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  1. #176
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    Lockerbie bomber had 'three months to live'... now he's well enough to go home

    Lockerbie bomber had 'three months to live'... now he's well enough to go home
    By DAVID WILLIAMS
    Last updated at 10:40 PM on 01st November 2009
    The row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber was reignited last night after it emerged he has been released from hospital.
    Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August after a medical assessment concluded he had only three months to live because of his prostate cancer.
    But the 57-year-old former Libyan intelligence agent and his family now say that, while weak and terminally ill, he is not close to death, and continues to work on clearing his name.
    As the three-month landmark approaches next Tuesday, they say they 'live in hope of a miracle from God'.
    Furious relatives of the 270 victims of Britain's worst terrorist atrocity said the move 'mocked' the decision to free him.
    Megrahi's release from prison was surrounded by allegations that it was part of a deal struck between Britain and Libya.
    Susan Cohen, who lost her 20-year-old daughter Theodora in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town, said: 'It confirms my view that this was done for political reasons, because of oil deals. It had nothing to do with compassion.
    'The fact Megrahi is still alive despite the three-month diagnosis just shows what an absolute travesty of justice his release was.
    'There is no reason he should not be in a Scottish jail. His continued survival shows that the caring, "compassionate" approach [ Scottish Justice Secretary] Kenny MacAskill took was frankly absurd.'

    More...
    Families split over Lockerbie review: Critics fear it could delay an independent inquiry
    Megrahi, the only man convicted of the bombing, was worshipped as a hero on his return to Libya and is having his treatment by a team of international specialists funded by the Libyan authorities.
    A government official in Tripoli said: 'Although brother Megrahi is still in a very bad way, there is always hope... he is not giving up.
    'Brother Megrahi believes he needs many more years, mainly to prove his innocence of the Lockerbie bombing.'
    Megrahi's lawyer, Tony Kelly, said the bomber was adding new material to a book he began in prison detailing his 'ordeal' and which, he says, could clear his name.
    But prosecutors are set to block its publication by seeking a court order to stop the book being sold anywhere in the world.
    They would also be able to claw back any profits Megrahi makes if it does become available.
    Officials at East Renfrewshire Council, which is monitoring what happens to Megrahi as part of his licence conditions, declined to comment on his current medical state


    Read more: Lockerbie bomber had 'three months to live'... now he's well enough to go home | Mail Online

  2. #177
    Member Kapilvastu's Avatar
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    Don't let the facts spoil a good hate campaign, especially if you write for a rag like the Daily Mail
    The truth is that Megrahi would almost certainly have won his upcoming appeal. The judges found five counts as to why the conviction was unsafe.The evidence against him was always, at best, dodgy. The main evidence was from a Maltese tailor, who identified Megrahi as having bought the clothes from him ,that were found in the bomb suitcase. IT has now emerged that this key witness was shown a photograph on Megrahi, before he identified him; also that he was paid two million dollars for his identification. In addiddition, it has now emerged that there was a break in at the secure area of the airport before the plane departed and that the police witheld this key information from the court. Either of these pieces of new evidence would have got the case against Megrahi thrown out. The case against he co defendant and supposed helper, was, in fact, thrown out.
    The simple fact is that he was released,in exchange for dropping his appeal, which he would have won, and landed the Scottish government in deep trouble.

  3. #178
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  4. #179
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    Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital

    Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.

    Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

    Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

    Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi's disappearance. Richard Baker, Labour's justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland's reputation at risk. "This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi's conditions of licence," he said.

    Eliot Engel, a New York congressman, said: "I think it was a tremendous mistake to let him out in the first place. I don't think a convicted terrorist has any integrity to abide by any type of agreement."

    Relatives of the victims were furious in August when Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, released al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds because he was expected to die of prostate cancer within three months.

    On Sunday evening The Times called at the bomber's home in suburban Tripoli. A policeman sitting on a plastic chair outside was asked to deliver a message to al-Megrahi. He spoke no English, but indicated that al-Megrahi was not there.

    The next day The Times visited the Tripoli Medical Centre where alMegrahi was treated soon after his return to Libya. The receptionists said he had left the hospital some time ago.

    Back at al-Megrahi's home, there was no sign of activity. One of three security officers sitting in a grey Mercedes car outside said: "They've all gone." He refused to elaborate.

