Lockerbie bomber inquiry rejected

Published on Saturday 22 January 2011 11:37

THE Scottish Government has ruled out an official inquiry into the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber, campaigners have been told.

The Justice for Megrahi Committee last year lodged a petition with MSPs calling for an official probe into the conviction of Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

But ministers have now written back to the committee ruling this out - even though they admit that the Scottish Government could hold such an inquiry.

Figures obtained by Scottish Labour also reveal today that the administration has received 10,000 letters and e-mails about the Lockerbie bombing since Megrahi was released in August 2009.

In their letter to campaigners on a potential probe into the bomber's conviction, ministers said: "The government has no plans to initiate an inquiry on this issue."

It added: "The wide-ranging and international nature of the issues involved, even if the inquiry is confined to the trial and does not concern itself with wider matters, means that there is every likelihood of issues arising which are not devolved, which would require either a joint inquiry with or a separate inquiry by the UK government."

But the inquiry was ruled out because the government "does not doubt" the safety of Megrahi's conviction. Megrahi has already had one appeal against his 2001 conviction rejected.

A second appeal, following a referral from the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, was abandoned by Megrahi in 2009. Soon afterwards, he was freed on compassionate grounds due to terminal prostate cancer. He remains alive today at home in Libya.

A statement released by the Justice for Megrahi Committee said: "We have a Scottish Government with the power and resources to mount an inquiry that could provide at least some of the answers and it chooses to fall back on well-worn excuses and effectively abrogates responsibility for ascertaining the truth about one of the biggest terrorist outrages ever committed anywhere in the world."