It won't go away...

Whilst BBC Scotland and STV were behaving like proud toddlers displaying a freshly laid turd in their little hand, with their exemplar coverage of Scottish prisoners getting flat screen tellies and Anne McLaughlin tweeting that listening to Labour MSP's in committee would go down better with a dose of anti-depressives, a real story was taking place, this past week, in of all places our pretendy wee Parliament in Holyrood.

Media coverage of the 'Justice for Megrahi' campaign group appearance was displayed in all its cringe laden paucity. Thankfully those legal beagle coves at The Scottish Law blogspot have done a fantastic job of providing tip top coverage of it, including video of the committee sitting and testimony from Prof Robert Black, Dr Jim Swire et al. If you're interested to read, see or hear the evidence that was dismissed by our three noble Scottish judges, then these clips behove you to listen to what wronged a man to universal vilification.

As  Professor Black told the committee, 'the conviction rests on the premise that Mr Al-Megrahi was the man who bought the clothes from the shop Mary’s House in Sliema, and which were later said to have been wrapped around the suitcase bomb which destroyed the Boeing 747'. According to this theory, consistently rejected by amongst others the Maltese government and Air Malta, the bomb left from Malta and was transferred onto the Pan Am Flight in Germany.

Professor Black continued,'Tony Gauci, the Maltese star witness for the prosecution, had only ever said that Mr Al-Megrahi looked “a lot like the man” who bought the clothes from his shop in the days before the bombing.'

“He also said in his first police statement that the man was more than six feet tall and over 50 years old. At the relevant time in 1988, Mr Al-Megrahi was 38. He was then, and remains now I presume, five foot, eight inches tall. Still, the court held that he had been positively identified,” 

It's rather ironic that today, 14th of November, is the 19th anniversary of the day that Megrahi and Fhima were accused of being the bombers. It's an ugly anniversary coming a mere six weeks before the 22nd anniversary of the plane blowing up over Lockerbie. 

The near three years of investigation, when huge amounts of pressure were put on eensy weensy Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary to come up with suspects and the Scottish Judiciary to firm up a conviction have to be reexamined. The Scottish Government were not in existance at the time, let alone in power. This investigation took place during the dying days of the Thatcher government. A government more noted for sleaze, corruption, dodgy arms deals than honesty.  


The Scottish government have three important questions to answer:
  

• Will you open an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988 as called for by the petitioner and for the reasons given in the petition?

• If not, will you provide a detailed explanation why not, specifying whether there is any legislation which would prevent you from holding such an inquiry, what this legislation is and how it prevents?

 

• Who would have the power to undertake an inquiry in the terms proposed in the petition? 

 

 

 It's time...



 






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