LOCKERBIE BOMBER TO BE FREED
THE Lockerbie bomber is set to be sensationally freed on a “technicality” because of a controversial legal stalemate involving top secret documents.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 56, could even be released before the end of summer because of Westmin-ster’s refusal to make public the papers relating to the 1988 disaster.
Professor Robert Black – who helped orchestrate the Lockerbie trial – insists the Libyan, currently serving life in Greenock Prison, will be returned to his family long before the 20th anniversary of the disaster in December this year.
Scotland’s top judges are still deciding whether or not to release the secret document, which reportedly points the finger of blame at Iran for the atrocity that killed 270 people.
Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary David Miliband signed a Public Interest Immunity certificate to prevent its content being revealed, saying it could harm the national interest.
Speculation is now growing the judges will rule it should remain classified, forcing Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini to free Megrahi because he
cannot have a fair appeal.
It would also avoid the need to hear any new evidence that may prove there was a miscarriage of justice or even a deliberate cover-up by the US and UK authorities.
Prof Black told the Sunday Express: “If the court says this document can’t be released in the normal way to the defence, then it is distinctly possible the Lord Advocate will say, if it cannot be seen that this appeal process is fair and open, it is better to say we will no longer oppose this appeal. Not because we believe Mr Megrahi is innocent, but because the appeal cannot be seen to be fair.”
The retired law professor added that such a “cynical” outcome would also avoid any renewed calls for a public inquiry.
The document is reportedly a German intelligence debriefing of an Iranian defector, who claimed Tehran paid a Palestinian terror cell to carry out the bombing, after the US accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger jet, in 1988.
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the attack, yesterday said a full hearing would expose the “appalling collusion” of Britain and America.
He added: “There may be an attempt to remove the awkward problem of Megrahi by allowing him to return home and to remove the possibility of a public examination of the evidence.”
Such a move would be “a bit of a downer” to those still seeking the truth, Dr Swire added.