    Alerted by The Times, Jonathan Hinds, of East Renfrewshire Council, tried to telephone al-Megrahi at his home yesterday. He spoke to a Libyan man who said al-Megrahi was too ill to speak to him.

    Mr Hinds has called al-Megrahi every other Tuesday since August, and has always been able to speak to him. Yesterday was not one of the regular Tuesdays, so al-Megrahi would not have been expecting a call.

    "We will continue to attempt to call Mr Megrahi tomorrow and will then consider the situation," a council spokesman said. If there were grounds for suspecting al-Megrahi was breaching the terms of his release, "we would report that to the Scottish Government and it would be up to them to decide what action to take".

    It is entirely possible that al-Megrahi was too ill to speak. Libyan doctors have sent monthly reports on his health to Scottish officials, but these have been kept private. Al-Megrahi has not been seen in public since September 9, when he briefly met a delegation of African politicians at the Tripoli Medical Centre. He was in a wheelchair, said nothing and coughed repeatedly. Observers said he looked frail. His older brother, Mohammed, has told The Times that al-Megrahi had been examined by Italian cancer specialists and that he was receiving his fourth dose of chemotherapy. He asked that he be left alone.

    Tony Kelly, al-Megrahi's Scottish lawyer, refused to discuss his client, and the British Embassy in Tripoli had no comment, but other British sources were adamant that al-Megrahi was terminally ill.

    Even so, Bill Aitken, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, called for an immediate investigation. He said: "This is outrageous and there will be intense anger that Britain's biggest mass murderer appears to be able to disappear."

    Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter died on Pan Am Flight 103, said: "I'd certainly wish to know what is happening to him. This is a demonstration of how it is almost impossible to keep tabs on him - but he could also be seriously ill, so that must not be ruled out."


    Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital - Times Online

    My, what a surprise!

    Hopefully he is close to dying or dead, though if not I'm sure those responsible for releasing him will pitch a fit.

  5. #180
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    Maybe Make-A-Wish Foundation has sent him to Pattaya on all expenses paid vacation.

  6. #181
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    Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa

    Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door'
    The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.

    By Andrew Alderson and Robert Mendick
    Published: 9:00PM GMT 20 Feb 2010

    Megrahi: The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988
    Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.
    Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.
    The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in mid air over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground.
    Most did not want Megrahi released and they suspected he would live longer than the predicted three months.
    The Sunday Telegraph revealed last September that the Libyan government had paid for the medical evidence which helped Megrahi, 57, to be released. The Libyans had encouraged doctors to say he had only three months to live.
    The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.
    Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, ruled last August that Megrahi should be freed. Megrahi's release came after Libyan leaders warned that lucrative oil and trade deals with Britain would be cancelled if the bomber died in jail.
    One leading prostate cancer specialist cast serious doubt yesterday on the wisdom of predicting that Megrahi had only three months to live – when a patient still had to undergo chemotherapy. Dr Chris Parker said it was extremely difficult to give an accurate prognosis for individual patients. "Studies show experts are very poor at trying to predict how long an individual patient will live for," he warned.
    Megrahi received the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel – trade name Taxotere – shortly after returning to Libya.
    Dr Parker, who is with the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "The average prognosis for survival after Docetaxel would be 12 months.
    "It can vary enormously but it would be very unusual to live beyond two years."
    Doctors in Libya supply monthly medical reports to Scottish authorities who can speak to Megrahi whenever they want. The conditions of his early release stipulate he must not leave Libya.
    Megrahi, is now living in a spacious two-storey villa with his wife and their five grown-up children in a prosperous suburb of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.
    The property has a spacious garden and an area where the family erects a large tent to entertain visitors for celebrations.
    The property has a security gate and there is often a uniformed police officer sitting on a white chair outside.
    The Megrahis, who are part of a prominent tribe, are well off and it is understood that his family was paid substantial compensation by the Libyan Government after he was jailed for life.
    They are known to have urged Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to get Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, freed from his jail.
    Prof Sikora, one of the examining doctors who was paid a consultancy fee last July to examine Megrahi, told The Sunday Telegraph this weekend: "My information from Tripoli is that it's not going to be long [before Megrahi dies].
    "They stopped any active treatment in December and he has just been going downhill very slowly at home. He is on high doses of morphine [a painkiller] and it's any day now."
    Prof Sikora said that he suspected that Megrahi was still alive because he had received a "psychological" boost from returning to his homeland and being reunited with his family.
    "It's stimulated him to have a remarkable [short-term] recovery," he said. "It's difficult. The choice offered by the letter of the law was either three months to live, or nothing. You couldn't have a sliding scale."
    Some prostate cancer patients have lived for years longer that their doctors predicted.
    Prof Sikora said it was just possible that Megrahi would be alive in several years time but added: "It's highly unlikely. There is a 90 per cent chance he will die in the next few weeks.
    "He is relatively young and has very aggressive, fast-moving disease."
    Megrahi has always denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. He withdrew his second appeal against conviction just two days before he was allowed to return to Libya.
    Those close to him say he did so reluctantly because he was convinced it would improve his chances of being freed from a Scottish jail.
    Megrahi could have been released on compassionate grounds without dropping his appeal – but he could not have been freed under a prisoner exchange programme if legal action was ongoing.
    Until the last moment, the authorities made it clear they were considering both options.
    Professor Sikora had a message to the relatives of the Lockerbie tragedy who are angered by Megrahi's release: "The quality of his life is not good – he is a dying man.
    "Quite frankly, as an act of mercy, it is better that he dies at home rather than in prison."
    However, one source involved in monitoring Megrahi's health suggested the bomber's condition has got no worse in the past six months.
    The source said: "Megrahi is still the same as ever. His condition has not deteriorated. There is no sign of him dying any time yet but who knows? It's totally unpredictable." Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door' - Telegraph

