Abdul Alibaset Al Megrahi is dead.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-1813789

It's not a popular view outside Scotland. But there's lots of people here (including me) that don't believe he did it. Even the family of one of the victims came out in support of him.

Iris wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-1813789

It's not a popular view outside Scotland. But there's lots of people here (including me) that don't believe he did it. Even the family of one of the victims came out in support of him.

I don't believe he did it, Iris. I think he was set up as a convenient patsy. Someone to hold responsible - end of investigation.

Yes I agree - I think that, as with the bombings in America and London in 2001 and 2005, the official story is a load of baloney.

It was discussed on the News and Americans were outraged when he was released because he was supposed to be near death. One American Guy
who lost a daughter in the crash said the perpetrator died with his Family around him, his Daughter didn't. An american Woman who lost her husband was disgusted that a Man responsible for the death of 270 people could be freed on compassionate grounds when he showed none for his victims.

David Cameron says he would never have released him and Alex Salmond made a big mistake. There is a theory that the bomber didn't act alone .

May 21, 3:23 AM EDT


Families of Lockerbie victims still seek answers

By VERENA DOBNIK and MEERA SELVA
Associated Press


AP Photo/Anonymous






NEW YORK (AP) -- The death of the only man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has left some victims' relatives relieved and others raising questions about his guilt and whether others went unpunished.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official died Sunday of cancer, his family said. His death renewed pleas from some victims' relatives for further investigation of the bombing.

"It closes a chapter but it doesn't close the book. We know he wasn't the only person involved," Frank Dugan, president of the group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said from Alexandria, Va.

Al-Megrahi was convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town on Dec. 21, 1988. The bombing killed 270 people, many of them New York and New Jersey residents. Syracuse University in central New York was particularly hard hit: 35 students on the way home for Christmas break died in the bombing.

Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi handed over al-Megrahi and a second suspect to Scottish authorities after years of punishing U.N. sanctions. In 2003, Gadhafi acknowledged responsibility, though not guilt, for the bombing and paid compensation of about $2.7 billion to victims' families.

The families had banded together after the bombing, immersing themselves in terrorist policy, international relations and airline security and lobbying for compensation from the Libyan government.

Some relatives attended al-Megrahi's trial in the Netherlands. When he was released to Libya from a Scottish prison in 2009 on humanitarian grounds - he was supposedly close to death - they were outraged, especially after al-Megrahi lived far longer than the few months the doctors had predicted.

Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House, N.J., whose daughter was among the Syracuse University students on the flight, said al-Megrahi deserved no compassion.

"The fact that he was able to get out and live with his family these past few years is an appalling miscarriage of justice. There was no excuse for that," Cohen said Sunday. "He should have died in the Scottish prison. He should have been tried in the United States and faced capital punishment."

The views of other victims' families on al-Megrahi's role in the bombing vary widely.

"Megrahi is the 271st victim of Lockerbie," said David Ben-Ayreah, who represents some British families of victims. He attended the trial and still believes al-Megrahi was not responsible for the bombing.

But Eileen Walsh, a Glen Rock, N.J., resident whose father, brother and sister died in the explosion said she was "very happy" to hear about al-Megrahi's death. She had just attended Mass on Sunday when she received numerous text messages.

"I'm glad he's gone, but there's no real closure. There's nothing but a bad taste in my mouth," she said.

"My mother died of cancer in 2004, and because of him, three of the most important people in her life weren't there to help her in her time of need," Walsh said.

Al-Megrahi's co-defendant was acquitted of all charges. Al-Megrahi insisted he also had nothing to do with the bombing. Those who believe him got a boost in 2007 when a three-year investigation by a Scottish tribunal found that new evidence - and old evidence withheld from trial - suggested that al-Megrahi "may have suffered a miscarriage of justice." Its 800-page report prompted an appeal on al-Megrahi's behalf, but by then his fate was in the hands of politicians in London, Tripoli and Edinburgh, all of whom jockeyed for position as Libya rebuilt its ties with Britain and al-Megrahi's health deteriorated.

Still protesting his innocence, al-Megrahi dropped the appeal in a bid to clear the path for his release on compassionate grounds. He flew home to a hero's welcome in 2009.

Al-Megrahi's death should not be an excuse to stop trying to find out who was behind the bombing, Cohen said. She called on U.S. and British officials to "dig even deeper" into the case.

The Scottish government said Sunday that it will continue investigating the Lockerbie bombing.

Bert Ammerman of River Vale, N.J., lost his brother in the bombing. He blames the U.S. and Britain for failing to track all leads in the case and noted that Gadhafi's former spy chief was arrested in March in Mauritania.

"He holds the key to what actually took place in Pan Am 103," Ammerman said. "He knows what other individuals were involved and, more importantly, what other countries were involved."

After Gadhafi's fall, Britain asked Libya's new rulers to help fully investigate but they put off any probe.

"Ironically, 24 years later, I now have more confidence in the new Libyan government than the British or American governments to find the truth because I believe Libya would like the truth to come out to show that they were not the only country involved," Ammerman said.

Jim Swire, whose 19-year-old daughter, Flora, died in the bombing, is a leading voice for some of the British families who believe al-Megrahi was innocent. Swire, who attended the trial in the Netherlands, asked for further inquiry from the Scottish government.

He said he saw al-Megrahi in December. "We talked as two old friends who were saying goodbye," he said.

---

Selva reported from London. Associated Press writers Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J., Deepti Hajela in New York and Ben McConville in Scotland contributed to this report.

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Panda wrote:

It was discussed on the News and Americans were outraged when he was released because he was supposed to be near death. One American Guy
who lost a daughter in the crash said the perpetrator died with his Family around him, his Daughter didn't. An american Woman who lost her husband was disgusted that a Man responsible for the death of 270 people could be freed on compassionate grounds when he showed none for his victims.

David Cameron says he would never have released him and Alex Salmond made a big mistake. There is a theory that the bomber didn't act alone .

If Abdel Alibaset al-Megrahi was innocent, as I believe he was, then he too was a victim of that evil bombing. I can understand the reaction of families of victims who died in the plane and on the ground in Lockerbie. They have every reason to trust that justice prevailed and the perpetrator was convicted, but I don't believe that happened. At least Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was able to live out his last few years in peace, with his family. He is now at peace. The families of those who died at Lockerbie in 1988 will probably never know what really happened because there will be no further investigation.

Put it this way. The Scottish cops have NEVER closed the investiagtion. It's been going on since 1988. They are still looking for the perps. That suggests to me that either Megrahi didn't act alone, or they know it wasn't him. The evidence he was convicted on was incredibly flimsy and the courts were under enormous pressure from the Americans, who didn't even want the trial held in Scotland - despite the fact that the crime took place here.

BBC Documentary on now on BBC1 Scotland about Megrahi and Lockerbie.

I have an abiding image of Lockerbie just after the event. I was driving up to Scotland for the New Year, with my brother. This was before the M74 bypassed Lockerbie and the road skirted the village. To the right of the road, there was just a huge hole in the ground. I'll never forget that image of what was left there.

I remember hearing a newsflash - ironically at the end of a film about the singer Patsy Cline who died in a plane crash. It was at first thought that the plane had landed on a petrol filling station. It was miraculous that there were comparatively so few casualties on the ground.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16232304

9:03pm UK, Monday May 21, 2012

George Thomson, criminal investigator
Abdelbaset al Megrahi was a good friend of mine.

The last time I saw him was at his house in Tripoli last December. I'm no doctor, but I could see he had only a short time to live.

He lay on his bed in very poor health and, while he was conscious, struggled to speak.

He gave me a ceremonial waistcoat as a gift, a gesture of kindness that was typical of the man.

But the waistcoat wasn't all. Megrahi left me with his dying wish that I help to continue the campaign that consumed him until his final breath - the fight to clear his name.

He asked me to make contact with Dr Jim Swire, the father of a girl who died in the Lockerbie bombing, who believes in Megrahi's innocence.

He wanted us to work together, with like-minded supporters, to try to overturn his conviction. He insisted, as do we, that the whole case against him was based on conjecture and planted evidence.

I gave this innocent man my assurance that I would everything I possibly could to pursue a posthumous pardon.

The Megrahi I saw last December was entirely different from the man I first met in 2003, a couple of years after he'd been convicted and sent to jail in Scotland.

I am a criminal investigator and had joined his defence team as we worked on his appeal.

At that time, Megrahi was barely interested. He was down and, generally, had no hope that he would ever prove his innocence.

That changed, however, as we began to gather the evidence that cast doubt on his conviction. He soon became an interested, demanding client.

He had 24-hour access to a phone in jail, which he'd use to contact the Libyan consulate in Glasgow, that would, in turn, patch him through to any number in the world.

He would call my number on a daily basis, hungry for information. I'm a keen fisherman and soon had to start taking a mobile out on the boat with me to take Megrahi's calls as he became consumed by the effort to clear his name.

The campaign energised him. It gave him a focus behind bars and improved his mood, generally.

Over time, he also began to engage with his surroundings, making the best of the life he had in jail.

One of the conditions of the treaty drawn up before his handover by the Libyans was that he would have access to Arabic TV channels whilst in jail.

That meant that he could watch British football on the television in his cell which, in turn, meant that he was Mr Popular anytime there was a Rangers or Celtic game on TV.

Fellow inmates were able to enjoy live football coverage courtesy of their Libyan neighbour. He was a Rangers supporter, incidentally.

Not that he wasn't tuned into the potential hazards of prison life. He was given a visiting room to himself whenever I, or my colleagues, went to see him.

One day there was the sound of a commotion outside the door. We didn't know what was happening and, quick as a flash, Megrahi jumped out of his seat and stood behind me, for protection.

The panic soon ended, however, when it turned out to be a scuffle between two wardens who had argued over who should close the door to the visiting area.

It was around 2005 that he began to complain of pains in his stomach and of acid. He put it down to a poor prison diet.

Looking back, that was probably the initial symptoms of the prostate cancer that eventually killed him.

The subsequent demise of an old friend saddens me greatly. His conviction and sentence angers me, as it does others who firmly believe in his innocence.

Abdelbaset al Megrahi was a good man who deserved better, much better.

Why did they pick him, where did he come from and why is cameron stating.....'hes dead and thats the end off it'....what right has he to say that because he is dead its now over...

kitti wrote:Why did they pick him, where did he come from and why is cameron stating.....'hes dead and thats the end off it'....what right has he to say that because he is dead its now over...

It's not up to him. It's up to Alex Salmond and as far as he is concerned it is all very far from over.