The freed Lockerbie bomber on Friday released documents online that he said support his claim that he is innocent of the 1988 bombing of a plane over Scotland, which killed 270 people.
Scotland’s top law officer criticized the move, saying Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi had chosen the “selective publication of his view of the evidence in the media.”
Megrahi dropped an appeal against conviction over the atrocity shortly before he was released from a Scottish jail last month on compassionate grounds, because he is dying of prostate cancer.
Hundreds of pages of documents prepared for the appeal by Megrahi’s Scottish lawyer, Tony Kelly, were published on the Website www.megrahimystory.net.
“I have returned to Tripoli with my unjust conviction still in place,” said the Libyan, who is in a hospital in Tripoli.
“As a result of the abandonment of my appeal, I have been deprived of the opportunity to clear my name through the formal appeal process. I have vowed to continue my attempts to clear my name,” he said in a statement.
“I will do everything in my power to persuade the public, and in particular the Scottish public, of my innocence. Through my Web site I have published the material which featured in the first full hearing of my appeal,” he said.
Megrahi, 57, was admitted to hospital at the start of this month, less than a fortnight after his release when he was given less than three months to live.
The former agent is the only person convicted of the murder of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.
His release, ordered by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, triggered fury from the US administration and families of the 189 US nationals who died.
Megrahi insists that he sympathizes with the victims’ families.
“I hope that this can assist in the understanding of my case, especially for those who have been most profoundly affected by it,” he said in the statement issued by his lawyers.
More documents will be put online in coming days.
“Mr Megrahi hopes to continue to publish details of his appeal challenge in the course of the forthcoming weeks,” a spokesman for Megrahi’s lawyers said.
Scotland’s Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, said she deplored the manner of his attempt to challenge his conviction after he had abandoned his appeal.
“The only appropriate forum for the determination of guilt or innocence is the criminal court,” said Angiolini, who is responsible for prosecutions in Scotland.
She said that if the appeal had come to court, prosecutors were “ready, willing and able” to argue the case for his conviction in the appeal which Megrahi dropped.
“Mr Megrahi was convicted unanimously by three senior judges following trial and his conviction was upheld unanimously by five judges, in an Appeal Court presided over by the Lord Justice General, Scotland’s most senior judge,” she said.
“Mr Megrahi remains convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in UK history,” she said.
<<<<<
A Scottish government spokeswoman underlined that Megrahi’s release had been on compassionate grounds and had nothing to do with his conviction for the bombing.
It added that it had studied what other documents could be released with the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
“Mr. MacAskill made his decision to grant Mr Al Megrahi compassionate release to return to Libya to die based on the due process of Scots law. He also made clear that he supports the conviction,” she said.
The US this month warned Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi to be mindful of American sensitivities over the Lockerbie bombing when he attends his first UN General Assembly in New York next week.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS