Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi

Convicted in 2001 of 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing. Case referred by the SCCRC for a second appeal 2008. The appeal has now been abandoned and Megrahi has been released on compassionate grounds, as he is said to be terminally ill. He has returned to Libya.

Documents on Lockerbie may never be seen, by Lucy Adams

Scotland 1 February 2010

Flaws in key evidence exposed by BBC Newsnight investigation (report by Peter Marshall broadcast 6 January 2010)
Fragment of printed circuit board claimed to be part of bomb timer never tested

See the whole BBC Newsnight report - click here

Appeal documents published online - click here to read them

From the website set up to publish papers relating to this case:
Mr Megrahi's case was referred back to the Court of Criminal Appeal by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission on 27th June 2007. He abandoned his appeal against conviction and sentence, with leave of the Court, on 18 August 2009.
The purpose of this website is to explain the basis of his challenge to that conviction.
Initially, he intends to publish those parts of his Grounds of Appeal which were argued before the Court between 28 April and 19 May 2009.
Thereafter, he will publish the Grounds of Appeal which were due to be the subject of argument before the Court, commencing on 2nd November 2009.

$2m witness payment, bogus forensic evidence and Pentagon memo blaming Iran: How Lockerbie bomber appeal threatened Scottish justice, by ANTONIA HOYLE and FIDELMA COOK, 23rd August 2009

A report of an interview with Ian Ferguson, author of Cover-up of Convenience - The Hidden Scandal of Lockerbie. Mr Ferguson told the Mail:

There was rejoicing in the Crown Office in Edinburgh when he was released and the appeal abandoned.
There may well be political manoeuvres behind his release but at the heart was a decision to save the face of the Scottish judiciary - in particular the Crown Prosecution, who would have been shown to have been involved in an abuse of process by non-disclosure of witness statements.

Whatever Obama and the CIA may be saying about al-Megrahi's release, American intelligence services believed that Libya was not responsible for the bombing.

Key witness Tony Gauci was paid $2m for his dodgy evidence.

Lockerbie: was it Iran? Syria? All I know is, it wasn't the man in prison, by Hugh Miles 21 December 2008

The fate of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, however, and the tarnished reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system rest in the hand of the Scottish courts. Megrahi's acquittal, posthumous or otherwise, will undo a heinous wrong and return us to where we were 20 years ago – searching for the truth behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.

Aisha Al Megrahi, Al-Megrahi's wife, issued the following statement in Edinburgh on 4 December 2008:
"My children and I are here today to give support to my husband Abdelbaset, who is a victim of a miscarriage of justice and terminally ill, and also to give support to all those other victims of miscarriages of justice.
"We are here for the sake of all those innocent souls who are suffering in silence.
"I call upon the people of Scotland, whom I know to be compassionate people, and all humanitarian institutions to consider the suffering of my husband.
"He is an innocent and very ill man, who is suffering every day from both psychological and physical stress, and I ask all to raise their voices in his support.
"Let us pray for justice and accomplishment of the truth."

The Megrahi I know, by Tam Dalyell

Visiting him in prison, I was struck by his self-possession - a self-possession that had struck many people at his trial, possibly because it never occurred to him that he would be found guilty...
read more

Lockerbie questions demand an answer, by Magnus Linklater

Why was it that, for the first 18 months of the investigation, Scottish police, US investigators and European security agents were convinced that the perpetrators were Abu Nidal's PFLP? And why was it that, in the run-up to the Gulf War, when good relations with Syria and Iran were important to Western interests, attention switched abruptly from Abu Nidal's terrorists, and on to Libya?

These matters have never satisfactorily been explained..
. read more

28 August 2008
Key evidence against al-Megrahi was given by Tony Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper who picked him out at an ID parade as the man who had bought from him the clothes whose remains were said to have been packed around the bomb. But Gauci had seen a magazine photo of al-Megrahi four days before the line up. Scottish police failed to divulge this fact to the defence, BBC TV discovered.
read more

15 June 2008
UN observer at the trial says al-Megrahi will not get a fair hearing in Scotland because of UK government interference resulting in non-disclosure and lack of transparency.
Mark Macaskill

says:
'Miliband has made Lockerbie appeal a mockery of justice'

'...Miliband's decision to sign a public interest immunity certificate that prevents disclosure to al-Megrahi's defence of this potentially crucial evidence, ignoring and over-ruling the wishes of the Lord Advocate, is a disgraceful one that will do nothing for the international reputation of British justice. Since when was it in the public interest to treat a court of law as though it were an inconvenience in a wider game of supposed diplomatic back-door dealings?'

Vital Lockerbie evidence 'was tampered with'

Fragments of bomb timer that helped to convict a Libyan ex-agent were 'practically carbonised' before the trial, says bankrupt Swiss businessman

Alex Duval Smith, Europe correspondent September 2, 2007

Now a US intelligence insider says his trial was a CIA fix.