No One Seriously doubts the Libyan's guilt?

The doubters and their Doubts
Last update Feb 10 2011

This will be a running-updated post to gather the best quotes from the best minds on this case. My emphasis is on support for Megrahi's innocence and/or the trial's inadequacies. The list is not all-inclusive - I've eliminated a few whose sincerity or sanity I find questionable enough. I've not listed any Libyans, nor their lawyers. Just people who at least presumably should have no ulterior motive to express such doubts. In many cases I'm listing names first, and then later finding quotes. Those of direct relation to the victims (8) can be found searching "PA103 victim."

If anyone has any snappy submissions, even from you, I'll include them. Use comments form below or e-mail them in.

1 - Lucy Adams. Chief Reporter, The Herald (Scotland).

"In his first full-length interview since being released last week, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi told The Herald: “We all want to know the truth. The truth never dies.” Speaking from a hospital bed at his home in Tripoli, Megrahi talked extensively about his 10-year battle with the Scottish legal system and insisted he did not commit the worst terrorist act on mainland Britain." - 28 August 2009. [source]

2 - Kate Adie. Former Chief News Correspondent for BBC News. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

3 - Jack Anderson. Renowned American journalist.

"President Bush and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher secretly agreed last spring to play down the truth about who blew up Pan Am flight 103." - Column, January 1990, via Paul Foot, 2001. (see below - Thatcher)

4 - John Ashton. Researcher for Frankovich on The Maltese Double Cross, co-author with Ian Ferguson, Cover-up of Convenience, and with Abdelbaset al Megrahi of an upcoming and much-anticipated biography/tell-all book. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

5 - Robert Baer. Former CIA operative, specialty in Iran. Believes Iran, not Libya, was responsible for the bombing.

"The question is who knew [of evidence proving Iran's role] and when you consider they've released him rather than hear his appeal, you can draw your own conclusions. The decision serves everybody's purpose. I don't think anyone wanted to face the consequences of that evidence being heard at appeal.

The Maltese witness was manipulated and perjured himself at trial. I talked with the appeals commission investigators and that's what was going to be laid before the hearing. At least one FBI officer was pressured too. I spoke to the case officer and he was pressured to change his testimony. It was a bad show all the way but whether Megrahi is innocent is another question entirely." [August 2009]

6 - Ian Bell. British columnist, described by Robert Black as "probably the most consistently interesting columnist writing in the print media in Scotland today."

So why was Megrahi given his liberty when other terminally ill prisoners of the Crown in Scotland have enjoyed far fewer courtesies? “Compassion” is not a notable feature of Scottish justice. And Al-Megrahi wasn’t just any prisoner. The fact that he was obliged to abandon his appeal against conviction in order to – a legalism – get free, wasn’t trivial. How come? (...)

Why was it so important, for so long, to so many people, that Megrahi should be dead, or at least out of the way?

He didn’t do it. That statement suits no-one. The important thing to remember, in Scotland, is that Megrahi abandoned his appeal. Such was the price of his liberty.

No-one has dealt with the fact that the US Department of Justice sanctioned payments of $3 million to a pair of Maltese “witnesses” – Tony and Paul Gauci, for their “crucial evidence” over clothes and a suitcase – or whether a Scottish court, even one in a foreign country, allows bribery. ...[2 Feb 2011]

7 - David Ben-Aryeah. Scottish journalist, researcher, adviser to the families of British victims, consultant for The Maltese Double Cross (1994).

"Taken against the historical demands of the UK relatives for a ‘full, independent enquiry’ into events before, during and after the bombing of Pan Am 103, the pending appeal may well shed light in some very dark corners and go a small way into answering the disturbing spectrum of questions raised during the original trial and appeal." [August 2008]

8 - David Benson. English playwright, organizer of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, related Jim Swire's odyssey there in 2010 with the one-man play “Lockerbie: Unfinished Business.” Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, petitions, etc.

"If you really look into it the evidence that was presented against [Megrahi] in court was laughable.” [30 July 2010]

9 - Jean Berkley. Mother of PA103 victim Alastair Berkley. Justice for Megrahi signatory.

10 - Matt Berkley. Son of Jean, brother of PA103 victim Alastair. Involved in advocating for Megrahi's second appeal, among other things.

