Rolfe
Adult human female
A number of people on the forum have posted in support of the view that the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing appears to be a miscarriage of justice. I would therefore encourage them to visit the web site of the Scottish parliament where an e-Petition has been opened which reads as follows.
Signatures are accepted from residents of any country in the world who agree with the termsn of the petition in question. Only names and country of residence are published on the web site.
As most people know, Mr. al-Megrahi's original conviction attracted widespread criticism. Although the trial returned a guilty verdict, the evidence seemed to admit of a great deal of extremely reasonable doubt, and on critical points the judges appeared to have repeatedly preferred an unlikely interpretation which supported guilt to a likely interpretation which supported innocence. Prominent critics included Dr. Hans Kochler, official UN observer to the trial, Prof. Robert Black QC, who was instrumental in arranging the trial, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a number of the bereaved relatives of the victims.
The original appeal against the verdict in 2002 was unfortunately brought on the wrong grounds, due to the unique nature of the trial (which was decided by a judicial bench, not a jury), and failed as a result.
In 2003, permission to lodge a second appeal was sought, and this was granted in 2007, when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission found no less than six points on which there might have been a miscarriage of justice. The appeal had not yet come before the court by 2008, when Mr. al-Megrahi was diagnosed with aggressive metastatic prostate cancer. This was largely due to the repeated refusal of the government to allow the defence sight of a document cited by the SCCRC, which had not been disclosed by the prosecution and which was deemed potentially favourable to the defence.
When the appeal began in 2009 it was subject to a prolonged timetable which would not have seen a decision until the spring of this year. When Mr. al-Megrahi was given the prognosis of three months to live in August 2009, he dropped this appeal, apparently in the belief that this would expedite his release back to his home country.
The dropping of the appeal has closed off the obvious judicial route to a re-examination of this contentious and indeed perverse verdict. The lingering doubts are seen by many as casting a cloud over the reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system. As a result there has been increasing pressure for a full public inquiry into the affair. The e-Petition seeks to encourage the Scottish parliament to open such an inquiry.
Rolfe.
Signatures are accepted from residents of any country in the world who agree with the termsn of the petition in question. Only names and country of residence are published on the web site.
As most people know, Mr. al-Megrahi's original conviction attracted widespread criticism. Although the trial returned a guilty verdict, the evidence seemed to admit of a great deal of extremely reasonable doubt, and on critical points the judges appeared to have repeatedly preferred an unlikely interpretation which supported guilt to a likely interpretation which supported innocence. Prominent critics included Dr. Hans Kochler, official UN observer to the trial, Prof. Robert Black QC, who was instrumental in arranging the trial, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a number of the bereaved relatives of the victims.
The original appeal against the verdict in 2002 was unfortunately brought on the wrong grounds, due to the unique nature of the trial (which was decided by a judicial bench, not a jury), and failed as a result.
In 2003, permission to lodge a second appeal was sought, and this was granted in 2007, when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission found no less than six points on which there might have been a miscarriage of justice. The appeal had not yet come before the court by 2008, when Mr. al-Megrahi was diagnosed with aggressive metastatic prostate cancer. This was largely due to the repeated refusal of the government to allow the defence sight of a document cited by the SCCRC, which had not been disclosed by the prosecution and which was deemed potentially favourable to the defence.
When the appeal began in 2009 it was subject to a prolonged timetable which would not have seen a decision until the spring of this year. When Mr. al-Megrahi was given the prognosis of three months to live in August 2009, he dropped this appeal, apparently in the belief that this would expedite his release back to his home country.
The dropping of the appeal has closed off the obvious judicial route to a re-examination of this contentious and indeed perverse verdict. The lingering doubts are seen by many as casting a cloud over the reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system. As a result there has been increasing pressure for a full public inquiry into the affair. The e-Petition seeks to encourage the Scottish parliament to open such an inquiry.
Rolfe.
I was only talking about the quoted post.
