~ Lockerbie Bomber Could Go Free ~

[Zman]

:sl:/Peace To All

Lockerbie 'Bomber' Could Go Free'

By Mark Townsend and Paul Kelbie
Sunday June 17, 2007
Observer.Guardian

The case of the only man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing, Britain's biggest terrorist outrage that killed 270 people, could be reopened after fresh evidence that his conviction was based on unreliable evidence.

If the appeal is successful, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi could walk free.

Senior legal and intelligence officials have told The Observer that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission will conclude that the conviction of al-Megrahi is unsafe and that he may have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The commission's verdict follows a three-year inquiry that examined new evidence submitted by Megrahi's legal team. They registered concern over the testimony of expert witnesses, contradictory forensic evidence and vital material not aired at the trial.

They say in their 500-page report that the new evidence casts reasonable doubt on the verdict that Megrahi was responsible for the bombing of Pan-Am flight 103 four days before Christmas 1988.

Sources close to the commission, an independent body made up of senior police and legal figures set up to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice, said 'hundreds' of inconsistencies have been uncovered in the crown's case.

Megrahi, 54, received a life sentence in 2001 for plotting and carrying out what was then the world's worst terrorist atrocity following a trial costing £80m at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

Megrahi has always insisted he was innocent.

The development suggests that the perpetrators responsible for blowing up the airliner over Lockerbie might remain free almost 20 years after the attack.

The commission will refer the case to the High Court in Edinburgh on appeal in 10 days' time, where it is expected that the conviction will either be quashed or that Megrahi could face a retrial.

Although the court has the power to uphold Megrahi's conviction, sources believe the weight of evidence examined by the commission suggest this is unlikely.

Major Concerns With The Crown's Case Include:

· Credibility of the key forensic scientists used by the prosecution during Megrahi's trial.

· Inconsistencies of statements made by the Maltese shopkeeper who allegedly sold Megrahi clothes found scattered around Lockerbie.

· New evidence not presented at the trial pointed away from Libyan involvement and towards Palestinian terrorists as those responsible for the atrocity.

Megrahi has served seven years in British custody. During sentencing he was told he must serve at least 27 years before being considered for release.

Politically the ramifications of the commission's decision are enormous, posing questions for both British investigators and the Scottish judicial system.

In addition, the decision will add succour to the theories that Megrahi was framed for a crime he never committed.

Named in a 400-page report of evidence collated by Megrahi's seven-strong legal team are those suspected of carrying out the attack. Among them is Mohammed Abu Talb, a convicted Palestinian terrorist and initial suspect for the Lockerbie bombing. He was a member of the Syrian-led Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command, a terrorist group backed by Iranian funding. The claims will raise the political stakes at a sensitive time in relations between the West and Iran.

Following Megrahi's trial, a number of legal observers expressed unease over the 'circumstantial' nature of the case against the Libyan intelligence officer.

A legal source who has seen the evidence collated by Megrahi's team said:

'The case was flaky and you only had to shake it a bit for it to start falling apart. A steamroller has been taken to it'.

Named in the commission's report are individuals that lawyers believe should have faced trial instead of Megrahi. Among them are Talb and another man who is a former member of the Libyan intelligence service .

Source:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_ne...104971,00.html

[Joe98]

What are the rules governing circumstantial evidence under sharia law?

-

[wilberhum]

What are the rules governing circumstantial evidence under sharia law?

-

He is still looking for somethink to copy/paste. :skeleton:

[Zman]

What are the rules governing circumstantial evidence under sharia law?-

Well, you can ask someone on this forum who is more knowledgable about the leaglities under Shariah.

But, circumstantial evidence doesn't apply here, because:

Lockerbie Trial Was A CIA Fix

Courtesy Of: The Sunday Herald
By Liam McDougall,
Home Affairs Editor
12 November 2006
The Sunday Herald

THE CIA manipulated the Lock erbie trial and lied about the strength of the prosecution case to get a result that was politically convenient for America, according to a former US State Department lawyer.

Michael Scharf, who was the counsel to the US counter-terrorism bureau when the two Libyans were indicted for the bombing, described the case as “so full of holes it was like Swiss cheese” and said it should never have gone to trial.

He claimed the CIA and FBI had assured State Department officials there was an “iron-clad” case against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifa Fimah, but that in reality the intelligence agencies had no confidence in their star witness and knew well in advance of the trial that he was “a liar”.

Scharf branded the case a “whitewash” and added: “It was a trial where everybody agreed ahead of time that they were just going to focus on these two guys, and they were the fall guys.”

The comments by Scharf are controversial, given his position in US intelligence during the Lockerbie investigation and trial.

It also comes at a crucial time as the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is to report in the coming months on whether it believes there was a miscarriage of justice in the case.

In January 2001, following a trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, Fimah was acquitted and al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in a Scottish jail for his part in the December 1988 bombing.

Scharf joined the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence in April 1989, just four months after Pan Am Flight 103 was downed and at the height of the CIA’s Lockerbie bombing investigation.

He was also responsible for drawing up the UN Security Council resolutions that imposed sanctions on Libya in 1992 in order to force Tripoli to hand over al-Megrahi and Fimah for trial.

He added: “The CIA and the FBI kept the State Department in the dark. It worked for them for us to be fully committed to the theory that Libya was responsible. I helped the counter- terrorism bureau draft documents that described why we thought Libya was responsible, but these were not based on seeing a lot of evidence, but rather on representations from the CIA and FBI and the Department of Justice about what the case would prove and did prove."

“It was largely based on this inside guy [Libyan defector Abdul Majid Giaka]. It wasn’t until the trial that I learned this guy was a nut-job and that the CIA had absolutely no confidence in him and that they knew he was a liar."

“ It was a case that was so full of holes it was like Swiss cheese. ”

Scharf, now an international law expert at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said he was convinced that Libya, Iran and the Palestinian terrorist group the PFLP-GC were involved in the bombing, which killed 270 people. But, he said, the case had a “diplomatic rather than a purely legal goal”.

“Now Libya has given up its weapons of mass destruction, it’s allowed inspectors in, the sanctions have been lifted, tourists from the US are flocking to see the Roman ruins outside of Tripoli and Gaddafi has become a leader in Africa rather than a pariah. And all of that is the result of this trial,” Scharf said.

“Diplomatically, it has been a huge success story. But legally, it just seemed like a whitewash to me.”

Robert Black, professor of Scots law at Edinburgh University and the principal architect of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist, described the Lockerbie case as “a fraud”.


“That the trial at Camp Zeist resulted in a conviction is a disgrace for Scottish justice,” he said. “I think this [Scharf’s comments] indicates that a growing number of people on both sides of the Atlantic now believe they were used in this case.”

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing, said:

“Myself and Michael Scharf are coming from exactly the same position. I went to the trial and became convinced after watching it unfold that the case was full of holes.”

Tony Kelly, al-Megrahi’s solicitor, said he would not comment while the SCCRC was still examining the case.

No-one at the CIA in Washington was available to comment.

Source:
http://SundayHerald.com/59005

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[Zman]

:sl:Peace To All

Police Chief- Lockerbie Evidence Was Faked

By MARCELLO MEGA
Sunday 28, August 2005
ScotsMan

A FORMER Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated.

The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.

The police chief, whose identity has not yet been revealed, gave the statement to lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, currently serving a life sentence in Greenock Prison.

The evidence will form a crucial part of Megrahi's attempt to have a retrial ordered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). The claims pose a potentially devastating threat to the reputation of the entire Scottish legal system.

The officer, who was a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, is supporting earlier claims by a former CIA agent that his bosses "wrote the script" to incriminate Libya.

Last night, George Esson, who was Chief Constable of Dumfries and Galloway when Megrahi was indicted for mass murder, confirmed he was aware of the development.

But Esson, who retired in 1994, questioned the officer's motives. He said: "Any police officer who believed they had knowledge of any element of fabrication in any criminal case would have a duty to act on that. Failure to do so would call into question their integrity, and I can't help but question their motive for raising the matter now."

Other important questions remain unanswered, such as how the officer learned of the alleged conspiracy and whether he was directly involved in the inquiry. But sources close to Megrahi's legal team believe they may have finally discovered the evidence that could demolish the case against him.

An insider told Scotland on Sunday that the retired officer approached them after Megrahi's appeal - before a bench of five Scottish judges - was dismissed in 2002.

The insider said: "He said he believed he had crucial information. A meeting was set up and he gave a statement that supported the long-standing rumours that the key piece of evidence, a fragment of circuit board from a timing device that implicated Libya, had been planted by US agents.

"Asked why he had not come forward before, he admitted he'd been wary of breaking ranks, afraid of being vilified.

"He also said that at the time he became aware of the matter, no one really believed there would ever be a trial. When it did come about, he believed both accused would be acquitted. When Megrahi was convicted, he told himself he'd be cleared at appeal."

The source added: "When that also failed, he explained he felt he had to come forward.

"He has confirmed that parts of the case were fabricated and that evidence was planted. At first he requested anonymity, but has backed down and will be identified if and when the case returns to the appeal court."

The vital evidence that linked the bombing of Pan Am 103 to Megrahi was a tiny fragment of circuit board which investigators found in a wooded area many miles from Lockerbie months after the atrocity.

The fragment was later identified by the FBI's Thomas Thurman as being part of a sophisticated timer device used to detonate explosives, and manufactured by the Swiss firm Mebo, which supplied it only to Libya and the East German Stasi.

At one time, Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, was such a regular visitor to Mebo that he had his own office in the firm's headquarters.

The fragment of circuit board therefore enabled Libya - and Megrahi - to be placed at the heart of the investigation.

However, Thurman was later unmasked as a fraud who had given false evidence in American murder trials, and it emerged that he had little in the way of scientific qualifications.

Then, in 2003, a retired CIA officer gave a statement to Megrahi's lawyers in which he alleged evidence had been planted.

The decision of a former Scottish police chief to back this claim could add enormous weight to what has previously been dismissed as a wild conspiracy theory. It has long been rumoured the fragment was planted to implicate Libya for political reasons.

The first suspects in the case were the Syrian-led Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC), a terror group backed by Iranian cash. But the first Gulf War altered diplomatic relations with Middle East nations, and Libya became the pariah state.

Following the trial, legal observers from around the world, including senior United Nations officials, expressed disquiet about the verdict and the conduct of the proceedings at Camp Zeist, Holland. Those doubts were first fuelled when internal documents emerged from the offices of the US Defence Intelligence Agency. Dated 1994, more than two years after the Libyans were identified to the world as the bombers, they still described the PFLP-GC as the Lockerbie bombers.

A source close to Megrahi's defence said: "Britain and the US were telling the world it was Libya, but in their private communications they acknowledged that they knew it was the PFLP-GC.

"The case is starting to unravel largely because when they wrote the script, they never expected to have to act it out. Nobody expected agreement for a trial to be reached, but it was, and in preparing a manufactured case, mistakes were made."

Dr Jim Swire, who has publicly expressed his belief in Megrahi's innocence, said it was quite right that all relevant information now be put to the SCCRC.

Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the atrocity, said last night: "I am aware that there have been doubts about how some of the evidence in the case came to be presented in court.

"It is in all our interests that areas of doubt are thoroughly examined."

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: "As this case is currently being examined by the SCCRC, it would be inappropriate to comment."

No one from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland was available to comment.

Source:
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1855852005

[Zman]

:sl:/Peace To All

CIA 'Was Monitoring Drugs Man Whose Bag Held Bomb'

By EBEN HARRELL
Wed 8, March 2006
The ScotsMan

MEETINGS between the FBI and the SCRO were part of a larger effort by US intelligence officials to cover up the truth behind the Lockerbie bombing, according to Juval Aviv, Pan Am's senior Lockerbie investigator.

Mr Aviv's investigation into the bombing claimed US intelligence was indirectly involved in the 1988 attack.

In 1987, the report says, US agents discovered and began monitoring a heroin smuggling route from the Middle East to the United States, run by drug dealers with ties to Hezbollah terrorists holding western hostages in Beirut.

US agents allegedly agreed to let the dealers run their heroin operation through Germany's Frankfurt airport and London's Heathrow in return for a promise they would help free hostages.

Mr Aviv claims Khalid Jaafar, a young Lebanese American killed on Pan Am 103, was a regular courier for the operation. On the flight that exploded, Jaafar's heroin-loaded suitcase was switched for one with a bomb and given a free pass through security as an "official" bag.

..According to Mr Aviv, the fact that US intelligence agencies were monitoring the smuggling ring would have been a huge embarrassment - and one worth covering up.

"Conviction of the Libyans was very important because they had to cover up the truth," Mr Aviv told The Scotsman.

"America allowed a civilian airline to run drugs and risk innocent people. That looks very, very bad."

Mr Aviv said: "There is a history in this case of whistle-blowers ending up in jail. They have put such a huge effort into covering everything up and getting consensus."

Source:
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?...4&id=348532006

[Cognescenti]

Oh please. Kadaffi turned over his own guys. Do you think he was in on it?

If some other piece of human debris committed the crime and the CIA ex post facto successfuly framed the Lybians then, I think you would have to admit it was pretty darned brilliant....because it worked. Kadaffi is owned. He stopped his nuke program. He is behaving himself. keep in mind, however, this is the same CIA who misread intelligence on Hussein's WMD's. Either they are brilliant strategists able to see 6 moves into the future (farther than Kasparov) or they are bumblers. Which is it?

[Zman]

Oh please. Kadaffi turned over his own guys. Do you think he was in on it?

He was forced into sacrifing 2 men in order to lift the sanctions.

He stopped his nuke program.

There was nonuclear program.

After having the West bestow their acceptance on him, the French are aiding him in his chemical program.

You're a pariah if the West doesn't approve of you, but if they approve, you can get away with murder.

He is behaving himself.

Oh really?

After he was allowed back into the Western fold, he planned an assassination attempt on Kind Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and not one word from the Western governments.

Even Jack Starw called him a "statesman."

keep in mind, however, this is the same CIA who misread intelligence on Hussein's WMD's. Either they are brilliant strategists able to see 6 moves into the future (farther than Kasparov) or they are bumblers. Which is it?

