The release of Al Megrahi had more to do with economic expedience than with the truth. HARRY VASSALLO on a miscarriage of justice that has been consigned to history
Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi is regarded as a national hero in Libya – not because he brought down Pam Am 103, killing 270 people in Lockerbie and in the skies above it; but for the very opposite reason... because he did not commit the atrocity. From that perspective, his submission to Scottish justice at the Zeist trial becomes a sacrifice for his nation in order to end the UN embargo on Libya. His incarceration for a decade following what is regarded by many as a massive miscarriage of justice raises him to dizzying heights in the esteem of Libyans; while his return, suffering from terminal cancer, adds pathos to the whole affair.
Having acquiesced to the trial, Gaddafi’s Libya became committed to the payment of compensation to the victims’ families once the outcome was of conviction. It was not the judgment that had brought this about, but the submission to trial. At that point it was clear that Libya had held its breath long enough dealing with the economic costs of the UN embargo, and finally relented.
From the bombing in December 1988, it took three years to point a finger at Libya and four before the UN could be persuaded to put pressure on the accused country. It took a further six years before a compromise location for the trial could be found. A trial in Libya would not have satisfied the US and the UK, which refused to provide the evidence available to them; and a trial by jury in Scotland would not have provided sufficient guarantees of a fair trial.
The Netherlands solved the issue by temporarily handing sovereignty over its territory at Camp Zeist for the trial to held there, under Scottish law, by three judges without jury.
At that point an end to Libya’s lone stand was discernible; the embargo would come to an end in one way or another.
Once Al Megrahi was convicted (although charges against co-accused Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah were not proven, and he was released) Libya could not reject the judgment without facing an indefinite extension of the embargo; it would have to pay compensation to bring matters to their conclusion, no matter how unsatisfactory it happened to be.
Al Megrahi also lost a first appeal thus reconfirming his guilt in the minds of millions who had not had the benefit of weighing the evidence brought before the court. The outrage expressed at his release last week only underscores the fact that such a truth is hard to dismiss once it has been acquired.
The bitter irony is that it took the world’s worst terrorist attack to set in motion the process leading to Al Megrahi’s release. From Rogue State and State Sponsor of Terrorism, Libya sprung to excellent diplomatic relations with the United States following a declaration by Secretary of State Condolezza Rice in 2006. The reason given was the consistent contribution by Libya to the fight against Al Qaeda since the bombing of the World Trade Centre on 9/11. Militant Islam had always been a common enemy: 9/11 caused that fact to be acknowledged by both sides and a de facto alliance was formed.
The global financial crisis and the global recession that ensued have allowed Libya leverage with which to address the imprisonment of Al Megrahi, still outrageously unjust in Libyan eyes and now rendered critical by his imminent death because of cancer. It was as much in the interest of the Libyan leadership as in that of the UK Government to ensure his return to Libya before his death created a permanent and irreversible cause of resentment.
The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all governments (despite the official statements objecting to the welcome granted to Al Megrahi in Tripoli) making it extremely difficult for the truth ever to become anything other than that established in a very questionable conviction. The victims’ families – both those who feel cheated by Al Megrahi’s transfer to Libya and those who feel cheated by the judgment – are in the process of becoming victims of their countries’ economic interests.
Nobody can ever restore to Al Megrahi the freedom he has forfeited since 5 April 2001. He will not live long enough ever to clear his name let alone to receive compensation for the consequences of what appears to be the most highly publicised miscarriage of justice in history.
Lockerbie: The Malta connection
Malta and Libya’s fates were intertwined at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in 2000, where two LIbyan suspects – Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah and Abdelbaset al Megrahi – were charged with planting a bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, killing 270 people in and above the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
The prosecution’s thesis rested on the claim that fragments of clothing recovered from the wreckage had been bought from a clothes shop in Sliema, and that the owner Tony Gauci had positively identified Megrahi – a Libyan Arab Airlines official – as the customer. According to the prosecution, the two suspects had loaded the bomb onto Pan AM 103 at the Luqa airport.
Fhimah was eventually acquitted, while Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2001 – only to be released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds last week, to resounding international opprobrium.
Despite the controversy, Megrahi’s release formally ends two decades of notoriety for Colonel Muammar Al Gaddafi’s Libya, now befriended by Western governments keen on securing lucrative contracts with the oil rich nation.
Malta’s international reputation, however, remains to be formally cleared.
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From that perspective, his submission to Scottish justice at the Zeist trial becomes a sacrifice for his nation in order to end the UN embargo on Libya. His incarceration for a decade following what is regarded by many as a massive miscarriage of justice raises him to dizzying heights in the esteem of Libyans; while his return, suffering from terminal cancer, adds pathos to the whole affair.
