Lockerbie - "one of the most disgraceful miscarriages of justice in history" becomes more evident

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was fit up and wrongly convicted in 2001 of the murder of 270 people arising from the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scottland on 21 December 1988.

In accordance with its statutory obligations the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. will report at 12:00 midday on 28 June 2007 in a brief summary for the media its main findings .

The Commission’s statement of reasons for its decision in the case (expected to send it back for re-trial for eventual acquittal , which in this case extends to over 800 pages and will be accompanied by numerous volumes of appendices . It will not be made public.

Copies of the summary will be available on the Commission’s website, www.sccrc.org.uk and from its offices at 17 Renfield Street, Glasgow UK.

Jim Swire, whose daughter died in the disaster and tireless campaigner for the truth, 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."

We still will not know who committed the crime which if it had occurred as planned over the Atlantic , would be a distant memory.

Consortium News has a contemporary report on the judges 26,000-word Opinion of the Court by By William Blum, Lockerbie Ruling Revisited June 29, 2007 (Original article posted Feb. 5, 2001).

Which makes you wonder how he was ever found guilty.

"The three Scottish judges cannot have relished returning to the United Kingdom after finding both defendants innocent of the murder of 270 people, largely from the U.K. and the United States. Not to mention having to face dozens of hysterical victims' family members in the courtroom.

As with any horrendous crime, there's a desire for someone to be punished. That's an especially strong sentiment when a defendant is from an unpopular racial or ethnic group, in this case, a Libyan. The three judges also knew the desires of the White House and Downing Street as to the outcome."