They're definitely bumblers. They have a proven track record of failings.

Just like they had a hand in Lockerbie, now it's coming back to bite them on the ass...

[Cognescenti]

They're definitely bumblers. They have a proven track record of failings.

Just like they had a hand in Lockerbie, now it's coming back to bite them on the ass...

OK...let me see if I understand. The bumblers at CIA, while monitoring another criminal enterprise, stumbled upon a plot to blow up a Pan Am airliner. Rather than stop the plot and save hundreds of American lives, they decide to hatch a brilliant counterplot to frame Kadaffi so that, 18 years later, after the capture and humiliation of Hussein (doubtless in another CIA plot initiated sometime before 1988), he will be so terrified that he will agree to relinquish any WMD programs and stop supporting terrorism. This also, no doubt, meant replacing all the worlds maps of Scotland so that the bombers would accidentally blow up the plane, not over the ocean but over land, thereby allowing the CIA to plant false evidence. What a bunch of chowderheads. I am glad you pointed this out or their evil plot might have escaped attention.

[Zman]

:sl:/Peace To All

Lockerbie: "It's Time To Put Right The Wrongs"
By MARCELLO MEGA
Sun 24 June 2007
ScotlandOnSunday

EVIDENCE against the Lockerbie bomber was fabricated and manipulated on both sides of the Atlantic, according to leaked defence documents which appear to undermine the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

Investigators for Megrahi claim to have compelling new evidence of widespread tampering with evidence, missing or overlooked statements, and a concerted attempt to lead investigators away...

Hundreds of new documents and photographs examined by Scotland on Sunday appear to show many aspects of the Lockerbie prosecution were at best incompetent and at worst amounted to an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Last night, legal experts and families of the victims reacted with astonishment and outrage to the revelations. Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the disaster, said:

"Scottish justice obviously played a leading part in one of the most disgraceful miscarriages of justice in history. The Americans played their role in the investigation and influenced the prosecution."

Megrahi, who was convicted in 2001 of the murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing, will learn on Thursday whether his case will, as expected, be sent back to court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

Megrahi was convicted for the December 1988 bombing on crucial evidence that he bought items of clothing packed into the suitcase containing the bomb and that he was closely associated with the firm that made part of the bomb timer. Evidence that a fragment of bomb timer was implanted in a shirt sealed Megrahi's fate.

But the defence papers to the commission, seen by this newspaper, appear to undermine that chain of evidence. Among the key findings are:

• Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who sold the clothes to the bomber, gave two earlier statements in which he identified convicted Egyptian terrorist Abu Talb;

• Gauci gave earlier statements saying he did not sell a shirt to the man but six months later remembered selling shirts and the price;

• Two of Gauci's statements are missing altogether;

• A babygro said to have been wrapped around the bomb and shown to the court blown to pieces was recovered intact, according to a statement from the woman who found it;

• A manual for the Toshiba radio containing the bomb was in pieces when shown to the court but was intact when recovered, according to statements from mountain rescuers;

• The discovery of the all-important shirt containing the bomb timer fragment was recorded in May 1989 by a UK forensic scientist and in January 1990 by German investigators.

Examination of forensic records shows a "new" page on the discovery was inserted into the record of evidence.

• The same Slalom shirt was in a different condition when shown to the court than when photographed by German investigators.
The defence team believes it was necessary in 1990 for the prosecution to alter evidence, for political reasons.

...Investigators switched from the current known suspects, a Palestinian terror group, the PFLP-GC, and Abu Talb, an Egyptian currently serving life in Sweden.

While the main perpetrators appear to have been CIA officers, according to the defence papers, there is also ****ing evidence suggesting police officers and other investigators took part in preparing false evidence.

It can also be confirmed today that a former senior Scottish police officer, who worked at a high level on the Lockerbie inquiry, has given statements to the SCCRC in which he is understood to support claims of planted evidence.

A document seen by this newspaper reveals the officer - codenamed "Golfer" - believes "labels and productions from the locus have been interfered with".

Golfer also reveals there was no "investigative or operational" reason for the inquiry to switch the inquiry to Libya.

Last night, retired MP and Lockerbie campaigner Tam Dalyell said:

"It is time we tried to put right the wrongs that have been perpetrated. This was the most high profile trial internationally that there has ever been, and the conduct of it and the verdict were simply outrageous."

Source:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...m?id=986842007

[Muezzin]

Guys, don't discuss individual members, discuss the topics they bring up. If you're just bashing individual members, those posts tend to get deleted.

With that said, this thread is now a week old, and there have been no signifiant additions to it( unless one counts criticism levelled at another member on a personal level as significant) and the 3 day rule applies. Thread closed.

EDIT: Thread starter has pointed it out that this is an ongoing news item. This thread will be re-opened to facilitate updates and the like. However, members are strongly urged to keep the discussion to the subject rather than individual members.