Open letter calls for Lockerbie inquiry

AN OPEN letter from 42 celebrated public figures has called for a fresh inquiry into the Lockerbie Bombing, writes David Clegg, political editor.

The plea came just days after Abdelbaset alMegrahi, the only person convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103, died of cancer.

Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former war correspondent Kate Adie, campaigning journalist John Pilger and academic Noam Chomsky are among the signatories.

The letter, which appeared in the Scottish Review magazine, claimed Scotland’s criminal justice system was a “mangled wreck” because of the case.

It called on the SNP administration to re-examine Megrahi’s conviction, claiming the prosecution case held water “like a sieve”.

“If Scotland wishes to see its criminal justice system reinstated to the position of respect that it once held rather than its languishing as the mangled wreck it has become because of this perverse judgment, it is imperative that its Government acts by endorsing an independent inquiry into this entire affair,” it said.

“As a nation which aspires to independence, Scotland must have the courage to look itself in the mirror.”

The Libyan bomber was controversially returned to his home country on compassionate grounds in August 2009 after serving 10 years in a Scottish jail.

He was suffering from prostate cancer and was thought to only have three months left to live. Megrahi, who died in Tripoli on Sunday morning, always protested his innocence.

The Scottish Government has consistently insisted it does not doubt the safety of the conviction, but said it does not have the power to order an investigation into the case.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu.