Compassionate grounds

[Gringo]

So who coughed up the blood money then?

E Guinea grants pardon for Mann

Former British soldier Simon Mann, sentenced to 34 years for a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, has been pardoned, the government has said.

An adviser to the president, Miguel Mifuno, told BBC News Mr Mann had to leave the country within 24 hours.

The Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of Mann's proposed release and was seeking to clarify the situation.

Mann, who was sentenced in July 2008, admitted conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema during his trial.

Mr Mifuno said Mr Mann had been released on humanitarian grounds related to his health.

[LondonLax]

Is that Megrahi dead yet? Seems like he probably should be seeing as he "only had 3 months to live" back at the start of August.

[tonyh29]

So who coughed up the blood money then?

E Guinea grants pardon for Mann

Former British soldier Simon Mann, sentenced to 34 years for a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, has been pardoned, the government has said.

An adviser to the president, Miguel Mifuno, told BBC News Mr Mann had to leave the country within 24 hours.

The Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of Mann's proposed release and was seeking to clarify the situation.

Mann, who was sentenced in July 2008, admitted conspiring to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema during his trial.

Mr Mifuno said Mr Mann had been released on humanitarian grounds related to his health.

should be interesting to finally find out who was behind it all

[BOF]

Loving the poll options and how they encompass all possible opinions

[tonyh29]

I tried to think of how VT posters would want to vote when creating my poll , though I forgot the "depends if the story is true or not option " :winkold:

[BOF]

Ahemm yes thanks Mr H

[Awol]

Is that Megrahi dead yet? Seems like he probably should be seeing as he "only had 3 months to live" back at the start of August.

Yes, last week I think it was.

[villal]

Is that Megrahi dead yet? Seems like he probably should be seeing as he "only had 3 months to live" back at the start of August.

Yes, last week I think it was.

Nope

Revealed: Lockerbie bomber defies doctors' prediction of death

The health of the Lockerbie bomber has "not deteriorated" since his release from prison three months ago – despite doctors' assessments that he would have died by now, a senior source has told The Sunday Telegraph.

The disclosure will reignite the row over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds despite his conviction for the murder of 270 people when Pan Am flight 103 exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie in 1988.

Megrahi, who is suffering terminal prostate cancer, was sent home to Libya to die after medical experts concluded in a report on July 30 he had just three months left to live. The time span was crucial because only prisoners with three months or less to survive are eligible for release on compassionate grounds

full article here

[thetrees]

My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer several years ago, with the updated 'terminal' diagnosis earlier this year which estimated between 3 and 24 months life expectancy, so it appears to me that they cannot be as precise as they were with Al Megrahi

My Dad is 6 months into it, with no sign of decline yet, and he's 84!

[Gringo]

More lies unravelling

An investigation by BBC's Newsnight has cast doubts on the key piece of evidence which convicted the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.

Tests aimed at reproducing the blast appear to undermine the case's central forensic link, based on a tiny fragment identified as part of a bomb timer.

The tests suggest the fragment, which linked the attack to Megrahi, would not have survived the mid-air explosion.

....

Newsnight has been reviewing that evidence, and has exposed serious doubts about the forensics used to identify the fragment as being part of a trigger circuit board.

The fragment was found three weeks after the attack. For months it remained unnoticed and unremarked, but eventually it was to shape the entire investigation.

Malta link

The fragment was embedded in a charred piece of clothing, which was marked with a label saying it was made in Malta.

So the focus turned to Malta and the question of who had bought the clothes.

A shopkeeper on the island identified Megrahi, but this came only years later after he saw him pictured in a magazine as a Lockerbie suspect.

Newsnight has discovered that the fragment - crucial to the conviction - was never subjected to chemical analysis or swabbing to establish whether it had in fact been involved in any explosion.

And the UN's European consultant on explosives, John Wyatt, has told Newsnight that there are further doubts over the whether the fragment could have come from the trigger of the Lockerbie bomb.

He has recreated the suitcase bomb which it is said destroyed Pan Am 103, using the type of radio in which the explosive and the timer circuit board were supposedly placed, and the same kind of clothes on which the fragment was found.

In each test the timer and its circuit board were obliterated, prompting Mr Wyatt to question whether such a fragment could have survived the mid-air explosion.

He told Newsnight: "I do find it quite it extraordinary and I think highly improbable and most unlikely that you would find a fragment like that - it is unbelievable.

"We carried out 20 tests, we didn't carry out 100 or 1,000, but in those 20 tests we found absolutely nothing at all - so I found it highly improbable that you would find anything like that, particularly at 10,000 feet when bits are dropping into long wet grass over hundreds of miles.