  7. #182
    Thailand Expat nedwalk's Avatar
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    shades of that other 'poor' bugger from ozzie, skasey, but at least he had the decency to die, lets just hope that this prick does too, or maybe he's lingering in heaps of pain..mmm, maybe there is justice, a nice long drawn out suffering for him might be ok too

  8. #183
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    Birthday party for Lockerbie bomber ... five months after doctors said he would be dead

    The freed Lockerbie bomber will today celebrate his birthday in a Libyan mansion - almost eight months after the 'dying' man was released from prison.
    Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi is said to have made a 'remarkable recovery' after being allowed to return home from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last year.

    Read more: Birthday party for Lockerbie bomber ... five months after doctors said he would be dead | Mail Online

  9. #184
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wallalai View Post
    Birthday party for Lockerbie bomber ... five months after doctors said he would be dead

    Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi is said to have made a 'remarkable recovery' after being allowed to return home from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last year.
    Read more: Birthday party for Lockerbie bomber ... five months after doctors said he would be dead | Mail Online
    Typical Daily Mail BS, implying that he's recovered from terminal cancer. Treatment has given him a bit more time that's all.

  10. #185
    Thailand Expat nedwalk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Begbie
    Treatment has given him a bit more time that's all.

    a bit more time to rot alive i hope

  11. #186
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    Quote Originally Posted by Begbie
    Typical Daily Mail BS, implying that he's recovered from terminal cancer. Treatment has given him a bit more time that's all.
    And it's fair for the family of all the people who die in this terrorist attack ? Daily mail BS or not this cnut is free and dancing while families are crying for their sons, daughters, wifes and husbands.

    They deserve more respect than your post.

  12. #187
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wallalai View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Begbie
    Typical Daily Mail BS, implying that he's recovered from terminal cancer. Treatment has given him a bit more time that's all.
    And it's fair for the family of all the people who die in this terrorist attack ? Daily mail BS or not this cnut is free and dancing while families are crying for their sons, daughters, wifes and husbands.

    They deserve more respect than your post.

    I'm overwhelmed by your humanity. What a pity that not everyone shares your views.

    Lockerbie father backs medical release of bomber
    March 31, 2010

    The father of a woman who died in the Lockerbie bombing has backed the medical advice which was used as grounds for releasing Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the crime.

    Writing on bmj.com today, Jim Swire, who is also a retired GP, says he decided to speak out following allegations that Mr Al-Megrahi’s illness was fabricated or at least exaggerated for a political or economic motive.

    Mr Al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, was granted compassionate release by the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, last year, when medical advice indicated that he had only three months to live; he has now survived seven months.

    The release, and Mr Al-Megrahi’s subsequent return to Tripoli was controversial and was criticised particularly in the US. “There were shouts of fury from those who had not looked at the evidence for themselves,” writes Dr Swire. “Some of these were the same voices who had urged that analgesics should be withheld from the suffering prisoner; one wrote to me that he hoped Al-Megrahi’s death would be a long drawn out agony.”

