Lockerbie relatives urge inquiry into 'suppressed evidence'

[alp227]

Lockerbie bombing victims' relatives have urged the Scottish government to stage a public inquiry into allegations that "vital" evidence about the bombing was suppressed. Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was among 270 people killed in the bombing, said the withheld evidence raised profound doubts about the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan man released from jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009.

Documents given to Megrahi's defence lawyers a month before he dropped his appeal show that government scientists had found significant differences between a bomb timer fragment allegedly found after the attack and the type supplied to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's former regime, Swire said. A new account of the bombing and Megrahi's conviction, Megrahi: You Are My Jury, published in Edinburgh on Monday, alleges that the Crown Office, the police and Ministry of Defence scientists failed to disclose numerous pieces of evidence that damaged their case against the Libyan.

Full: http://ww.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/27/lockerbie-relatives-urge-inquiry-evidence

[mattvermont]

1. I am not sure they want to know

the truth, as it would undermine their fundamental trust in the US government

[tabatha]

2. I think all the facts should come out so that people cannot make unfounded charges.

[Nihil]

4. True.

And not just the US government either ... though it would put an unwelcome spotlight
on just how much pressure the various US administrations have brought to bear on
this case over the years.

[dreamnightwind]

3. I hope they keep pushing for it

I've been amazed, over the years, how this bombing incident has been used by the powers that be, whenever it was convenient to them, to demonize Gaddafi (who otherwise deserves whatever he got, not defending him) and to raise the fear of terrorism in general.

I wish I had better memory, 'cause I've spent countless hours reading and, mostly, listening, to investigation of the background and peripheral characters in this bombing. I used to (back in the 80's) listen to this guy on the radio named Dave Emory, who was a one-man crusader on shadowy operaters. I wonder what ever happened to him, hopefully he's doing ok, kept a low profile and a loaded gun on him at all times.

Perhaps someone here has a better handle on this. I seem to remember some kind of U.S. agents (DEA?) carried the bag containing the bomb around the airport security so it could get on board undetected. Their story, I think, was that they thought it contained drugs, and they claimed to be involved in some sting. But there was much much more to this, including who some of the passengers were. I've never believed it was done by the Libyans. But my memory of the details is fuzzy, even what I said above is uncertain.

I really wish we had had the internet back then. There was a ton of great work by independent researchers that, as far as I know, has never made it to the 'net.