Holyrood's Justice Committee once again continued the long-running
petition by the Justice For Megrahi (JFM) group calling for an
independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December
1988. Convener Christine Grahame said: "A letter of complaint has
been sent to the Cabinet Secretary lodging serious formal allegations
relating to the conduct of the investigation and the trial.
"That
has been given 30 days grace to be answered by the Cabinet Secretary and
then it will be public. I think we would like to see the Cabinet
Secretary`s response before we decide to do anything." Despite
initial objections by Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, who suggested that
formal routes of appeal against the conviction remain open, the
committee agreed to continue the petition. Ms Grahame added: "I
accept what is said about a court case being one way forward, but there
is a possibility under the Inquiries Act for the Government to conduct
an inquiry into something wholly within its remit. Well, the operation
of the police and the Crown Office is wholly within the remit of the
Scottish Government. So, there are certain powers that the Government
has, whether or not they are used."
JFM said they have given
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill until October 13 to respond to their
letter of complaint before they go public with the allegations. In a
submission to the committee, sent shortly after the complaint was
lodged, JFM said: "Serious question marks (have been) raised concerning
the quality of forensic evidence relating to the shard of PCB alleged by
the Crown to have been part of a triggering device for a bomb. "It
would now appear that expert evidence provided to the court by
representatives of the Royal Armament and Research Establishment was
deeply flawed and at least one of the expert witnesses may well have
perjured himself."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The
issues being raised in relation to the conviction itself must be a
matter for a court of law. Mr Al-Megrahi was convicted in a court of
law, his conviction was upheld on appeal and that is the only
appropriate place for his guilt or innocence to be determined. "As
was made clear by the Cabinet Secretary in his statement to the
Scottish Parliament in February this year, it remains open for relatives
of Mr Al-Megrahi to ask the SCCRC (Scottish Criminal Cases Review
Commission) to refer the case to the Appeal Court again on a posthumous
basis, which ministers would be entirely comfortable with."
Source: Press Association
