IT was one of the most controversial decisions taken during Alex Salmond’s time as First Minister – now he is to revisit the 2009 release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi with the man who made that call, former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill.
In a special St Andrew’s Day edition of the Alex Salmond Show on RT today, MacAskill makes the explosive claim that Scotland was “slapped about mercilessly” by the British and American governments, who he accuses of “double dealing”.
Salmond himself says the identification evidence which helped convict Megrahi is “open to question” and berates the “total cynicism” of those who attacked the Scottish Government over the decision to send the Libyan home on compassionate grounds because he had terminal prostate cancer. He says the UK Government wanted Megrahi sent home to secure an oil deal.
The show also features the country’s leading historian, Sir Tom Devine, and former Labour MP Dennis Canavan, while Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh profiles Scotland’s flourishing fashion industry and explains why “tartan has become the new black”.
It will be the Lockerbie case that draws most attention, however. Salmond and MacAskill were colleagues in the Scottish Government when both came under huge pressure not to release Megrahi.
After they did so, his life was prolonged by American-made cancer drugs not available in Scotland before he died in 2012.
MacAskill tells Salmond: “A month after I was being criticised for releasing Megrahi, it was coming to light that the British [Government] through the Police Service of Northern Ireland, were training Gaddafi’s elite battalion.
“It’s also since become clear that Britain, through and with assistance of the United States, was rendering prisoners to Colonel Gaddafi.
“So this was about building a relationship between the West and Gaddafi and Scotland was slapped about mercilessly. I believe we did the right thing and yet Britain and America were conniving to achieve what we delivered, but blaming us for doing what we did for the right reasons.”
Asked by Salmond if the full truth about Lockerbie would ever be known, MacAskill replies: “I think it is going to be a bit like the grassy knoll at Dallas. I think there will always be doubts because there will always be people that don’t accept it and there still is that million-dollar question of how did they get the suitcase on board at Malta? But it’s got to be remembered that as a consequence of getting it on board at Malta, Pan Am went into administration.
“So, I think it went on at Malta we don’t quite know how. I have a theory in my book about how I think it went on, but I think there is no doubt that Libya did it, but they were aided and abetted by others. Megrahi had a role, but it was a relatively minor role.”
MacAskill goes on to identify former members of the Libyan regime who he believes could shed further light on the issue. These include the former foreign minister Moussa Koussa, former security minister Abdullah Senussi, and Gaddafi’s son Saif.
“People do know,” says MacAskill. “Moussa Koussa knows and he is currently in the Middle East; Senussi knows, Saif Gaddafi knows; they are there, they can argue, but whether we will actually hear further, I doubt it very much.”
At the end of the show, Salmond adds his own opinion: “As Kenny MacAskill has told us, he made his decision to release Mr Megrahi according to the law of Scotland and on compassionate grounds.
“Is it possible for someone to be guilty and yet wrongfully convicted? Yes it is.
“Kenny MacAskill is correct. The forensic evidence, compiled by the Scottish authorities and the FBI, clearly identified Libyan involvement and Malta as the place where the bomb was planted.
“Mr Megrahi was a high-ranking Libyan intelligence official on the scene at the time. This supports the charge that he was acting with others as part of the Lockerbie conspiracy.
“However, his conviction was not just based on the strength of that evidence, but on identification evidence which is, to say the very least, open to question. Back in 2009, Kenny MacAskill was aware of this as was I, as Scotland’s First Minister.
“And we were aware of something else; the total cynicism of some of those who attacked the Scottish Government for our decision.
“Throughout this period, the British Government of first Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown was secretly acting to promote Mr Megrahi’s release [from a Scottish prison] and not on the grounds of compassion or justice, but for trade, for big business, and for oil. Such is State hypocrisy.”
The Alex Salmond Show will air on RT at 0730, 1830 and 2330 GMT.
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