    But he explains that Mr MacAskill took advice from the prison medical service in Greenock prison as well as several senior doctors who “conferred before advising MacAskill that a likely prognosis for Al-Megrahi was about three months”.
    He also points out that the two major changes in Al-Megrahi’s circumstances since his release – returning home to his family and receiving drug treatment together with radiotherapy – might well explain the “dramatic and welcome” improvement in his condition.

    “Now that he has survived for seven months, allegations are appearing in the media that this man’s illness was fabricated or at least exaggerated for some political or economic motive and that the doctors must have been ‘bought’,” writes Dr Swire.
    “My own medical knowledge of the case is confined to meeting Al-Megrahi in prison and observing his physical decline and is without any professional involvement, expect for discussion with the oncologist. Nevertheless I wish to support the advice that my distinguished medical colleagues gave to MacAskill.”

    He says it is always difficult to give a precise prognosis. “In any case, ‘How long have I got, doc?’ was never a question to which I knew a precise answer as a GP; seldom are a doctor’s humanity and tact more tested.”

    He adds: “By sticking to their patient oriented professional duty, the doctors contributed to a major relief for a dying man. We should be proud of them.”

    Lockerbie father backs medical release of bomber | Caledonian Mercury - Health

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    Lockerbie bomber skips town before bombs hit
    Jack Bremer
    MARCH 21, 2011



    Abdelbaset al-Megrahi not to be found at his Tripoli home - nor at the new house he’s having built down the road

    One target that would be almost as bad for morale in the pro-Gaddafi camp as a direct hit on the Brotherly Leader and Guide would be a Tomahawk cruise missile landing on the home of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

    Megrahi has been living in Tripoli - in some splendour if you believe the tabloids - since he was flown out of Scotland in August 2009 having been released from Greenock Prison on compassionate grounds. Doctors diagnosed prostate cancer and said he had only three months to live.
    To the fury of families who lost loved ones when the Pan Am jet exploded over Lockerbie, killing a total of 270 people, Megrahi not only remains alive but is accorded the status of local hero and given the finest medical attention Gaddafi's oil money can buy.

    As a result, he has now survived more than 500 days past the 'limit' imposed by his three-months-to-live prognosis (see The First Post's handy calculator, below).

    There are those who believe that Western forces might grab the chance and target his spacious home in the New Damascus district of Tripoli, perhaps guided there by the special ops units said to be on the ground in the Libyan capital.

    Too late. Megrahi and his minders are one step ahead, according to latest reports.

    A Libyan government source was reported last week to have said: "We know targets are already being worked out by the West, and Brother al-Megrahi is certain to be high on the list."

    As a result, neighbours of Megrahi in the New Damascus district of Tripoli claim he was moved out of his home shortly before the bombardment started.

    Western reporters have discovered no sign of him there. Nor is he to be found at the new house he is having built for himself just down the road (an odd decision, some might think - why go through the nightmare of having the builders in when you're on the verge of death?).

    According to the Scottish Daily Record, until his recent disappearance Megrahi was regularly driven to the half-built house to check on progress. To the fury of Scottish opposition politicians who still believe Megrahi should never have been released from jail, he would arrive, chauffeur driven, either in a red Lamborghini or a giant Hummer.

    thefirstpost.co.uk


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    maybe gaddaffi will get his 'time' for that brutal crime
    and i hope the americans sort him and the other monster.

  15. #190
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mid View Post
    According to the Scottish Daily Record,
    There the rub. The Daily Record is a propaganda rag for the Labour Party and there's an election in a few weeks.

  16. #191
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    my reading is that The Daily Record is only responsible for the final paragraph of the article ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Begbie View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Mid View Post
    According to the Scottish Daily Record,
    There the rub. The Daily Record is a propaganda rag for the Labour Party and there's an election in a few weeks.
    Why are they effectively taking the piss out of Labour and the Scots then? It was them wot released him after all.

  18. #193
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    Lockerbie bomber Megrahi is dead




    Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing above Scotland which killed 270 people, has died at his home in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

    Megrahi, 60, was convicted by a special court in the Netherlands in 2001.

    He was released from prison in Scotland in 2009 on compassionate grounds. He was suffering from cancer and was said to have only months to live.

    When he returned to the Libyan capital, he received a hero's welcome.

    Shortly before being freed, Megrahi dropped his second appeal against his conviction.

