Lockerbie: fresh moves to clear Abdelbaset al-Megrahi

[Ghost Dog]

Source: Guardian

Megrahi was convicted by a special court of three Scots judges who sat without a jury in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, but John Ashton's book, Megrahi, You Are My Jury, quotes the Libyan as saying that he was framed, claiming that evidence seen by prosecutors was never passed to the defence. "There was a huge pressure to convict and it's clear now there was blatant intellectual dishonesty surrounding his trial," said Ashton. "Along with significant new forensic evidence, it's pretty clear this is an unsafe conviction."

Evidence not seen by the defence includes a break-in at Heathrow in the early hours of 21 December 1988, that could have allowed a device to be planted among security-screened Pan Am luggage. Doubts have also been cast over payments made to a key prosecution witness and a circuit board fragment found in the wreckage that prosecutors said was part of bomb timer made for Libyan authorities.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/03/lockerbie-fresh-moves-megrahi

---

See also: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/the-megrahi-mysteries.16922705

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Explosives analysis concludes semtex theory "scientifically implausible" in Pan Am 103 explosion

A scientific analysis of the Crown's discredited theory that approximately 1lb of semtex contained in a Toshiba radio caused the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, has concluded that the notion is "scientifically implausible."

The report, by Dr Ludwig de Braeckeleer agrees with the findings of John H Parkes, a former MOD contractor and explosives engineer who assisted in the rescue operations in Lockerbie, and subsequently submitted a report of his findings to the then Scottish Secretary Malcolm Rifkind. Parkes was never called as a witness to the trial.

snip

"In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, researchers at the Centre of Explosives Technology Research in Socorro, New Mexico, estimated that up to thirty pounds of explosive was needed to destroy a Boeing 747, if the explosion had occured in the container. We agree with that estimate," the report says.

"As the explosion of one pound of Semtex H inside the luggage container does not generate a blast wave sufficiently powerful to fracture the skin of the fuselage, we have little choice but to conclude that the verdict appears scientifically very implausible."

http://www.firmmagazine.com/features/501/Explosives_analysis_concludes_semtex_theory.html

[Ghost Dog]

2. There's been a wave of new reporting on this in Scotland/UK. See eg:

http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/28/lockerbie-was-megrahi-innocent/

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/lockerbie_bombing_forensic_evidence_casts_fresh_doubt_on_megrahi_guilt_1_2140534

[nanabugg]

3. We needed a scapegoat.

It was a black ops job by US- Mossad forces and this was stated at the very beginning. Reagan was successful in his black ops against Quadaffi and thus we did it again. No matter how much the ME Arabs and Muslims try to appease the US, it will never be enough...Saddam, Quadaffi, and others all have eventually been turned on by the US. And there is no question in my mind that this is what motivates Assad to continue with his slaughter. What does he have to loose? Nothing he does or could have done is going to keep him from being killed.

[cstanleytech]

4. "It was a black ops job by US- Mossad forces and this was stated at the very beginning." Link

to some proof would be nice otherwise it kinda sounds a bit tin foil hat like.

[tabatha]

5. It was ordered by Gaddafi. There are documents to prove it.

Libya rebel leader: I have evidence Gaddafi ordered Lockerbie

The former Libya justice minister says he has documents that implicate Colonel Gaddafi personally in the Lockerbie bombing.

n an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the provisional rebel government in Benghazi and Libya’s former justice minister, said he had evidence of Gaddafi's involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.
"The orders were given by Gaddafi himself," he told Rob Crilly.

Mr Abel Jalil claimed he had evidence that convicted bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi worked for Gaddafi.

"This evidence is in our hands and we have documents that prove what I have said and we are ready to hand them over to the international criminal court," he added.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8380133/Libya-rebel-leader-I-have-evidence-Gaddafi-ordered-Lockerbie.html


Gaddafi was happy to have someone else be the scapegoat.

[JohnyCanuck]

6. That is, of course, if Jalil was telling the truth.

Libya: Connect the Dots-You Get a Giant Dollar Sign
By Russ Baker on Jun 6, 2011

snip

This story (i.e. Jalil's claim that the new Libyan government had hard evidence that Qaddafi ordered the bombing of Pan Am 103 /JC) made it into major news media throughout the world, without anyone stopping to raise questions about the propaganda benefit of the statement, or of the timing. For example, the UK paper, The Telegraph, interviewed Jeleil/Jalil:

snip

Since then, I haven’t seen any sign that Jalil’s evidence has been shown to anyone. So we don’t know that it actually exists, or that he was telling the truth. But the original headlines did the trick—anyone watching television or reading stories then would have been led to believe that Qaddafi was behind this dastardly deed.

A couple of days later, for the first time, President Obama called for Qaddafi to step down. And not long thereafter, the US, UK and their allies were getting ready to pitch military action against Qaddafi, originally characterized as solely humanitarian, “to protect civilians.” (Eventually, the top British military figure would indiscreetly admit that the relentless bombing was intended to remove the Libyan leader.)

snip

For more on doubts about Libya’s role in the bombing, see the excellent summary of powerful evidence that the Libyans may have been framed, evidence not presented at trial, on Wikipedia. (While Wikipedia should not be considered a definitive source, it is often a good roundup of what may be found elsewhere and thus a starting point for further inquiry.) The troubling elements, which constitute a very long list, include an alleged offer from the FBI of $4 million for certain incriminating testimony, the subsequent admission by a key witness that he had lied, details of strange goings-on in the FBI’s crime lab, and indications that the bomb may have been introduced at an airport where the defendant was not present.

http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/06/06/libya-connect-the-dots-you-get-a-giant-dollar-sign/

[tabatha]

8. Jalil's reputation is one of a straight talker and a truth teller.

I'll wait until his claims have been disproved.

EDIT - and how about Moussa Kouusa

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office insists there were no grounds for detaining him. But officials also accept that prosecuting Mr Koussa would have deterred other defections, and silenced a priceless source of inside information about Gaddafi’s regime.“I can’t say there was a deal, but it was very convenient for the Government that Moussa Koussa moved to Qatar,” Guma el-Gamaty, the former coordinator of Libya’s National Transitional Council in Britain, said. “If he’d stayed any longer the Lockerbie investigators were coming in to demand he should be investigated.”

[Blue_Tires]

7. Interesting how many parallels there are between this and Air India 182

Especially the ensuing investigation/prosecution/trial...