“I don’t have any investment in Mr. Megrahi being innocent, or in his guilt being in doubt. So I would be glad to proved wrong. But I don’t find detailed and convincing arguments to the effect that the trial was fair, or that he was guilty.” – BBC Radio 4, The Report, 16 September 2010.

11 - Peter Biddulph. Researcher, cohort of Dr. Jim Swire. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

12 - John Biewen. Reporter, with Ian Ferguson, on the Shadow over Lockerbie series for American Radio Works in 1999.

13 – Benedict Birnberg. Prominent attorney. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

14 - Robert Black, QC. FRSE, Professor Emeritus of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh from 1981. Born and raised in Lockerbie, deeply interested in the case since 1993, and referred to as the "architect of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist" due to legal diplomacy he helped arrange for it. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Proprietor, The Lockerbie Case blog. Presented for the 10/10 e-petition at parliament, November 9 2010.

"[T]o many observers, including me, it seemed that the case presented by the prosecution was a very weak circumstantial one, and was further undermined by the additional prosecution concession that they had not been able to prove how the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103 got into the interline baggage system and onto the aircraft." - July 2007 [source] 

"Since the date of the trial court's verdict against him, my position has been a clear one: on the evidence led at the trial his conviction was simply an outrageous miscarriage of justice, about which the Scottish criminal justice system should feel nothing but shame. As a result of today's meeting, I am satisfied that not only was there a wrongful conviction, but the victim of it was an innocent man. Lawyers, and I hope others, will appreciate this distinction." - After meeting Megrahi in jail, November 2007. [Source] 

"His conviction, on the evidence led at the trial, was nothing short of astonishing. It constitutes, in my view, the worst miscarriage of justice perpetrated by a Scottish criminal court since the conviction of Oscar Slater in 1909 for the murder of Marion Gilchrist." - 26 October 2008 [source]

15 - William Blum. Prominent critic of American foreign policy.

16 - Tonio Borg. Prominent Maltese Politician, Minister of Justice, Deputy Prime Minister, etc.

"We have no proof that these two Libyan suspects were involved in anything illegal in Malta regarding this case, particularly the placing of this bomb on Air Malta Flight 180.” - early 2000 [Source]

17 - Wilfred Borg. Operations director, Air Malta, in 1988. Testified at trial to records showing no unaccompanied suitcase on their Flight 180.

18 - Dr. Ludwig de Braeckeleer. PhD (nuclear sciences), Lockerbie researcher of some achievement.

As the explosion of one pound of SEMTEX H inside the luggage container does not generate a blast wave sufficiently powerful to fracture the skin of the fuselage, we have little choice but to conclude that the verdict appears scientifically implausible. [source]

19 - Paul Bull. Friend of PA103 victim William Cadman. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

20 - Martin Cadman. Father of PA103 victim William Cadman.

"Your government and ours know exactly what happened. But they're never going to tell." - What Cadman says an unnamed member of the President's Commission (PCAST) told him in private, February 1990. 

"The truth has not come out. I think the investigation found what it was told to find. I don't think it had any option." - to BBC Conspiracy Files, 2008.

21 - Dr. Noam Chomsky. PhD. Renowned American political scientist, linguist, author and lecturer. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

"Prof. Chomsky described the events surrounding the case of the convicted bomber Abdelbasset Al Megrahi as "a remarkable illustration of the conformism and obedience of intellectual opinion in the West. [...] I think the trial was very seriously flawed, including crucially the alleged role of Malta. There is every reason to call for a very serious independent inquiry." - Sunday Times of Malta, November 29 2009, at a Justice for Megrahi event - [Source]

22 - Andrew Cockburn. American journalist, Counterpunch.

"The most likely explanation of the judges’ decision to convict Megrahi despite the evidence, or lack of it, must be that either (a) they panicked at the thought of the uproar that would ensue on the American end if they let both of the Libyans off, or (b) they were simply given their marching orders by high authority in London. English judges are used to doing their duty in this manner – see, for example, the results of various "impartial" judicial inquiries into British atrocities in Northern Ireland over the years, including Bloody Sunday and the post-internment torture scandal – but we had hoped, ludicrously so in retrospect, that the Scotch were made of sterner stuff." - 20 April 2001 [Source]

23 - Tam Dalyell. British politician, Labour party, House of Commons, 1962-2005. Has lodged 17 adjournment debates on Lockerbie. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

"In my view, what Mr Miliband does not want revealed is the calculated wickedness of the US government and the collusion of certain parts of Whitehall in scapegoating Libya and Mr Megrahi for the heinous crime of bringing an airliner down over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988." - referring to Foreign Secretary David Miliband's pemanent sealing of "the Lockerbie papers." [21 August 2009]

24 - Pamela Dix. Sister of PA103 victim Peter Dix, UK families leader.

