Megrahi dead but questions live on
Calls grow for full inquiry into Lockerbie bombing
THE death of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, almost three years after his release from a Scottish jail, should not stop the search for the truth about the Lockerbie bombing, victims’ families and politicians insisted last night.
The Libyan’s son, Khaled, announced the 60-year-old’s death at his home in Tripoli yesterday, several days after he is understood to have slipped into a coma.
David Cameron and Alex Salmond both stressed that people’s first thoughts should be with the 270 victims of the 1988 atrocity and their loved ones.
The Prime Minister said he had “always been clear” the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing should never have been released from prison, but noted: “Today is a day to remember the 270 people who lost their lives in what was an appalling terrorist act.
“Our thoughts should be with them and their families for the suffering they have had.”
Mr Cameron dismissed fresh calls for an inquiry into Megrahi’s conviction, saying: “This has been thoroughly gone through. There was a proper process, a proper court proceeding and all the rest of it. We have to give people the chance to mourn those that were lost.
“I’m very clear that the court case was properly done and properly dealt with.”
The decision in August 2009 by Kenny Macaskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds because medical evidence suggested he had just three months to live has been the SNP Government’s most controversial decision to date and sparked fierce criticism at home and abroad.
Mr Macaskill said last night his decision had been based on expert advice and was made “in good faith and following the due process of Scots law”.
He added: “This news was not unexpected – Mr Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, which was the basis on which I released him on compassionate grounds and it confirms what we have always said about his medical condition.”
Mr Macaskill added: “It is open for relatives of Mr Megrahi to apply to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to seek a further appeal [against his conviction]. And the best, indeed the only, place for guilt or innocence to be determined is in a court of law.”
First Minister Mr Salmond added: “Mr Megrahi’s death ends one chapter of the Lockerbie case but it does not close the book.
“However, all information that comes forward will confirm that the decisions of this administration have been in accordance with the due process of law.”
Mrsalmond said Megrahi’s death would end the conspiracy theories that suggested his illness was somehow manufactured.
He also emphasised that the Lockerbie case was still a live investigation, adding that “Scotland’s criminal justice authorities have made clear that they will rigorously pursue any new lines of inquiry”.
Three weeks ago, Frank Mulholland, the Lord Advocate, was in Tripoli with Robert Mueller, director of America’s FBI, to discuss with the Libyan authorities the investigation into the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
Mr Mulholland had earlier met Mr Mueller and Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, in Washington to discuss ways of stepping up officials’ inquiries in Libya. At the time, the Lord Advocate noted that he wanted to “take advantage of the opportunity that has opened up with the fall of Gaddafi”.
Last night, there were renewed calls for pressure to be exerted on Tripoli to get to the full truth about Lockerbie.
Richard Ottaway, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Herald: “Megrahi should never have been released in the first place. I suspect there is more to this story than we are aware of.
“I would encourage the UK Government to request further
THE death of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing might close a chapter on Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity but it does not close the book.
There are those who believe Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was indeed involved in the Lockerbie bombing and that his conviction was safe, yet admit he could not have acted alone, while there are those who believe he was simply a hapless scapegoat and the real culprits are still to be identified and are possibly even at large.
Either way, Megrahi’s death simply highlights how there are many questions that remain unanswered.
In March, the Sunday Herald published in full online the 800-page report by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission after it had remained secret for five years.
It confirmed in many people’s minds that there should be a public inquiry into the Lockerbie case as several key items of evidence were made public for the first time.
One, for example, referred to how key prosecution witness Tony Gauci – the Maltese shopkeeper who identified Megrahi as the man who bought clothes later found in the suitcase that contained the bomb – and his brother Paul had received secret payments of as much as $3 million by the US Department of Justice under its “reward for justice” programme.
While Prime Minister David Cameron last night rejected any fresh inquiry into the conviction of Megrahi, investigations into the circumstances surrounding the bombing for which he was jailed continue. In fact, since December 1988 they have never been closed.
Only three weeks ago, Frank Mulholland, the Lord Advocate, was in Tripoli with Robert Mueller, director of America’s FBI, to discuss with the Libyan authorities the investigation into the Lockerbie bombing.
In December, Mr Mulholland was in Washington meeting Mr Mueller and Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, to discuss ways of stepping up officials inquiries in Libya. At the time, the Lord Advocate noted how he wanted to “take advantage of the opportunity that has opened up with the fall of Gaddafi”.
A year ago, following his defection to Britain amid the Libyan civil war, Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi’s former spy chief, was questioned by Scottish detectives about his knowledge of the Lockerbie bombing.
He denied “involvement or knowledge of any kind” in the atrocity and is now still thought to be in Qatar.
The Foreign Office insists he can still be called back to the UK to face any court proceedings but it appears increasingly doubtful this will ever happen.
Then there is Saif al Islam, Gaddafi’s English-speaking son, who might be best placed to reveal any Lockerbie secrets. While the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague wants him to be extradited to face a war crimes trial in Holland, those holding him in Libya insist Saif will stand trial in his home country and, if convicted, will face possible execution.
Saif al Islam might not be the only defendant in any such trial.
Last month, Mauritania was reported to have agreed to hand over Abdullah al Senussi, Gadaffi’s intelligence chief.
Not only does the ICC want to try him too for crimes against humanity but the French Government is keen to see him take the stand; Senussi is said to have been involved in the bombing of a plane in 1989 in which 54 French nationals died.
MPS at Westminster yesterday made clear pressure had now to be exerted on the new Libyan Government to try to uncover the full truth about Lockerbie to help victims’ families find some closure.
Yet it might be that the last thing the new rulers in Tripoli want is to rake over the details of a sordid past.
They would undoubtedly much prefer to concentrate on Libya’s future.