The Maltese Double Cross

Hugely important news today - The Times reports here that the screw is really now on for a full review of the conviction of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi in the Lockerbie bombing.

Edited highlights include the nuggets that the positive ID of al-Megrahi by a Maltese shopkeeper (crucial to the prosecution) was hideously flawed and unreliable, and that evidence logs showing times of evidence being collected had been altered, pages renumbered, and pages of evidence added at a later date.

There's a huge deal more dirt that surrounds Pan Am 103 and Lockerbie - for those of an inquisitive bent, some internet searches for the PFLP-GC, Abu Talb, Tony Gauci, Edwin Bollier, Marwan Khreesat, Thomas Thurman, and crucified whistleblower Lester Coleman should help put things together.

The UK government has been working very hard over the last few months on a deal that would allow al-Megrahi to return to Libya to serve the rest of his sentence - most likely an attempt to deflate desire for an appeal against the conviction, and once more bury the truth about what really happened. Hopefully, the judicial process will this time move more quickly than the political one.

On June 28th at noon, the Scottish Criminal Cases review commission will present its report on the Lockerbie case to the Scottish Parliament. Surely now, finally, the case will be sent back to the appeal court, and the conviction will be thrown out.

After that?

Hopefully, we can start looking publicly for the truth at last. The families of the victims, such as Jim Swire (who has fought endlessly and with humbling dignity for the truth) can hopefully have some closure. Scotland can start to make amends with Libya for the shame of a wrongful and politically motivated conviction.

All the parties who buried this in the first instance may wish to start thinking very carefully about their stories at this point.