"Widespread concern around the safety of the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has raised a number of issues. There are also issues about the division of responsibility between Westminster and Holyrood and whether it was right to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds. But everyone is in agreement that whether or not he is guilty, others must have been involved. We hope that the fact that the criminal investigation is to continue will contribute to our quest for the truth." [26 October 2009]

25 - Ian Ferguson. Scottish journalist and researcher, prominent and accomplished scholar of all things Lockerbie. Co-author, Cover-up of Convenience, American Radio Works Shadow Over Lockerbie series, etc. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, signed 10/10 e-petition.

26 - Dr. David Fieldhouse. Volunteer on the scene of the Lockerbie crash, swears one of the bodies he identified was later stricken from the record. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, signed 10/10 e-petition.

27 - Robert Fisk.

"Wasn't it supposed to be the Syrians who killed [Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq] Hariri [...]? Nope. Since the Syrians offered their assistance to the United States in Iraq, it's been the pesky Iranians (courtesy The New York Times and The Times of London) who, through their Hezbollah allies, have been blamed for the mass slaughter. Notice, by the way, how the Syrians and Iranians were blamed for Lockerbie and then, post-Syrian help in the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, the Libyans?" - 30 October 2010 [source]

28 - Paul Foot. Renowned British investigative journalist for Private Eye, author of Lockerbie: Flight from Justice, based on his reporting from the 2000 trial.

29 - Graham Forbes. Chairman of the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission. Headed an detailed review of the evidence brought and not brought at trial, and methodology.

“[B]ased upon our lengthy investigations, new evidence we have found and new evidence that was not before the trial court, [we feel] that the applicant may have suffered a miscarriage of justice."

30 - Robert Forrester. Co-founder, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Writer of many letters and articles.  Presented for the 10/10 e-petition at parliament, November 9 2010.

"Never again ought the Crown to be in a position where it performs the role of prosecutor, judge and jury. It is all rather like their Lordships’ jigsaw was a picture of a top hat taken from an obscure angle and they managed to convert it into a rabbit. Whilst such conjuring sits well in vaudeville, it has no place in a court of law." [source]

31 - David Frum. American political commnentor, neoconservative, speechwriter for Bush II

"For years, many well-informed people in the intelligence community have doubted al-Megrahi's guilt in the Lockerbie bombing. They have argued that the bombing was the work of a Syrian based Palestinian group, the PFLP-GC, working for the government of Iran. Among those who support the Iran-did-it theory are: (i) former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon; (ii) Robert Baer, the CIA official who worked directly on the Lockerbie case; (iii) Hans Koechler, the UN Security Council observer at al-Megrahi's trial; (iv) Robert Black, the Scottish lawyer who organized the trial proceedings; (v) Dr. Jim Swire, the spokesman for the families of British Lockerbie victims who lost his own daughter aboard Pan Am Flight 103; and (vi) David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post." - 22 August 2009 [source]

32 – William Gillies MA. Professor of Celtic and Scottish studies, Edinburgh University. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

33 - Lawrence Gonzi. Current Prime Minister of Malta.

"Our position was always that Malta had nothing to do with the terrorist attack and it has never changed.” - November 1 2009, denying reports that Malta would re-investigate Tony Gauci. [source]

34 - Christine Grahame. Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), of the SNP party. Has met al Megrahi in prison and is lobbying parliament for a new inquiry. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

"I am convinced not only that Megrahi was not found guilty "beyond reasonable doubt", the test in Scot's law, but that he is an innocent man. [...] As for any inquiry, that's out there in the long grass. They are people in authority who are relying on Lockerbie fatigue setting in again. It mustn't." - 23 August 2009 [source]

35 - John P. Grant. Spokesman, Lockerbie Trial Briefing Unit, co-author of a book with Robert Black.

"An independent inquiry after the appeal by all means. For a start, we need the full report of the SCCRC to be published, with parts redacted if necessary. The short sanitized version published by the SCCRC is lamentably insufficient for an issue of such national and international importance." [July 2007]

36 - Ian Hamilton QC. Veteran campaigner for Scottish independence, recipient of a lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Law Awards of Scotland.

