American justice at work yet againJohn Ashton, who has been investigating the case for nearly 20 years, including time spent as part of [accused bomber] Megrahi’s defence team, said: "The Lockerbie disaster was Europe’s worst terrorist attack. More Americans died in that attack than in any other terrorist event before 9/11. It's also Britain’s worst miscarriage of justice, the wrong man was convicted and the real killers are still out there."
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'Lockerbie: Case Closed', an hour-long documentary to be aired on Al Jazeera on Monday, examines the evidence uncovered by the SCCRC as well as revealing fresh scientific evidence which is unknown to the commission but which comprehensively undermines a crucial part of the case against the man known as the Lockerbie bomber. Among the evidence examined by the SCCRC was the testimony of Tony Gauci, a shop owner from Malta, and the most important prosecution witness in the case.
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Gauci reportedly picked up a $2 million US government reward for his role in the case.
alJazeera
Apparently, the prosecution suppressed a good deal of evidence in the case. What a surprise.A new account of the bombing and [Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi]'s conviction, Megrahi: You Are My Jury, published in Edinburgh on Monday, alleges that the Crown Office, the police and Ministry of Defence scientists failed to disclose numerous pieces of evidence that damaged their case against the Libyan. Speaking at the book's launch with John Moseley, a fellow campaigner, Swire, chairman of UK Families Flight 103, said there were "mountains of evidence that doesn't seem to be right and that needs to be examined".
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Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among 270 people killed in the bombing, said the withheld evidence raised profound doubts about the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan man released from jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009.
Documents given to Megrahi's defence lawyers a month before he dropped his appeal show that government scientists had found significant differences between a bomb timer fragment allegedly found after the attack and the type supplied to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's former regime, Swire said.
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Opposition leaders quickly intensified the pressure by demanding that Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary who released Megrahi, make an "urgent" statement to the Scottish parliament after the book alleged he had privately urged Megrahi to drop his appeal.
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Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said "these grave allegations" suggested the justice secretary wanted Megrahi released to avoid a potentially embarrassing appeal.
UK Guardian
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