Below is the relevant part of Kenny MacAskill's statement on the Prison transfer agreement, covering MacAskill's visit to Megrahi at Greenock prison and his reasons for denying the Libyan Government's request for a Prisoner Transfer, which Blair agreed to in a memo of understanding in 2007 and Westminster ratified last year.
The outstanding question in this part of the whole stramash, is this. Why would the Westminster government deny there had been an agreement with the USA that any person sentenced for this crime would remain in a Scottish prison for the rest of his life and never be transferred to his homeland, particularly when the USA are so adamant that it had been agreed?
Prior to ratification of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, it was scrutinised by the Westminster Joint Committee on Human Rights, to which Jack Straw, UK Secretary of State for Justice, gave a commitment that in cases where applications were not submitted personally by the prisoner, the prisoner must be given the opportunity to make representations. Mr Al-Megrahi had the opportunity to make representations, and he chose to do so in person. Therefore I was duty bound to receive his representations. I accordingly met him. It was clear that both the United States Government and the American families objected to a prisoner transfer. They did so on the basis of agreements they said had been made, prior to trial, regarding the place of imprisonment of anyone convicted.
The United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, was in fact deputy Attorney General to Janet Reno at the time of the pre-trial negotiations. He was adamant that assurances had been given to the United States Government that any person convicted would serve his sentence in Scotland. Many of the American families spoke of the comfort that they placed upon these assurances over the past ten years. That clear understanding was reiterated to me, by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I sought the views of the United Kingdom Government. I offered them the right to make representations or provide information. They declined to do so. They simply informed me that they saw no legal barrier to transfer and that they gave no assurances to the US Government at the time. They have declined to offer a full explanation as to what was discussed during this time, or to provide any information to substantiate their view. I find that highly regrettable. I therefore do not know what the exact nature of those discussions was, nor what may have been agreed between Governments.
However, I am certain of the clear understanding of the American families and the American Government. Therefore it appears to me that the American families and Government either had an expectation, or were led to believe, that there would be no prisoner transfer and the sentence would be served in Scotland. It is for that reason that the Libyan Government's application for prisoner transfer for Abdelbasit Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi I accordingly reject.
Why are there no written records of the 'agreements' that took place between the UK and US governments?
---------1988----------
Lockerbie supposedly predates the 'war on terror' by 13 years. 1988 was in many ways 'Year Ground Zero' for a lot of the shit we see around us now. A brief glimpse at the year is rather eye opening to what's going on with the world today.
January 1988 the Cold war was all but over as Gorbachev introduced pererstroika to the USSR.
February saw the US House of Representatives deny Reagan millions for his support of the Contras in Nicaragua
March was busy. Bush senior wins the Republican nomination for president. Ollie North and John Poindexter are indicted over the Iran Conta affair. Israel sentences Mordecai Vanuana to 18 years for spilling the beans on their nuclear programme to the Sunday Times
April saw the Israelis assassinate the PLO's Abu Jihad in Tunisia. The USS Sam Roberts struck a mine in the Persian Gulf and retaliated by blowing up several Iranian oil platforms and ships.
May. The Soviet Red Army withdraws from Afghanistan after eight yearsand 13,836 dead Soviet soldiers, an average of 1,537 men a year. The Soviets also lost 118 aircraft, 333 helicopters, 147 tanks, 1500 armoured vehicles, 450 artillery guns, 1200 radio sets, 510 engineering vehicles and 11,369 trucks and petrol tankers...
June was quiet Mandela turned 70 and MTV asked if he'd be appearing at his birthday party at Wembley.
July Iran Air flight 655 is shot down by a missile launched from the USS Vincennes. Two days later Piper Alpha explodes killing 1657 men
August President Haq of Pakistan killed in a plane crash, twelve days after Allam Arif Hussain Hussaini, leader of Pakistan's Shia Muslims is killed. On the 20th the Iran-Iraq war ends, one million dead over eight years. The world hails this as a chance for peace in the middle East.
September Seoul Olympics spoiled by Ben Johnson's eye bulging steroid abusing 100m fraud.
October BBC bans interviews with IRA, htey give them voice overs done by Shakespearian actors...
November An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed. Benazir Bhutto elected Prime minister of Pakistan. Super Mario 3 introduced in time for Christmas.
December. 32 die in Clapham junction rail disaster. Bangladesh cyclone leave five million homeless and thousands dead.
5th December a man with an Arabic accent telephones the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki and warns them that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the USA will be blown up within the next two weeks by someone associated with the Abu Nidal Organisation
The anonymous warning was taken seriously by the U.S. government. They cabled the bulletin to dozens of embassies. They sent it to all U.S. carriers, including Pan Am, which had charged each of the passengers a $5 security surcharge, promising a "program that will screen passengers, employees, airport facilities, baggage and aircraft with unrelenting thoroughness" (The Independent, 29 March 1990); the security team in Frankfurt found the warning hidden under a pile of papers on a desk the day after the bombing.
On 13 December, the warning was posted on bulletin boards in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and eventually distributed to the entire American community there, including journalists and businessmen. As a result, a number of people allegedly booked on carriers other than Pan Am, leaving empty seats on PA103 that were later sold cheaply in bucket shops.
21st December Clipper Maid of the Seas blows up over Lockerbie. John Peel reports just before Radio One closes down for the night, that a plane has crashed on the motorway in the south of Scotland.
Posts
