He recently appealed the conviction of his father to the High Court in Scotland. No viable evidence has been presented confirming that such a suitcase existed. CIA "asset" who had never previously claimed Before relying upon it in support of an indictment and presenting it in evidence to a court the Scottish prosecutors would require to be satisfied (a) that it was in fact made and (b) that it was not obtained through torture or undue pressure or inducement. Masud, the third Libyan to be charged He claims Masud told him he was involved In the first place, extradition of the suspects from Libya is highly unlikely. On Friday 15th January at 09.30 GMT the opinion of the Scottish Appeal Court will be issued to the family as delivered by Lord Carloway, The Lord Justice General in the appeal against conviction by the representative of The Late Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi (Appellant) against Her Majesty’s Advocate (Respondent). “His conviction stands and the investigation by Scottish prosecutors and police officers into the involvement of others with him in the plot to attack an American aircraft continues.”, [What follows is excerpted from a report in today's edition of The Scotsman headlined Academic who defended Tehran against Lockerbie allegations accused of secretly working for Iranian government:]. Speaking of Lockerbie when the war was over and days after the unexpected indictment of the two Libyans, Bush said, "A lot of people thought it was the Syrians. at the scene could not have originated from JfM said they agreed with John Mosey – whose daughter died in the bombing – that Barr’s action was, “bizarre, disrespectful, insensitive and extremely ill-considered”. Particularly during my sojourns in South Africa, it may not be possible for me to perform the moderation function speedily. A decision that there had been such a breach would not by itself overturn the conviction but would result in the case being sent back to the Scottish court for it to consider the issue and apply the right test under the European Convention, which might or might not result in a different decision being reached in relation to the conviction. 0.7 to 0.9 with a daily infection growth rate range of -5% to -2% as of 3 February 2021. William Barr just before Christmas ", founding upon failure by the Crown to disclose material that would have been helpful to the defence the court concludes that even if the material had been disclosed it would not have made a difference to the guilty verdict. Paragraph 135 of the opinion reads: "The contention that the Crown failed to disclose material which would have created But Volume: 5. which describes a confession allegedly made by otwithstanding evidence challenging 7 December 1988 as the date of purchase of the items from Tony Gauci's shop, and notwithstanding concerns about the evidence supporting Gauci's "identification" of Megrahi, "... the contention that the trial court reached a verdict that no Mr Anwar said the first ground for appeal — that “no reasonable jury properly directed could have convicted” — was built largely around the evidence of Tony Gauci, who died in 2016. He said yesterday that the Scottish criminal justice system was unable to acknowledge “a mistake has been made” in the conviction of Abdul Baset al-Megrahi and it was “a matter of grave concern” that the most recent appeal had been so narrowly restricted to certain legal areas. Last March the Scottish riddled with holes, and since his 2001 conviction more evidence - some withheld It may be that the court will advise that the matter will be considered on paper submissions only. The committee of Justice for Megrahi (JfM) – which includes professor Robert Black QC – architect of the Camp Zeist trial that saw Megrahi convicted, and Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing – wrote to James Wolffe QC saying the briefing by outgoing US attorney general William Barr on December 21, its 32nd anniversary, caused “extreme distress” to the bereaved UK families. Today’s decision will be carefully considered and intimated to the Crown and the UK Advocate General and lodged with the Justiciary Clerk with 14 days of the opinion of the court which is dated 15th January 2021. Prior to his installation by Donald Trump in 2019, he was known for a series of cover-ups arising from his first period as US Attorney General, between 1991 and 1993, during George H W Bush's term as US President, arising from the successive debacles of US foreign policy in the Middle East. Lockerbie (/ ˈ l ɒ k ər b i /, Scottish Gaelic: Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland.It lies approximately 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Glasgow, and 25 km (16 mi) from the border with England.It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census.The town came to international attention in December 1988 when the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 … Two weeks ago, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal rejected a third appeal on behalf of the Libyan national, who died in 2012. Lockerbie Trial The documents below contain copies of the judgment of the Lockerbie trial, and appeal. The Scottish court system is unable to acknowledge that a mistake has been made, the lawyer who designed the 2001 Lockerbie trial has said. Last week's decision is the second time an appeal on Megrahi's behalf has been rejected by the courts amid the continued suppression of contradictory