Sponsored by
Grahame challenges Lord Fraser over alleged evidence that could free Megrahi
LOCAL MSP Christine Grahame has called on the peer who prosecuted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi to divulge anything he knows about an alleged crucial piece of evidence that would have seen the Libyan walk free from court.
This week saw South of Scotland MSP Ms Grahame make her second visit to Al Megrahi in Greenock prison, where he is serving a 27-year sentence for the 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight Flight 103 that killed 259 people in the skies over south-west Scotland and another 11 on the ground.
Emergency and rescue personnel from the Borders were involved with the response to the bombing, which saw the giant Boeing 747 airliner, christened ‘Clipper Maid of the Seas’, crash to the ground in a giant fireball.
Al Megrahi, a 57-year-old former Libyan intelligence officer who is suffering from prostate cancer, has still not decided whether to abandon the fight to clear his name.
The Libyan authorities have applied to have Al Megrahi moved to his home country, but the transfer cannot go ahead while legal proceedings are still ongoing.
Al Megrahi is currently pursuing an appeal against his conviction, but would have to drop it in order to get back to the North African country and see his family.
Following her prison visit on Tuesday, former lawyer Ms Grahame says she has no doubt that a crucial piece of evidence used to convict Al Megrahi was removed from Scottish jurisdiction without the proper documentation.
“There is no doubt in my mind that serious questionmarks arise over this crucial piece of evidence given it was taken overseas for examination by FBI agents,” she told TheSouthern.
“In a recent documentary still to be shown on UK television, the former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser, states he would not have permitted such a crucial piece of evidence being sent to the US for fear it may get lost in transit or contaminated by investigators outside the Scottish jurisdiction.
“It is apparent, however, this is precisely what did happen and that fact was not disclosed to defence lawyers at the time of the trial.
“The FBI’s senior investigating officer has stated publicly that without this fragment there would have been no indictment let alone a conviction of Mr Megrahi, so its significance to this case cannot be understated.
“I would now like to challenge Lord Fraser to make a full statement about this fresh disclosure as it appears to me and other senior legal experts to completely undermine the prosecution case.”
Lord Fraser has so far declined to comment. Ms Grahame also discussed Mr Megrahi’s future intentions to fight on to clear his name and added:
“I also spoke at length to Mr Megrahi about his future intentions with regard to the evidence he holds. I believe that material will be crucial for any subsequent public inquiry that may emerge.
“Time is not on Mr Megrahi’s side and there have been incessant delays through the legal process which he has experienced. Nonetheless, Mr Megrahi is determined to fight on to clear his name one way or another.”
In 2002, Libya paid a total of US$2.7billion to the families of those who died aboard the doomed jumbo jet, which exploded 38 minutes after take-off on December 21, 1988.
The debris from the wreckage was scattered across 845 square miles, with the enduring image of the disaster being the aircraft cockpit lying in a field at Tundergarth Farm, on a hill about four miles outside of Lockerbie.
The ensuing police investigation was the biggest ever mounted in Scotland and became a murder inquiry when traces of a bomb were found.
Al Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following an 84-day trial under Scottish Law, at Camp Zeist in Holland.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
