YE’VE aye mind whaur ye wir oan certain byordnar dates. Wednesday, December 21, 1988 is ane o thaim. Ah wis nearhaund the end o ma trainin as a mental health staff nurse at the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries; completin ma module in the drug an alcohol unit. We wir luikin forrit tae the end o this module as we wid get Christmas an New Year aff – which wisnae aye the case in nursing. Nearhaund the end o oor shift a fellow student cam in wi the news that a plane hud cam doun locally. The feck o us jaloused it wid hae bin a RAF jet, they wir aye fleein gey low about the area. Then rumours cam in that it wis aiblins a bigger plane, sae some o the staff an students said they wid gang ower tae the Royal Infirmary tae see gin they cuid help gin it pruived tae be a big emergency. Shortly eftir this we goat wird o whaur the plane cam doun – Lockerbie.
A total o 259 sowls wir loast oan the Boeing 747 aircraft, Clipper Maid of the Seas, en route frae London tae New York; 11 Lockerbie residents alsae dee’d wi the impact o the debris an the resultin fires. Thon’s a gey cauld an stairk description – it gangs naewhaurs near descreivin the rael horror o the event.
But wha committed this act, an whaur did they cam frae? Twa Libyan security oafficers wis tried at the hinnerend unner Scots law in an auld US base at Camp Zeist in the Netherlaunds. Anely wan, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, wis sentenced tae imprisonment in Scotland in 2001. He dee’d o cancer in 2009, retoured tae his hamelaund o Libya oan compassionate grunds, still threipin his innocence. Syne that oreeginal trial thair hus bin muckle controversy ower the conviction an wha wis really responsible. Aa this wull like as no be back in the news neist year as the faimily o Megrahi hae their appeal heard.
Ah’ll no dael wi him bein oan trial but wi oor justice system failin, baith in 2001 an nou. It’s aa a michty queer cairry-oan. Aabody kens that we maun hae an independent judiciary. This is necessar bi domestic law an international law. But whit did the Pan Am trial hae? The aggrieved pairty tae the bombin wis the Scottish Government. But then unlawfully it wis alsae the prosecutor – the government meenister the Lord Advocate. This is unlawfu.
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Whit we hae is the Government prosecutin when it maun be an independent prosecutor. But the Lord Advocate threips: “I am an independent prosecutor. Ah mak deceesions oan ma ain”. Naw! He is ayeweys a Scottish Meenister; he is the Government! The latest incumbent e’en says “my loyalty is to my government”. He must hae went tae a gey queer law schuil. The loyalty maun be tae the law, an the rule o law. Oor law oafficers hae fell at the first hurdle.
The Abdelbaset al-Megrahi case shuid hae bin chucked oot
The prosecutor is in a special poseetion. They decide whit law gets enforced an whit disnae. They decide wha they’ll prosecute an wha they wullnae. They alsae chuse the evidence tae be pit afore the courts. The judges an juries lippen oan the prosecutors fir their wark an cases. In an adversarial justice system the defence lippens oan the prosecutors fir the feck o the evidence, an need its independence. By law that dates back tae 1953 the prosecutor can nevir be the government. The Megrahi case shuid hae bin chucked oot, the prosecution hae nae legal legitimacy. It is a muckle black stain oan the aince namely an irreproachable Scottish justice system.
Scots law cases are judged bi a jury o 15. That size is chusen tae gie greater credibility an reliability. Whit heppent wi Lockerbie? The prosecutor/Government fir the first an anely time forleitit trial bi jury. Whit did the Lord Advocate dae? He appyntit three fellae judges tae haund doun the questionable verdict. Here ah’ll side wi a kenspeckle lawyer – and then president o South Africa – Nelson Mandela. Oan Lockerbie he pyntit out hou perverse our justice system hud becam; the absence o the required independence o the judicial process.
Hou did the case gang? Thair wis nae reliable evidence agin Megrahi. The much vauntit corroboration o Scots law wis chippit out the windae. Nae direct evidence, anely the maist dwaiblie o circumstantial. Jist twa paid witnesses. Ane, a Maltese shoapkeeper, cuidnae identify the suspect in 19 identity tests. He said the suspect wis ower 50; Megrahi wis 35. Oan heicht he said he wis six fuit; Megrahi wis much wee’er. The prosecution cuidnae pruive the journey o the case that held the bomb. They cuidnae show ony connection atween the bomb an Megrahi. The evidence wis as puir as ye cuid weesh fir tae gie a not-proven or mair lik a not guilty verdict.
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Ony weel advised jury wid no hae bin able tae gie a guilty verdict. Insteid we goat an indelible mark fir aye oan the aince snaw white robes o Scottish justice.
Megrahi secured an appeal an a seemilar patren follaed, ceptin wi five prosecutor-frienly judges. Guilty agane – an the judges widnae answer the challenges oan the evidence. Shame faw thae judges! Whaur nou yer respeckit independent judiciary?
Megrahi socht tae tak the ongauns o the trial tae the European Court of Human Rights. The Scottish Government preventit him frae daein this. By the law his trial wis roup an stoup unlawfu, an it shuid hae bin dismissed.
Niest year shuid see the saicent appeal. Whit it shuid kythe is the unlawfuness an unconstitutional natuir o our criminal justice system. It cuid e’en bring it crashin doun.
We need tae create a lawfu independent system o trials. A meenister hus a superintendent role wi nae involvement in judicial processes. Thair maun be an Independent Director o Public Prosecutions, backed bi a fully independent prosecution service, and an independent polis force – no the government-controlled state police force, Police Scotland.
Wednesday, December 21, 1988 wis a cauld day. Ah’m writin this oan a snell day.
But ah ettle hell wull freeze ower afore onybody sees justice in the case o Pan Am 103.
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