evidence. doubt (Eyes passim). properly directed, would have been entitled to return a guilty verdict. In relation to the second ground of appeal, the failure to disclose information to the defence, the decision of the Appeal Court is the determination of a “compatibility issue” – an issue arising from a question relating to the breach of human rights, in this case article 6 the right to a fair trial. Scotland will argue that any future trial relating to the Lockerbie bombing should be conducted under Scots Law before Scottish judges. The High Court has dismissed the posthumous appeal brought on behalf of Abdelbaset Megrahi. guarded welcome by those convinced of "As of this morning the Megrahi family have instructed our legal team to appeal to the UK Supreme Court [and] we will lodge an application within 14 days. As regards matters which did form part of the appeal and were argued at the full appeal hearing, the appellants' position is that the High Court erred in its decision to refuse Ground of Appeal 2, which related to non-disclosure of rewards material and non-disclosure of documents relating to Crown witness Tony Gauci’s identification evidence. Special Extradition can be made on special circumstances. When the decision of the High Court of Justiciary is known - if it is an adverse decision then within 28 days an application for 'permission to appeal' can be lodged with the UKSC Registrar to directly appeal to the Supreme Court. If the High Court refuses permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, the appellants can ask the Supreme Court itself to agree to consider the appeal. That "confession" names Megrahi, a fellow [This is the headline over a report in today's edition of Scotland on Sunday. Application for leave to appeal to Supreme Court lodged. This suitcase was seen by witnesses on the floor of the luggage container in which the explosion later occurred. Besides being a good way to prepare for class, briefing has some other advantages. Synopsis of Rule of Law. from 2012, when Masud was in prison awaiting No such suitcase has been identified. ", [What follows is excerpted from a press release issued today by Aamer Anwar:]. A Preview of the Lockerbie Case. “From a layman’s point of view, this seems to have been skilfully achieved. The family has instructed its legal team to appeal to the UK Supreme Court and an application will be lodged within two weeks. and Megrahi, and new evidence indicating was convicted in 2001 of the La Belle bombing. His presidency lasted until 1990 and his role as Commander in Chief until 1998. CASES INVOLVING PASSIVE PERSONALITY. A new suspect has been charged 32 years later. subsequently emerged that Gauci was paid $2m Days before the appeal hearing, the judges ruled that documentation in the possession of the British government since shortly after PA103 was brought down should remain hidden, upholding a public interest immunity certificate signed by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in August this year. [RB: In the version originally issued, the date of the disaster was stated by the court to be 22 December 1988, the same blunder as was made in the trial court's judgement. He said: “I have already written to William Barr warning him that if the US persists on pursuing a second trial against Libya for Lockerbie, he’d be as well building a palace on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. The Lockerbie Case A commentary on the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, convicted of the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am 103 disaster. Turkey’s (D) assertion of jurisdiction over a French citizen who had been the first officer of a ship that collided with a Turkish ship on the high seas was challenged by France (P) as a violation of international law. In Cutting’s Case, a U.S. citizen made a defamatory publication against a … evidence properly tested in open court to try to “Scottish and American prosecutors need to stop posturing. The most recent appeal was launched by Megrahi's son, Ali Al-Megrahi, to clear his father's name posthumously. In August 2020 the, Two weeks ago, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal, [What follows is excerpted from a report in today's edition of, The interviews included Afrasiabi’s views on a 2014, The documentary, which was subsequently screened in the Scottish Parliament, included testimony from. The appellants contend that this is a matter which must be considered by the Supreme Court as it relates to the application of Article 6 and was wrongly decided. THE AALAND ISLANDS QUESTION. “There would also be an absolute certainty among Libyans that America would find a way to convict. But he tells the, [The following article has been contributed by, Outgoing US Attorney General William Barr appeared to stake his country’s claim by, He added that only two of Scotland’s current crop of High Court judges had no prior involvement with Lockerbie – five are currently considering a posthumous, Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora on Pan Am 103 a day short of her. Barr claimed the then-Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi personally thanked Masud for his efforts. He died in Syria in 2016. The accused was convicted on the word of a Maltese shop owner who claims to have sold him the clothes, then gave a false description of him in 19 separate statements ... During the course of our lifetime, someday, someone will reveal the ultimate truth. The book takes us along Dr Swire’s journey as his initial grief and loss becomes a campaign to uncover the truth behind not only a personal tragedy but one of the modern world’s most shocking events. Carloway upheld Raab's view that the documentation was relevant but revealing it would "damage counter-terrorism liaison and intelligence gathering between the UK and other states". Pinochet was the Commander in Chief of the Chilean Army until 1974 when he assumed the title of President of the Republic. Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud is alleged to have built the bomb and worked with Megrahi to carry out the attack. Mr Anwar said the second ground of appeal — the failure to disclose information to the defence — hinged on a “compatibility issue” arising from a question relating to a breach of human rights. and UK investigators knew. [What follows is excerpted from an article by John Holt published today in The Blogs section of the website of The Times of Israel:]. The incident, … But comments will be rejected if they distort or misrepresent the evidence; are defamatory; or if they risk embroiling me, as publisher, in defamation proceedings. As a former CIA operations officer, I am breaking 20 years of silence about one of the most heinous plane bombings on record, Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. ", [RB: Another recent article can be read here: Lockerbie 32 years on: imperialism, framings and cover-ups.]. which killed 270 people. Thirty-two years ago Pan Am 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. intelligence officer, as a co-conspirator. In Scottish criminal appeal cases the UK Supreme Court cannot simply overturn a decision of the Scottish court; it only has jurisdiction to decide whether there might have been a breach of the appellant's rights under the, 1. Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime. In the 2001 trial, Mr Gauci, a Maltese shopkeeper, identified al-Megrahi as the man who bought clothes from him that were later packed in a suitcase containing the bomb. the only man convicted of the 1988 atrocity, who lost his brother m the Lockerbie bombing, and on an affidavit by an FBI agent, The book takes us along Dr Swire’s journey as his initial grief and loss becomes a campaign to uncover the truth behind not only a personal tragedy but one of the modern world’s most shocking events. I am asking that the case be reexamined due to the availability of evidence against Iran and irregularities in the US government presentation of evidence at the first trial. This will be the basis for the application to the Supreme Court. Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora on Pan Am 103 a day short of her 24th birthday, marked the 32nd anniversary last month by saying he was sick of the ‘charade’ of blaming Libya. Swire, now 84, said the past two decades had been “torturous,” and accused the Crown Office and “certain leaders” in Scotland’s legal profession of following a “readily visible course” based on the premise that the Netherlands court was infallible. In 2009, Megrahi, already terminally ill, was tacitly offered release from Greenock prison on compassionate grounds if a contemporary appeal was dropped as part of rapprochement between the Libyan and British governments. Might The 64-page opinion of the court can be read here. The second ground was that the failure to disclose information to the defence, led to the trial being unfair and thus a miscarriage of justice, these related to the reliability of Mr Gauci’s identification of Megrahi as the person who bought the clothes, as well as the content of CIA cables. The families of Pan Am flight 103 victims have suffered long enough and deserve to now be able to rest assured that the real perpetrators of this act of terrorism, Iranian actors, are brought to justice. guilty verdict "beyond all reasonable doubt" 1) It forces you to unpack the opinion and test your understanding of it by putting the facts and the analysis in your own words. 2 The issues raised by the cases have spawned a … Why brief? Abu Agila Masud, another former Libyan intelligence officer, allegedly admitted to assembling the bomb that blew up the plane as it passed over Lockerbie en route from London to New York. It dates All the Megrahi family want for Scotland is peace and justice, but as Ali stated today their journey is not over, Libya has suffered enough, as has family for the crime of Lockerbie, they remain determined to fight for justice. Kim Sengupta On the 30th anniversary of Lockerbie justice has yet to be done. -The US and the UK traced the bomb back to two Libyans. The DoJ has been sitting on Masud's Mr Barr was Attorney General in 1991 when the blame for the Lockerbie bombing, which claimed 270 lives on 21 December 1988, was first shifted from Iran to Libya. It was on Barr's watch that Bush handed out pardons to senior state officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, including former defence secretary Caspar Weinburger, who had been charged with crimes of perjury, lying to Congress and obstruction of justice. evidence properly tested in open court to try to The Lockerbie case is unique in that it did not stop where it ought to have stopped, at the traditional dead end of an extradition denial. By: Michael P. Scharf. (...). Four other grounds for appeal were rejected by the committee, including evidence about a fragment from a circuit board and a theory that the suitcase that contained the