7. There are two obstacles to the British plan:

A. The decision to send Megrahi to Libya lies with the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond. Salmond has ruled out any transfer.

B. Whether Megrahi dies in jail in Scotland or Libya, under Scottish law his appeal can still go ahead without him.

"Any interested person can continue the case. In this case one of Megrahi's children could continue with the appeal to clear their father's name," says Professor Black.

8. Who did carry out the lockerbie Bombing?

There is evidence linking the bombing to Abu Talb and Marwan Khreesat.

Khreesat "was on the CIA payroll".

Abu Talb "was given lifelong immunity from prosecution in exchange for his evidence at the Lockerbie trial".

Marwan Khreesat was released by German police "even though a barometric timer of the type used to detonate the bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 was found in his car when he was arrested."

Some believe that the CIA deliberately framed Libya.

Some suspect Lockerbie is linked to drug smuggling. (CIA drug smuggling)

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Hugh Miles is the author of 'Playing Cards in Cairo' http://www.hughmiles.com/