Campaigners have claimed there is a ”lack of political will” to find out the truth about the Lockerbie bombing.
Activists travelled to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday to give evidence on plans to force authorities to reveal details about the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the 1988 bombing.
But one relative of a victim of the atrocity says there is an ”orchestrated desire” by elements of the Scottish establishment to stop the documents being seen by the public.
And another member of the Justice For Megrahi group launched a scathing attack on politicians for being ”dishonest or ignorant” in letting the secrecy continue.
Holyrood’s justice committee is considering legislation designed to allow the publication of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission’s (SCCRC) ”statement for reasons” for allowing the appeal against Megrahi’s conviction.
The appeal was dropped shortly before the Libyan’s release on compassionate grounds, but there is still doubt in some quarters about the 59-year-old’s guilt.
The campaigners hope the information held by the SCCRC would reveal new details about the case, but claim the Bill is ”deliberately designed to ensure no useful disclosure” can be made.
They also allege the Crown Office and civil service ”will do anything” to stop disclosure and that politicians ”either have to be dishonest or ignorant” to allow the secrecy to continue.
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, said: ”I feel there is an orchestrated desire to delay the resolution of this dreadful case.”
Fellow campaigner Iain McKie said: ”I think that there is a danger of a lack of political will in this Parliament to solve this crime.”
He added: ”Our plea is for the politicians to stop following the Crown Office and the civil service who do not want this information released. ”
Mr McKie said Scottish politicians should put outstanding questions to rest because ”the political will doesn’t exist anywhere else”.
He said: ”It doesn’t exist in Libya or Europe or England. The only place for this political will to be shown is in Scotland.”
Former solicitor Len Murray said the Bill could be a barrier to disclosure, particularly if key witness Tony Gauci exercises a right to take legal action to prevent it.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ”We believe that the SCCRC Statement of Reasons should be in the public domain and that is precisely why we have introduced this Bill to facilitate publication.”
Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Wire