bomb had not been loaded onto an aircraft in Malta. and UK investigators knew. from 2012, when Masud was in prison awaiting Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court will be granted only if the case raises an arguable point of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court. We just observed the 32nd anniversary of the bombing of Pan Am 103. Yet years later, he testified against the convicted Libyan intelligence officer, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, at the Lockerbie bombing (Pan Am 103) trial conducted at The Hague in 2000. They are about 300 in number, with an area of approximately 1,442 square kilometers, and a population of 25,000 inhabitants, almost … “If there were to be a second trial, it would be very unlikely that ordinary people would be put under pressure to decide a trial involving international terrorism.”. If I were asked to answer, ‘Why would they do that?’, I would have to reply that the impression given to me a layman is that they wish to conceal the profound failings within their system and its dangerous opacity to criticism, in order that damage to its reputation shall be minimised.”. suggesting that a circuit board fragment found None of this mattered to the Scottish judges. It In this appeal the legal arguments related to two distinct challenges to the conviction. The documentation is reportedly a letter from then Jordanian ruler, King Hussein, an ally of the Western powers and a CIA asset, implicating Jordanian intelligence agent and PFLP-GC supporter Marween Khreesat in making the bomb. the appeal. The Crown case is that the cause of the disaster was that an explosive device had been introduced into the hold of the aircraft by the two accused whether acting alone or in concert with each other and others. The accused have alleged that Palestinian terrorists carried out the bombing, and Bill Taylor QC, for the defence, said the prosecution had … In August 2020 the High Court limited the grounds of appeal to the matters referred by the SCCRC in their 2020 referral (unreasonable verdict and non-disclosure of material relating to rewards and identification evidence) and also allowed in the issue of disclosure of the cables relating to the Crown witness Majid Giaka. Rep. 114 (April 14) FACTS-An airplane exploded over Scotland, killing many American citizens. It reads as follows:]. guarded welcome by those convinced of Megrahi's innocence. any knowledge of Lockerbie. The panel of five judges is currently reviewing the appeal, which was presented in late November 2020. considerable pressure on the Scottish appeal They contend that the High Court erred in substituting its own assessment of whether the diaries were admissible, as this meant they were not considering the case on the same evidence as the trial court did; and by so doing the appeal court has not returned a reasoned judgment on the verdict of the trial court and therefore again the appellant’s article 6 right has been breached. No new information appeared to be presented by Attorney General Barr. Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter, Flora, died in the atrocity, said that steps were required to ensure the better administration of justice of Scotland, but warned that such an overhaul would “have to be propelled by a force outwith Scotland.”. We should be allowed to question everything we’re told. It was Mr Barr who announced the charges against al-Megrahi and Fhimah in 1991, saying at the time: “This investigation is by no means over.” Al-Megrahi’s supporters claim that Mr Barr’s recent intervention weighed heavily on the appeal court judges. [Yesterday's decision by the High Court of Justiciary dismissing the posthumous appeal on behalf of Abdelbaset Megrahi receives extensive coverage in UK and overseas media. “We, and many other commentators, consider the statements made by Mr Barr and others, and the contents of the affidavit, to be prejudicial to the Megrahi family’s appeal, and that had they been made in Scotland they would have been deemed to be in contempt of court,” JfM wrote. Fhimah was found not guilty in 2001. One would hope that if such a process were followed then the appeal would be heard before the end of 2021. I am sceptical about the likelihood of another Scottish Lockerbie trial. Case Concerning Questions of Interpretation and Application of the 1971 Montreal Convention Arising from the Aerial Incident at Lockerbie case summary (Libya v. United States) 1992 I.C.J. a real prospect of a different verdict is rejected.". All 259 people on board were killed, as were 11 individuals on the ground. He maintained his innocence until his death in 2012. The Herald's report on the dismissal of the appeal contains the following statement from the Megrahi family's solicitor, Aamer Anwar: "Ali Al-Megrahi the son of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing said his family were left heart broken by the decision of the Scottish courts, he maintained his father’s innocence and is determined to fulfil the promise he made to clear his name and that of Libya. Another remarkable intervention on the eve of the appeal, which coincided with the December 21 anniversary of the disaster, came from outgoing US Justice Secretary William Barr. The 64-page opinion of the court can be read. use against opponents of the Gaddafi regime, Was this really the best we had to offer? On the evidence at trial, a reasonable jury,
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