    His release sparked the fury of many of the relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster.

    Died at home

    His brother Abdulhakim said on Sunday that Megrahi's health had deteriorated quickly and he died at home in Tripoli.

    He told the AFP news agency that Megrahi died at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT).
    Last month, Megrahi's son said his father had been taken to hospital for blood transfusions.

    Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, always denied any responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988.

    It remains the deadliest terrorist incident ever to have taken place on British soil.

    All 259 people aboard the plane, which was travelling from London to New York, were killed, along with 11 others on the ground.

    Investigators tracing the origins of scraps of clothes wrapped around the bomb followed a trail to a shop in Malta which led them, eventually, to Megrahi.

    He and another Libyan, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, were indicted by the Scottish and US courts in November 1991.

    But Libya refused to extradite them. In 1999, after protracted negotiations, Libya handed the two men over for trial, under Scottish law but on neutral ground, the former US airbase at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

    Their trial began in May 2000. Ffimah was acquitted of all charges, but Megrahi was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison.

    He served the first part of his sentence at the maximum-security prison at Barlinnie, in Glasgow, but was transferred in 2005 to Greenock prison.

    Last August after the fall of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, Megrahi was reported to be "in and out of a coma" at his home in Tripoli.

    There have been calls for him to be returned to jail in the UK or tried in the US.

    But shortly after they toppled Colonel Gaddafi, Libyan rebel leaders said they would not extradite Megrahi or any other Libyan.

    In his last interview, filmed in December 2011, Megrahi said: "I am an innocent man. I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family."

    He had previously claimed he would release new information about the atrocity but little new has emerged.

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    Lockerbie bomber release linked to arms deal, according to secret letter

    The release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked by the Government to a £400 million arms-export deal to Libya, according to secret correspondence obtained by The Sunday Telegraph.




    An email sent by the then British ambassador in Tripoli details how a prisoner transfer agreement would be signed once Libya “fulfils its promise” to buy an air defence system.


    The disclosure is embarrassing for members of the then Labour government, which always insisted that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s release was not linked to commercial deals.


    The email, which contained a briefing on the UK’s relations with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, was sent on June 8 2008 by Sir Vincent Fean, the then UK ambassador, to Tony Blair’s private office, ahead of a visit soon after he stepped down as prime minister.


    Mr Blair flew to Tripoli to meet Gaddafi on June 10, in a private jet provided by the dictator, one of at least six visits Mr Blair made to Libya after quitting Downing Street.


    The briefing, which runs to 1,300 words, contains revealing details about how keen Britain was to do deals with Gaddafi. It also suggests that:

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    Þ the UK made it a key objective for Libya to invest its £80 billion sovereign wealth fund through the City of London

    Þ the UK was privately critical of then President George Bush for “shooting the US in the foot” by continuing to put a block on Libyan assets in America, in the process scuppering business deals

    Þ the Department for International Development was eager to use another Libyan fund worth £130 million to pay for schemes in Sierra Leone and other poverty-stricken countries.

    The release of Megrahi in August 2009 caused a huge furore, with the Government insisting he had been released on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from terminal cancer, and that the decision was taken solely by the Scottish government.

    Megrahi had been convicted in 2001 of the murder of 270 people when PanAm flight 103 from London to New York blew up over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988. It remains Britain’s single worst terrorist atrocity.

    Libya had been putting pressure on the UK to release Megrahi and in May 2007, just before he left Downing Street, Mr Blair travelled to Sirte to meet Gaddafi and Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, Libya’s then prime minister.

    At that meeting, according to Sir Vincent’s email, Mr Blair and Mr Baghdadi agreed that Libya would buy the missile defence system from MBDA, a weapons manufacturer part-owned by BAE Systems. The pair also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA), which the Libyans believed would pave the way for Megrahi’s release.

    The British government initially intended the agreement to explicitly exclude Megrahi. However, ministers relented under pressure from Libya.

    In December 2007, Jack Straw, then justice secretary, told his Scottish counterpart that he had been unable to secure an exclusion, but said any application to transfer Megrahi under the agreement would still have to be signed off by Scottish ministers.

    With Mr Blair returning in June 2008 — as a guest of Gaddafi on his private jet — the government appears to have used the chance to press its case for the arms deal to be sealed. At the time, Britain was on the brink of an economic and banking crisis, and Libya, through the Libyan Investment Authority, had billions of pounds in reserves.

