By Daan de Wit
Translated by Ben Kearney

The verdict in the Lockerbie case is based on lies and deception, and the man convicted of the crime, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, cannot be the perpetrator. This appears from revelations contained in a secret section of an official report.

'Lockerbie' was investigated down to the last detail by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, SCCRC. After four years, the Commission produced the findings of an investigation which cost millions to carry out and that is partly still secret, but which was seen by journalist Marcello Mega: 'The report shows Scots detectives on the original investigation, together with Crown prosecutors and their US colleagues, deliberately covered up evidence and witness statements that did not fit the case.' This quote is taken from an article by Mega published in The Scottish Sun. His article can no longer be found on The Scottish Sun website. It was erroneously edited by one of the newspaper's editors, after which - even though it was related to a technicality - the article was removed from the website in its entirety. Upon request, Mega emailed the quote and the remainder of the article to DeepJournal.

'Megrahi is not the Lockerbie bomber'
Before Mega's article was removed, it had already been quoted online: '[...] Robert Black QC, retired Professor of Scots Law at Edinburgh University and the architect of the Lockerbie trial, told how he believes Megrahi is innocent. Mr Black said: "Megrahi is not the Lockerbie bomber and these revelations further underline that. […] "That the judges did convict him on the flimsiest of evidence, which required several leaps of faith on a number of crucial matters that had not been proven by the Crown, remains a matter of profound concern for all of us." Mr Black said it was now vital that a top-level public inquiry is held to get to the truth.'

Back in July, Mega wrote: 'You’ll just have to take my word for it that this case represents the worst injustice perpetrated by the courts that I’ve encoutered in 22 years as a journalist.’

In a letter dating roughly to 2008 that was recently discovered in the headquarters of the Libyan intelligence services and directed at a Gaddafi advisor, al-Megrahi writes that he is innocent.

'Failure of the justice system'
Robert Black quotes from Mega's article: ‘[The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission] has grave concerns over the evidence against the 59-year-old [Megrahi] following a multi-million-pound, four-year investigation. In the dossier - seen by The Scottish Sun - Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who helped finger Megrahi as the bomber, is described as an "unreliable" witness. […] One undisclosed memo reveals the FBI discussed with Scots cops an offer of unlimited cash to Gauci - with "$10,000 available immediately".' Mega from his email: 'He and his brother Paul were rewarded for their testimony, receiving more than $2m and $1m respectively.'

An 800-page summary of the report was published in 2007. A quote from the summary: ‘The applicant [Megrahi] may have suffered a miscarriage of justice’. A 2007 headline from The Scotsman reads: 'Lockerbie evidence 'was tampered with, destroyed and overlooked'.

'Police are also accused of lying in court while prosecutors - including then Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC - are suspected of suppressing bombshell evidence that would likely have seen Megrahi walk free.'

Petition for a new investigation
On Black's website is a petition from Justice for Megrahi, an organization that Black is affiliated with: ‘We would argue that for nearly 23 years Scottish Courts and the Scottish Government have failed to deliver the truth about Lockerbie despite these claims of supremacy in human rights matters. We are at a loss to equate the current government’s refusal to hold a judicial inquiry into Lockerbie with this principle that Scotland and Scotland alone is capable of delivering justice to all of its people.’ 

Mega writes: 'Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora on the doomed flight, said: ‘This underlines again the need for a full public inquiry. It’s too easy for everyone to maintain Megrahi was convicted so he must be guilty, when clearly he is not.' Megrahi was recently tracked down in Tripoli.

Palestinian terrorists acting on orders from Iran
This four part series of articles on Lockerbie offers more background information on the case. It starts with the search for the real perpetrator. For the time being all signs point in the direction of Iran and the Palestinian terrorist organization PFLP-GC. In 1988 the U.S. Navy's U.S.S. Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290 civilian passengers on board. In retaliation, the PFLP-GC, under the command of Ahmed Jibril and acting on orders from Iran, is suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 that same year.