"I don't think there's a lawyer in Scotland who now believes Mr Megrahi was justly convicted. The Americans were out for vengeance. Anyone with a darker skin would do. With their barrowloads of money to buy witnesses, aided by our police and prosecution, they hoodwinked our courts." - e-mail to Robert Black, 2010. [source]

37 - Edward S. Herman. Journalist with Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)

"When Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi, [...] returned home to what was angrily described in U.S. media as a “hero’s welcome.” [...] the media’s simplistic tale of villainy and impunity requires a very selective reading of history." [October 2009]

"The Libyan connection lasted in pristine condition from 1990 into 2007, during which time Libya was subjected to intensive vilification, costly sanctions imposed by the Security Council, and a highly publicized trial in Scotland [...] and a payment of several billion dollars in victim compensation [...] on the basis of manipulated and laughable evidence in another show trial." [September 2007]

38 - Ian Hislop. Publisher, Private Eye. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. See Paul Foot.

39 - David Horovitz. Onetime editor, Jerusalem Post. See "David Frum."

40 - Otto Hostettler. Swiss journalist.

(translated roughly from German) In the Lockerbie case, something strange happened: In the autumn of 1991, practically overnight, two Libyan agents were presented as the perpetrators. One of them was later convicted. But even the judges granted in their grounds that the case was not completely clarified. Some of the victims’ family and some investigators still believe today that the attack was committed by the PFLP-GC. This thesis, however, no longer fit into the long-term political weather situation. (In a Dec 2010 article, linking the Lockerbie bombing with that of Swiss Air 330 in 1970, by the PFLP-GC.)

41 - Father Pat Keegans. Parish priest for Lockerbie at the time of the crash, not far from being killed by it. Has a long history with victims' familes, had addresses read at annual memorials until 2008, snubbed in '09 for stating his belief in Megrahi's innocence. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Presented for the 10/10 e-petition at parliament, November 9 2010.

"I do believe that he is an innocent man and that in time the truth of that will emerge. But he was not released because of doubt concerning his conviction. He was released on strict legal grounds and because of the important element of Christian compassion which has influenced the legal systems of Scotland and Europe.” - From a speech for the 2009 anniversary ceremony at Arlington, 21 December 2009, blocked for political reasons. [source]
"[We] have never found a full answer to Lockerbie. And this will always be a source of great distress. [...] We need the truth, and we need justice, to allow ourselves to be at peace. Otherwise, we're still back on December the 21 1988, in the darkness." [9 Nov 2010]

42 - Garrison Keillor. American storyteller and radio humorist, creator of the Prarie Home Companion.

“…Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi […] was convicted in 2001 on the basis of thin circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a paid witness for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 […] Mr. al-Megrahi had “patsy” written all over him. The Scots did the right thing. And caused a public uproar, and so what? Right is right." – on Megrahi’s release, August 2009. [Source]

43 - A.L. Kennedy. Author and comedian. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

44 - Dr. Morag Kerr. Lockerbie researcher and commentator. Committee member (secretary depute) and signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

"[D]etailed examination of the evidence has convinced me that indeed [Megrahi] had nothing to do with it. […] there absolutely nothing at all to connect him personally with the bomb […] I am as certain as I am of anything I have not personally witnessed that he had nothing to do with the Lockerbie bombing, and thus that his conviction is a heinous stain on the soul of the scottish justice system.” – Comment on signing Scottish parliament e-petition 416, October 2010.

45 - Andrew I. Kilgore. Former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, editor Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

46 - Noel Koch. Pentagon guy, national defense and security stuff, going way back. Recently ousted from a post at the Pentagon.
"It was decided by the two governments, by the United States and the United Kingdom, that Libya had been responsible for the bombing of Pan Am 103. I have never believed that, and I don't believe the case will stand against the Libyans. [...] My own conviction from the outset was that the Syrians and Iranians were pre-eminently responsible for this." [to Shadow Over Lockerbie, 1999]
47 - Dr. Hans Köchler. Professor, University of Innsbruck, Austria. Pioneer in cultural dialog between Islam and the West, president of UN-affiliated International Progress Organization (IPO), primary international observer at Zeist trial.

