Salmond 'no' to Megrahi inquiry call

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has rejected an invitation to support a pressure group demanding an inquiry into the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber.

The Justice for Megrahi Committee invited Mr Salmond to add his name to its campaign and also invited the Scottish Government to hold an inquiry should a bid for an international inquiry fail.

Signatories to the call for an inquiry include the journalist Kate Adie, the writer AL Kennedy and the Private Eye editor Ian Hislop.

The pressure group wants an inquiry into the downing of Pan Am flight 103, the police investigation, the trial at Kamp van Zeist, the conviction and the dropping of the appeal.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi is the only person convicted of the terrorist, attack which killed 270 people in 1988.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government do not doubt the safety of the conviction of al-Megrahi. Nevertheless, there remain concerns to some on the wider issues of the Lockerbie atrocity.

"The questions to be asked and answered in any such inquiry would be beyond the jurisdiction of Scots law and the remit of the Scottish Government."