Review body in talks over Megrahi appeal detail

The publication of details relating to the Lockerbie bomber’s abandoned appeal is a matter for the UK government and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) which holds the information, the justice secretary has said.

Kenny MacAskill said the Scottish Government had tried to broker discussions between the two on the possibility of setting aside data protection laws to allow the SCCRC’s information on the Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi appeal to be published.

Megrahi gave up his legal challenge shortly before he was released on compassionate grounds from Greenock jail two years ago. He was serving a sentence for the murder of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988. The SCCRC had said he was entitled to an appeal, but said it had no power to make its reasons available to the public.

Mr MacAskill wrote to his Westminster counterpart, Ken Clarke, asking if data protection could be set aside to allow the SCCRC’s statement of reasons to be released.

Asked whether he had received a response from Mr Clarke, Mr MacAskill told Holy-rood yesterday: “They have asked for further information related to the type of personal data included within the SCCRC’s statement of reasons in the Megrahi case, and I have responded by providing details to allow direct discussion to take place between the UK government and the commission on the issues surrounding data protection.”

Mr MacAskill added: “These are fundamentally a matter for the SCCRC. We’ve made it quite clear that we are trying to broker discussions and I am grateful to Ken Clarke for his willingness to do so.

“This is actually information that is privy only to the commission. It is not known by myself or any other member of government, and accordingly the discussion is required to take place by Her Majesty’s Government and the SCCRC.”

Mr MacAskill said the Scottish Government had “always sought to act transparently”. Earlier this month he published the Criminal Cases (Punishment and Review) Bill, which he said would put in place a framework “as far as possible within devolved competence”, to allow the disclosure of information by the SCCRC in cases where an appeal had been abandoned or had fallen.