[tonyh29]

wonder how this will pan out ?

turns out that BP were invited to bid for a contract to drill for oil of the coast of Libya .. all BP had to do was lobby the government to get Megrahi's release

and turns out a proviso for Libya then granting BP the contract was Megrahi's release

so The Scottish Executive clearly lied when it said compassionate grounds was the ONLY factor in his release

and news reports at the weekend were that Megrahi had made a miracle recovery and was expected to live for another 10 years despite it being a matter of weeks at the time of his release ...

still £20 Bn of oil reserves should make it alright ...............

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

i waz compassionate on yo mamas grounds boiiiiiiiii

[soprano]

wonder how this will pan out ?

turns out that BP were invited to bid for a contract to drill for oil of the coast of Libya .. all BP had to do was lobby the government to get Megrahi's release

and turns out a proviso for Libya then granting BP the contract was Megrahi's release

so The Scottish Executive clearly lied when it said compassionate grounds was the ONLY factor in his release

and news reports at the weekend were that Megrahi had made a miracle recovery and was expected to live for another 10 years despite it being a matter of weeks at the time of his release ...

still £20 Bn of oil reserves should make it alright ...............

I doubt anyone will be suprised by this. We will never know the whole truth as in most cases as we are all too insignificant. We are the proverbial mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on shit)

[GarethRDR]

Laws are there for a reason. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

[Awol]

wonder how this will pan out ?

Well it turns out that Brown, Straw and Miliband were lying through their back teeth to Parliament, the public and our allies.

Colour me shocked

WikiLeaks: Britain secretly advised Libya how to secure release of Lockerbie bomber

Ministers secretly advised Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime how to secure the successful early release of the Lockerbie bomber, documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph have disclosed.

A Foreign Office minister sent Libyan officials detailed legal advice on how to use Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s cancer diagnosis to ensure he was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds.

The Duke of York is also said to have played a behind-the-scenes role in encouraging the terrorist’s release.

The Libyans closely followed the advice which led to the controversial release of Megrahi – who was convicted of the murder of 270 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 – within months of the Foreign Office’s secret intervention.

The disclosure seriously undermines British Government claims that is was not complicit in the release of al-Megrahi, and that the decision to free the convicted terrorist was taken by the Scottish Executive alone.

It will also lead to renewed pressure from senior American politicians on David Cameron to release all internal documents detailing Britain’s role in the scandal. Last summer, the Prime Minister pledged to release the relevant information – but the publication has yet to occur sparking fears that a cover-up may have been ordered.

The Daily Telegraph today publishes more than 480 American documents detailing international relations with the Libyan regime over the past three years.

The documents – obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to this newspaper – provide the first comprehensive picture of the often desperate steps taken by western Governments to court the Libyan regime in the competition for valuable trade and oil contracts.

Any perceived political slight on the part of the Libyans often leads to western companies losing lucrative contracts with Gaddafi’s erratic behaviour a major problem in maintaining good relations.

Last year, the British Ambassador is recorded as telling his American counterparts in Tripoli that he had to negotiate with the Libyans “on their terms” and should “not be frightened by the name Gaddafi”.

The documents disclose in detail how British ministers and officials were desperate not to allow Libyan anger over the ongoing imprisonment of Megrahi to derail the growing commercial relationship between the two countries.

Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, was imprisoned in 2001 for life after being found guilty of bombing Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

For several years, the Libyans pressed for the terrorist to be returned to the north African country under a prisoner transfer agreement that was being negotiated.

According to American officials, Tony Blair was suspected of securing trade deals after agreeing to include Megrahi in the agreement.

However, Megrahi was imprisoned in Scotland – where the offence occurred – and any decision on his release was for the Scottish authorities although Westminster drew up the relevant legislation.

In October 2008 – as negotiations on the prisoner transfer agreement were ongoing –Megrahi was diagnosed as suffering from cancer.

It can now be disclosed that within a week of the diagnosis, Bill Rammell, a junior Foreign Office minister, had written to his Libyan counterpart advising him on how this could be used as the grounds of securing al-Megrahi’s compassionate release from prison.

Rob Dixon, a senior Foreign Office official, met with the American Ambassador to brief him on the letter. An official American memo on the meeting states: “FCO Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell sent Libyan Deputy FM Abdulati al-Obeidi a letter, which was cleared both by HMG and by the Scottish Executive, on October 17 outlining the procedure for obtaining compassionate release.