“I welcome the release of Megrahi, because I firmly believe that he is innocent of the charges made against him. Believe me, if I thought he was guilty I would not be pleased to see him released from jail.” - 21 Aug 2009 [source] 

“The entire procedure [handling of Megrahi’s first appeal] looks more like an intelligence operation than a genuine undertaking of criminal justice.” - June 2008 [source]

"I am sorry to admit that my impression is that justice was not done and that we are dealing here with a rather spectacular case of a miscarriage of justice." - 14 March 2002 [source]

48 - Marina de Larracoechea.  Sister of PA103 victim Maria Nieves de Larracoechea. In protest of U.S. policy and the handling of her sister's death, she had her one stone left out of the memorial cairn at Arlington cemetery (it has 269 instead of the planned 270).

"I feel that what started as a personal, loving effort from the relatives ... has turned into a message that I cannot accept. ... We have not gotten justice or the truth. [...] given the sequence of events that led to the disaster [IR 655], and the way the criminal investigation was handled after, which may I say was never independent in the first place..." [On her reasons for opting out of the cairn, Nov 1995]
"I thought that they were going to acquit them both, and that they have convicted one surprised me. But I'm infuriated by not knowing who made the bomb, by the wall of silence that has formed around the behavior of the North American Government, and by the lies to me that are counted. All this is an obscenety." [http://plane-truth.com/Aoude/geocities/nieves.html]

49 - Adam Larson.  American blogger/researcher, proprietor of this site. AKA Caustic Logic. Justice for Megrahi signatory, signed 10/10 e-petition. (hard to pick a good quote for myself, and no rush I suppose)

50 - Magnus Linklater. Prominent journalist and editor of numerous UK papers, most recently the Scotsman, published expert on Scottish history, politics, and culture.

“I have always felt uneasy about the convenience of it all. In the months after the attack, all the evidence pointed in a different direction — to the involvement of Syria, and a terrorist group known as the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine General Command. [...]All that changed, some time in 1990, when we were told about the discovery of forensic evidence that suggested a Libyan link._[...]_It is the British Government that should be concerned. Our defences against terrorism rest ultimately on trust in our legal system, on the reliability of our police work and on the demonstrable transparency of our judicial process. [...] However much it goes against the grain, the Pan Am conviction must be re-examined, to determine whether there is strong enough evidence to reopen the case.” [26 October 2005]

51 - Aonghas MacNeacail. Poet. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

52 - Hector L. MacQueen. Emminent professor of Scots law, signed 10/10 e-petition to Scotland.

"[The abandonment of Megrahi's appeal] would avoid the inconvenient ventilation of all the evidence for months and years to come, keep Megrahi in prison albeit in Libya, and avoid possible embarrassment for police, prosecutors, judges and others." [15 Aug 2009]

52 - Heather Mallick. Journalist.

Speaking of thin-skinned nations that are intolerant of perceived criticism, the US refused to hear British pleas for the fate of Gary McKinnon, the young Brit with autism who hacked into Pentagon files in 2001 to search for proof of the existence of UFOs. The US is extraditing him, presumably to jail him for life. Why? Because the UK released the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. In fact, the independent Scottish judiciary [sic] released him, possibly just to annoy Downing Street, and also because, embarrassingly, he appeared to be a tiny bit “not guilty.” [1 December 2010]

53 - Michael Mansfield. QC, Renowned British criminal lawyer, defended Danny McNamee, convicted by the science of Allen Feraday, who worked on the Lockerbie case.

"Forensic science is not immutable. They're not written in tablets of stone, and the biggest mistake that anyone can make—public, expert or anyone else alike—is to believe that forensic science is somehow beyond reproach: it is not! The biggest miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom, many of them emanate from cases in which forensic science has been shown to be wrong. And the moment a forensic scientist or anyone else says: 'I am sure this marries up with that' I get worried."- Frontline Scotand, 1997. [source]

“Michael Mansfield QC, one of the country's best-known defence lawyers, said a full judicial inquiry was required to settle the doubts over the case. Mansfield said he had no doubt that the evidence given to secure Megrahi's conviction was "entirely unsustainable".” [source]

54 - Eric Margolis. Canadian Journalist.

"Some intelligence experts believe the attack was revenge for the downing of the Iranian airliner, carried out by Mideast contract killers paid by Iran. Serious doubts about al-Megrahi's guilt were voiced by Scotland's legal authorities. An appeal was underway. Libyans believed he was a sacrificial lamb handed over to save Libya from a crushing U.S. and British-led oil export boycott._[...]_I believe al-Megrahi was probably innocent and framed. Scotland was right to release him." [Source]

55 - Lara Marlowe. Irish Times Washington correspondent.

I still believe that the Lockerbie bombing was retaliation for the downing of the Iran Air flight six months earlier. [Nov 2010]

56 - Christopher Mason.

Without the forensic evidence and Gauci’s evidence, Megrahi and Fahima could not have been prosecuted. There are allegations that this evidence was tainted. I do not understand why those who thought the Scottish justice system was seriously threatened by perjured evidence in [Tommy] Sheridan’s civil case against a newspaper, cannot find a way of looking into our criminal justice system in relation to the allegation that the most important criminal trial of the 20th century proceeded on the basis of false evidence. [Dec 2010]

57 - Stephen Maxwell. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

58 - Eddie McDaid. Lockerbie researcher and commentator, JFM signatory.

59 - Rik McHarg. Communications hub coordinator: Lockerbie crash sites. JFM signatory.

60 - Iain McKie. Former police officer and father of wrongly accused Shirley McKie. Crusader for the wrongly convicted, co-founder and signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, signed various petitions, etc. Presented for the 10/10 e-petition at parliament, November 9 2010.

"How can we blame other governments if the search for the truth about Lockerbie, a Scottish tragedy that occurred on Scottish soil which was investigated and prosecuted by Scottish authorities, is frustrated by our own government? It is a legitimate question to ask – what right does a country have to self-determination if when given the opportunity to exercise that right it fails to do so? Urging a new Scottish probe of Megrahi's conviction.” [October 12 2010]

61 - Anne McLaughlin, MSP. Member of Scottish parliament, responding the the November 2010 presentation at parliament of Justice for Megrahi's petition for a new investigation.

I don't know if [Justice For Megrahi] have a point in claiming that Megrahi is innocent. What I do know is that it would be all too easy (and understandable) for Mr Swire to accept Megrahi's guilt and put all of his negativity energy in that direction. But he didn't accept it. He has been outspoken in his condemnation of the conviction and as you can see is campaigning for an enquiry into it. I guess it's important to him that they get the right person but how tempting must it have been to turn a blind eye and blame the man with the conviction? [source]

62 - Marcello Mega. Scottish Journalist. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, signed 10/10 e-petition.

"The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing was forced to abandon his appeal to secure compassionate release on the grounds of his terminal cancer, a justice department whistleblower claims. Three senior sources close to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, who has now exceeded the three months he was expected to live by more than ten months, have confirmed the whistleblower's version of events." [Oct 2010]

63 - Major Joseph Mifsud. Maltese meterological expert, called to testify at Zeist trial, for the defense. Also wrote articles of his own on the case.

"So now it's confirmed. After 19 statements by Tony Gauci, after an identification parade in April 1999 and after taking the witness stand during the Camp Zeist trial this week, he has not positively identified anyone that went to his shop and bought clothes, fragments of which were later found in the fields of Lockerbie months after the Pan Am tragedy.

[...] Then there is the rain factor. The person, who bought the clothes, bought an umbrella because it was raining. On 7th December 1988, when the prosecution is alleging that clothes where both from Mary’s House it did not rain in the afternoon as checks with meteorological office will confirm. The day the defence is suggesting, from weather reports its seems that it was raining in the afternoon." [source]

64 - Hugh Miles. Journalist, son of Oliver Miles.

"The fate of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, however, and the tarnished reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system rest in the hand of the Scottish courts. Megrahi's acquittal, posthumous or otherwise, will undo a heinous wrong and return us to where we were 20 years ago – searching for the truth behind the bombing of Pan Am flight 103." [21 Dec 2008]

65 - Oliver Miles. Former UK ambassador to Libya, member Libya British Business Council.

“The thing that principally worries me at the moment is why did Megrahi abandon his appeal? [...] it wasn’t a pre-condition for the decision to release him on humanitarian grounds. What I would like to know is how he was persuaded to give it up. Did somebody tip him the wink or tip the Libyan authorities the wink that the only way to get back to Libya is to give up the appeal?” [31 August 2009] 

"What is harder to explain is why, by and large, the British families have been ready to entertain the idea that al-Megrahi may not be guilty, while the American families, on the whole, have not." [19 August 2010]

66 - Allan Miller. Head of Scotland's Human Rights commission.

"Professor Alan Miller, the head of the Scottish human rights commission, said there were still significant doubts about the guilt of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi after an independent investigation uncovered new evidence that undermined the conviction. [...] Miller said the row over Megrahi's medical status was an "undignified and unhelpful distraction" from the more important issue of addressing unresolved questions about his guilt." - Guardian, 19 August 2010 [source]

67 - Heather Mills. Journalist with The Firm. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi Campaign.

68 - David Morrison. Brilliant Socialist writer. Penned a damning critique of the Zeist trial in 2000. [source – PDF]

70 - Reverend John Mosey. Father of PA103 victim Helga Mosey.

"Why has a full independent inquiry been consistently refused? Why, after five years, have no real answers been supplied?" - 21 Dec 1993, addressing fifth anniversary memorial in UK, well after the official answers had been provided.
"[the abandonment of Megrahi's appeal is] the worst possible decision for the families because we lose the opportunity to hear evidence that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission thought was worth putting forward [...] We are back where we started 21 years ago, asking for a wide-reaching independent inquiry into all aspects of this disaster." [August 19 2009]

71 - Chris Mullins Former MP, "Birmingham Six campaigner."

"The more interesting issue, upon which almost no one has touched, is whether or not Megrahi had anything to do with Lockerbie. The case against him was wafer-thin and he had an appeal pending which might have resulted in his conviction being quashed."[Jan 2011]

72 - Craig Murray.

"I can affirm that the FCO and MI6 knew that al-Megrahi was not the Lockerbie bomber." [25 September 2009]

73 - Len Murray. Highly distinguished Scottish solicitor [website]. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

"I have had the benefit of reading Professor Black's lengthy submissions and I agree entirely with what he has written. Personally, I could not understand a number of things about the outcome of the case. Let me illustrate what I mean:

1. I could not and still cannot understand how the Court could hold, on the evidence of Gauci, that Megrahi made the purchase of the clothing. Without Gauci's evidence, which at its height was that Megrahi resembled the purchaser, there was no case.
2. Their finding that the purchase was made on 7 December bordered upon the perverse.
3. Their finding about the unaccompanied baggage fell within the same category." [27 October 2010]

74 - Richard Norton-Taylor. Journalist, The Guardian.

"Two days [before the verdict], senior Foreign Office officials briefed a group of journalists in London. They painted a picture of a bright new chapter in Britain's relations with Colonel Gadafy's regime. They made it quite clear they assumed both the Libyans in the dock would be acquitted. 

The FO officials were not alone. Most independent observers believed it was impossible for the court to find the prosecution had proved its case against Megrahi beyond reasonable doubt. It was not only the lack of hard evidence - something the judges admitted in their lengthy judgment. The case was entwined, if the judges were right, in a sequence of remarkable coincidences..." [19 June 2001]

75 - Cardinal Keith O'Brien. Leader of the Catholic church in Scotland.

"Cardinal O’Brien said he wanted to see not only justice for Megrahi but also “justice for all the innocent people who died at that time, and their families and friends who are grieving and wanting to be able to draw a line under that horrible episode in the history of Scotland”. - 27 October 2010, supporting the JFM call for a new inquiry. [source]

74 - Andy Parsons. British comedian.

“[It] was not justice, but more like a high-stakes version of the board game Guess Who?” - October 2010, on the "identification" by Tony Gauci of al Megrahi. [source]

75 - Gareth Peirce. Renowned defense attorney, defended Danny McNamee, convicted by the science of Allen Feraday, who worked on the Lockerbie case. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

“The political furore has been very obviously contrived, since both the British and American governments know perfectly well the history of how and for what reasons [Megrahi] came to be prosecuted.” - October 2010 [source]

76 - Denis Phipps. Former head of security, British Airways. Ran a study of Air Malta's records, found no evidence of a bomb on KM 180. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi Campaign.

“One has to say: are - terrorists - idiots? Don’t terrorists plan to have a reasonable degree of success?" – Maltese Double Cross, 1994, referring to the implausible official Libyan plot to send the bomb from Malta via Frankfurt to London.

77 - John Pilger. Prominent human rights journalist. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi Campaign.

78 - Rosario Priore. Former Italian public prosecutor, famous for handling the Ustica bombing, 1980.

The former investigator said similar bomb detonators like those [suspecte by some of use in] the Lockerbie bomb were found in a [PFLP-GC cell in Germany]. Priore claims the same ‘baro switch’ used to detonate the bomb 30 minutes after an airliner reaches a certain level of atmospheric pressure, was the same used on the Pan Am flight, which detonated 38 minutes after take-off. “Almost a perfect coincidence,” Priore observed... [summation of remarks to Italian news agency, July 2010]

79 - Steven Raeburn. Editor of Scottish law magazine The Firm. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi Campaign.

"...Scotland sadly deserves its shame, disgrace and international condemnation. But certainly not for the reasons offered and repeatedly churned.

The story of the Lockerbie events has been allowed to be drowned out by one version, promoted, if not manufactured, by US intelligence and repeated by our own prosecution service and our government, in denial of later revelation, who maintain even to this day that they "do not doubt the safety of the verdict against Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,” despite it being utterly discredited, in addition to adjudged a possible miscarriage by our Criminal Cases Review Commission." [2 December 2010]

80 - Dr. Theresa Ransford. PhD, OBE, poet. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

81 - Anthony Robson. Scottish solicitor.

"The simple fact of the matter is that the focus seems to have been placed on the release itself, of a man which we hear referred to often as 'a man CONVICTED of a terrible crime', rather than a man who IS guilty. I'm well aware that a small number of you may know the real truth and are clearly therefore quite happy to lie to the general public. … I have no pride in being part of a system that effectively colludes to mask the reality from those who are still grieving." - an e-mail to members of the Scottish Parliament, August 2009.” [source]

82 - James Robertson. Author. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

83 – Kenneth Roy. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

84 - Michael Scharf. Legal counsel to US State Department, 1989-1993 - helped draft proposals for sanction against Libya over Lockerbie.

"The CIA knew along that this guy was a liar, that this guy was just out for money, that they didn't believe half of what he said, if any of what he said, and yet they're presenting him as the star witness in a case that is of such importance? ... it didn't ruin my career, but it's a moment that I'm not proud of." - to Conspiracy Files, 2008, recalling his shock on learning the truth about crucial witness Abdul Majid Giaka.

"Scharf branded the case a “whitewash” and added: “It was a trial where everybody agreed ahead of time that they were just going to focus on these two guys, and they were the fall guys.”" [2006]

85 – John Scott. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

86 - Ariel Sharon. Israeli warrior and prime minister. See "David Frum."

90 - Gerard Sinclair. Commissioner with the SCCRC.

“The Outcome: The Commission referred the applicant’s case to the High Court on 28 June 2007. The reference was based on six grounds mainly relating to evidence which, for one reason or another, was not heard at the trial and which indicated that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.” [source]

90 - Dr. Jim Swire. General Practiocioner, retired. Father of PA103 victim Flora Swire, long-crusading leader of Britsh families' group. Co-Founder and signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign, 10/10 e-petition, presented the petition at parliament, November 9 2010.

"I think if they are really going to have a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid." - October 25 2009, reacting to suggestions of a re-opened police case into Lockerbie. [source]

91 - Sir Teddy Taylor. UK MP 1964-2005. Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

92 - Margaret Thatcher. British Prime Minister at the time of the 103 bombing, the worst terrorist attack in Britain ever and a major event in her tenure.

“December 21 - Lockerbie bombing” - The entire reference to the event in Thatcher’s 914-page memoir The Downing Street Years (1993). “There were revenge killings of British hostages organized by Libya, which I deeply regretted. But the much vaunted Libyan counter-attack did not and could not take place.” - Same book [source]. "We wish to add nothing to the text." Her regal response when asked, by a British PA103 relatives' group, about the book’s silence. [Source] "'Because I didn't know what happened and I don't write about things that I don't know about." - Response when asked by Tam Dalyell the same question. [Source] (in reference, see above, Jack Anderson)

93 – Jock Thompson QC. Signed 10/10 e-petition.

94 - James Trafficant. U.S. Representative through 2002.

"Mr. Speaker, the star witness in the Pan Am 103 trial turns out to be a paid CIA informant who lied through his teeth. Reports say his testimony was so phoney his nose is still growing. [...] if these two Libyans were responsible for blowing up Pan Am 103, they [would] have already choked on a chicken bone in a jail cell of Qadhafi's." [Oct. 2000]

95 - Archbishop Desmond Tutu. South African human rights crusader, Nobel Peace Prize winner. Signatory, Justice for Megrahi campaign.

96 - Vivienne Walt. Writer for Time magazine.