Powerful Holyrood committee backs Lockerbie inquiry
The campaign for a new inquiry into the Lockerbie bomb has taken a step forward after a powerful group of MSPs pledged support.
Dr Swire.
- By David Clegg, political reporter
- Published in the Courier : 10.11.10
- Published online : 10.11.10 @ 01.32pm
The Public Petitions Committee at Holyrood agreed to write to the Scottish Government and ask for a review after the father of a victim said the name of Scottish justice would otherwise "lie in the gutter."
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the 1988 terrorist attack, also claimed the only man ever convicted of Scotland's biggest mass murder is "ashamed" at having dropped his bid to clear his name.
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was released from prison on compassionate grounds last August with terminal cancer.
The Libyan had dropped a second appeal against his 2001 conviction in the run-up to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision.
But Dr Swire, part of the Justice For Megrahi group, said the full facts of what happened at Lockerbie must be revealing.
He said he had met Megrahi recently, adding, "I think he was feeling ashamed because he knew that I, as a representative of relatives, believed that his second appeal would cause a re-evaluation of the verdict against him."
Dr Swire continued, "He and I both felt that the re-evaluation would almost certainly lead to the overturning of the verdict. So he felt ashamed that he had withdrawn it."
Dr Swire added that he agreed with the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission that the trial may have been a miscarriage of justice.
"I believe that Scottish justice's verdict on this man is not safe, it must be re-examined," he said.
Justice
"And until it is the name of Scottish justice will lie in the gutter.
"Failure to institute an inquiry would perpetuate an indelible stain on the reputation and standing of the Scottish justice system at home and abroad.
"It is the Scottish Government's responsibility to expunge that stain."
He went on, "Speaking as a relative who has been looking for the truth for 21, nearly 22 years, I think it will be vital that any inquiry that will be set up is seen to be led impartially.
"It might be that such impartiality could only be secured by having a president, or whatever, from outwith Scotland herself."
However, a spokesman for the Scottish Government said they "did not doubt" the safety of the conviction over the December 1988 tragedy that killed 270 people.
"Nevertheless, there remain concerns to some on the wider issues of the Lockerbie atrocity," he added.
"The questions to be asked and answered in any such inquiry would be beyond the jurisdiction of Scots Law and the remit of the Scottish Government.
"Such an inquiry would therefore need to be initiated by those with the required power and authority to deal with an issue, international in its nature."
Fellow Justice for Megrahi members Cardinal Keith O'Brien, ex-policeman Ian McKie and lawyer Professor Robert Black QC earlier joined a delegation to submit the 1500-strong petition to the parliament.
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