“It cites Section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act of 1993 as the basis for release of prisoners, on license, on compassionate grounds. Although the Scottish Crown informed the families of the Pan Am 103 victims in an email October 21 that the time frame for compassionate release is normally three months from time of death, Dixon stressed to us that the three month time frame is not codified in the law.”

Mr Dixon went on to disclose to the Americans that Jack Straw, the then Justice Secretary, had also spoken to Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister about the case which had led Government officials to believe that the terrorist would be released.

The minute of the meeting with the Americans records: “Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told Jack Straw that he will make the final decision in this case. Salmond told Straw that he would make the decision based on humanitarian grounds, not foreign policy grounds; Dixon told us HMG has interpreted this to mean that Salmond is inclined to grant the request.”

Following the meeting, the American Ambassador reported back to his superiors in Washington said that the release of al-Megrahi could “occur sooner rather than later” and that Whitehall officials were handling sensitive negotiations with the Libyans on the issue.

Later documents also disclose that the Qatari government, one of the richest in the world, also became involved in the effort to secure al-Megrahi’s release. The Americans thought that the Qataris may have offered financial incentives to the Scottish Government. The Libyans are also recorded to have offered a “parade of treats” to the Scottish government.

A senior Qatari minister visited Scotland to discuss the case.

The documents reveal a meeting between the American Ambassador in Doha and the Qatari government. “At an October 28 meeting with MFA Minister of State for International Cooperation Khalid Al-Attiyah, Ambassador raised strong USG concerns about Qatar’s role in the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasit Al-Magrahi,” the record of the meeting states. “ Al-Attiyah said that Qatar became involved because Qatar, as 2009 President of the Arab League, had been asked by the Arab League to do so.

“Ambassador pressed the issue of whether Qatar had offered any financial or trade incentives to induce Al-Megrahi’s release. Al-Attiyah strongly dismissed such speculation, saying 'That is ridiculous; It was not necessary to offer money. It was all done within Scottish law. We offered no money, investment, or payment of any kind’.”

After Megrahi was released in August 2009, another American document records Gaddafi’s comments – which suggest that Prince Andrew, the UK’s trade envoy, may have played a role.

The document records: “He [Gaddafi] went on to thank his 'friend Brown’, the British Prime Minister, his government, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Andrew, who 'against all odds encouraged this brave decision’. [Gaddafi] noted that the UK efforts would positively affect 'exchange’ between the two countries.

When al-Megrahi was finally released, it also emerged that Gordon Brown instructed the British ambassador to hand deliver a note to Gaddafi. The letter was ostensibly to ask the Libyan leader not to lionise the released terrorist but the delivery of the letter also presented British officials with the opportunity for a rare private meeting with Gaddafi. The leader usually only sees very senior foreign politicians and dignitaries.

The disclosure of the secret Foreign Office advice to the Libyans is set to spark renewed calls for the British government to appear before the US Senate to justify its role in the bomber’s release.

In September 2009, it emerged that Mr Rammell had told the Libyans that neither the Foreign Secretary or the Prime Minister wanted to see al-Megrahi die in prison. However, government ministers strenuously denied that they had become involved in the release.

David Miliband, the then Foreign Secretary, said that there had been “no double dealing”.

Cameron should publish everything and let us draw our own conclusions about 'Mr Moral Compass' and his band of fatherless words removed.

[bickster]

This is the Lockerby bomber that in all probability wasn't the Lockerby bomber at all, meh. Its just the usual smoke and mirrors of international politics. This bunch would do exactly the same. It was all a con trick to please the victims anyway.

[Awol]

This is the Lockerby bomber that in all probability wasn't the Lockerby bomber at all, meh.

Agreed that is seemingly wasn't him, the trail allegedly leads back to Iran.

Its just the usual smoke and mirrors of international politics. This bunch would do exactly the same.

If we're just going to accept the PM telling bare faced lies to Parliament because 'they'd all do the same' then we are pretty much screwed as a society and will get the government we deserve. Then again Blair was re-elected after the Iraq fairy story so maybe you're right and peoples' response is simply "meh".

I'll mention it to Ian next time he's going into one about government lies.

It was all a con trick to please the victims anyway.

Not really sure this "pleased" them at all to be honest?

[tonyh29]

This is the Lockerby bomber that in all probability wasn't the Lockerby bomber at all, meh

trouble is there has been so much disinformation on Lockerbie I doubt the truth will ever be known but Megrahi wasn't released because he was innocent he was released to secure oil contracts and that is something that ought to be investigated

[Gringo]

He was released because he was willing to drop the appeal, to stop the truth coming out.

[Jon]

he was released becuase his name was too long to write down each time an appeal came about.