SCOTTISH politicians have a duty to find out the truth about the Lockerbie bombing, according to a member of Justice for Megrahi (JfM), the group that believes Abdelbaset al Megrahi, the only man convicted of the atrocity, was innocent.
Iain McKie’s comments came two days ahead of the 28th anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which 270 people died, and as JfM wrote to the new Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, urging him to ensure the Crown Office gives “independent and objective consideration” to a Police Scotland report into the group’s criminal allegations.
McKie told The National the report – Operation Sandwood – which is more than a year late, was unlikely to be released until next year.
He said: “It won’t be this year and we’re looking at the early part of next year, which gives us breathing space to some extent to get the matter looked at properly.
“James Wolffe is a new man on the block and has no previous associations with Lockerbie. You’ve got to trust the man’s integrity until you find out otherwise, but there’s no doubt the previous incumbent Frank Mulholland was totally prejudiced and biased against the inquiry and made this publicly clear.
“Wolfe is not – he’s not been previously tainted with Lockerbie and therefore we’ve got to trust him. The issue is whether he can overcome the vested interests within the Crown Office that might want to brush this under the carpet.”
The basis of JfM’s case is the belief that the conviction of Megrahi in 2001 was a miscarriage of justice, and they have pressed for an independent inquiry into it.
In a statement, the group said: “Justice for Megrahi looks forward to the completion of the three-year Operation Sandwood enquiry into our nine criminal allegations against police, Crown Office officials and forensic scientists involved in the initial Lockerbie investigation and Camp Zeist trial, early in 2017.
“Although the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission report in 2007 found that the Megrahi conviction might have amounted to a miscarriage of justice, this is the first major reinvestigation of all the facts since that conviction. We continue to have confidence in the Police Scotland investigation team to carry out a thorough and objective enquiry.”
However JfM said they still had concerns.
“The previous support of the Justice Committee, in maintaining a watching brief over developments related to the ongoing police enquiry, has been of great value given that the Scottish Parliament has a constitutional duty to oversee the administration of justice in Scotland.
“This political scrutiny is critical and we are concerned that the current committee might decide to end that oversight as soon as the police report is submitted to Crown Office.
“It is essential that our political representatives continue scrutiny until Crown Office has considered the police report and has published its findings, in order to ensure that the Scottish public and the broader worldwide audience are fully aware of these findings.”
McKie added: “Just now we have Yemen, Aleppo, Saudi Arabia and all the Middle East conflicts that everyone’s exercised about, with children tragically being killed in the streets. This was a tragedy but it happened in 1988, and unfortunately the likes of Aleppo and these places in another 28 years will be put on the back burner.
“Lockerbie is a parallel with Aleppo – it was a serious crime and it seems to be that Scottish politicians cannot walk away from this – if they walk away from this they’ll be walking away from everything that’s happening today just because it’s inconvenient to find out the truth.”
A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services confirmed they had received JfM letter, and added: “We have no further comment to make at this time.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel