Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi was found guilty of the atrocity but suspiciously released early. Meanwhile the finger of suspicion has often been pointed at Syria, The Australian has resurrected this story with its report that:
'ALLEGATIONS that police plotted to mislead the original inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing, resulting in a wrongful conviction, have been passed to official investigators.I remember Private Eye producing a special investigation report that fingered the true culprits of the Lockerbie atrocity, maybe I should dig that out... The involvement of Tony Blair and maybe Peter Mandelson in rehabilitating Libya and creating trade links with that country is something that needs investigation; to my mind something smells...
The file being considered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission claims that evidence gathered at the scene of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people, was lost or destroyed.
False evidence, it is alleged, was then provided to incriminate Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan agent convicted of the atrocity at a trial in The Netherlands in 2001.
According to the file, the police investigation of Megrahi was "reverse-engineered" with evidence provided to match the thesis that he was guilty.
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The surrender of suspects by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a key element in British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dealings with Tripoli. This led to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Libya in 1999, after a 15-year hiatus.
The commission's report is expected to include allegations by Megrahi's defence team that crucial statements made to police by Tony Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper who sold the Lockerbie bomber clothing which was later found wrapped around the bomb, were withheld by the prosecution.
Mr Gauci's statements are believed to have implicated Mohammed Abo Talb, a terrorist with links to the Iranian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, one of the early suspects for the Lockerbie bombing.
The commission is also said to be in possession of a press statement, prepared by Dumfries and Galloway police in 1990, which named members of the PFLP-GC as its chief suspects but which was never released.
Talb is serving life in Sweden for bombing an airport in Denmark, but was a free man operating in Europe in 1988.
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It adds weight to claims that it was "politically unacceptable" to pursue the PFLP-GC when the 1991 Gulf War made it necessary to maintain good relations with Iran and Syria.'
There was a bit of chatter at the time that it might have been the ANC. The South african foreign minister was due to be on the flight but could not make it as he was delayed. Anything pointing the finger at the ANC would have been extraordinarily embarrasing to the UK and USA!!!
ReplyDeleteI sincerely doubt that the ANC would have resorted to such sophisticated tactics, even to try and kill Pik Botha.
ReplyDeleteThey could have gone round his house and done that.
Although not averse to the odd car bomb, and even then that's open to debate as to whether the ANC were actually responsible for the spate of car bombings in the 1980s, the ANCs tactics were to intimidate the balck populace rather than try and assassinate government ministers.
2 unconnected thoughts:
ReplyDeleteNo-one claimed responsibility which implies that the person who placed the bomb had a financial motive rather than an ideological one and the probably politically motivated paymaster wanted their identity to be hidden.
Criminal acts of terrorism are probably much harder to solve than the average crime simply because terrorist organisations are harder to penetrate. Unless the terrorist group give themselves away it must be virtually impossible to get evidence, and yet the pressure to place the blame is very high.