    Sir Vincent gave Mr Blair’s office a briefing on the state of relations with Libya. The email suggests that Mr Blair was being used as a conduit.

    Sir Vincent wrote: “There is one bilateral issue which I hope TB [Tony Blair] can raise, as a legacy issue. On 29 May 07 in Sirte, he and Libya’s PM agreed that Libya would buy an air defence system (Jernas) from the UK (MBDA). One year on, MBDA are now back in Tripoli (since 8 June) aiming to agree and sign the contract now — worth £400 million, and up to 2,000 jobs in the UK.

    “Saif [Gaddafi’s son] says they are to come back to conclude; but there is opposition within the Libyan armed forces, from those in the Russian defence equipment camp. We think we have Col Q’s [Gaddafi’s] goodwill for this contract: it would be very helpful if he expressed it more clearly. This issue can also be raised with Libya’s PM, and the Planning Minister. It was PM Baghdadi who told the media on 29 May 07 that Libya would buy British.

    “Linked (by Libya) is the issue of the 4 bilateral Justice agreements about which TB signed an MoU with Baghdadi on 29 May. The MoU says they will be negotiated within the year: they have been. They are all ready for signature in London as soon as Libya fulfils its promise on Jernas.”

    The PTA was signed in November 2008 by Bill Rammell, a foreign office minister.

    Megrahi was diagnosed with prostate cancer and released in August 2009 on compassionate grounds when he was given three months to live. He died in May 2012.

    The Libyans never signed the arms deal, MBDA said yesterday. “MBDA operates, at all times, strictly within the limits of clearly defined export licensing regimes issued by the relevant Government authorities,” a spokesman said.

    “All MBDA’s dealings with Libya were purely commercial and in accordance with the EU directive at the time.”

    The disclosure of the email, which was obtained by The Sunday Telegraph as a result of a Freedom of Information request, angered the relatives of victims of the bombing.

    Pam Dix, whose brother Peter died at Lockerbie, said: “It appears from this email that the British government was making a clear correlation between arms dealing with Libya and the signing of the prisoner transfer agreement.

    “We were told Megrahi’s release was a matter strictly for the Scottish government but this shows the dirty dealing that was going on behind the scenes.”

    Lord Mandelson, who was business secretary when Megrahi was released, said he was unaware of any possible links between commercial deals and negotiations over a release.

    He said: “Based on the information that I was given at the time, I made clear the government’s position. I was not aware of the correspondence covered in this FOI request.”

    Jack Straw, who negotiated the PTA, said no deals were done over Megrahi, and it was always a decision for the Scottish government.

    The email from Sir Vincent also informed Mr Blair on the latest stage of Megrahi’s bid for release, and urged him to fend off any demands that he be sent back. By 2008, Megrahi was appealing against his conviction for mass murder.

    “Col Q may very well raise Megrahi,” wrote Sir Vincent, “Saif [Gaddafi’s son] raised the case … last week. It is now before the Scottish Appeal Court and sub-judice.

    “While the appeal is current, no request to invoke the PTA can be made in that case.

    Were the appeal to fail and a request for Megrahi’s return to Libya were to be made subsequently, it would be for Scottish ministers to decide on any such request — not a question for HMG [Her Majesty’s Government].”

    A spokesman for Mr Blair said that the prisoner transfer agreements did not relate to Megrahi. The email, he added, did not show “that the UK government was trying to link the defence deal and Megrahi”.

    He said: “Actually it shows the opposite — that any linkage was from the Libyan side.

    “As far as we’re aware there was no linkage on the UK side. What the email in fact shows is that, consistent with what we have always said, it was made clear to the then Libyan leader that the release of Megarahi was a matter for Scotland and was not a matter for Her Majesty’s Government.

    “As we’ve said before, the subjects of the conversations during Mr Blair’s occasional visits was [sic] primarily Africa, as Libya was for a time head of the African Union; but also the Middle East and how Libya should reform and open up.

    “Of course the Libyans, as they always did, raised Megrahi. Mr Blair explained, as he always did, in office and out of it, that it was not a decision for the UK government but for the Scottish Executive [formerly the name for the Scottish government].”

    www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10206659

  20. #195
    I am in Jail
    leemo's Avatar
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    Can't be proven because the guy was way ahead of the field, but does anyone believe Blair did not receive commission or other significant worldly benefits from the £400m arms deal?

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