In a damning indictment of the failure of the criminal Justice system, Robert Forrester, secretary of the Justice for Megrahi Committee lays bare the intent of a "rampant" Crown Office and a Government that is determined to prevent the most serious miscarriage of justice in Socts history being heard.


Whereas the former Labour administrations at Holyrood could be said to have been tainted by their links to HMG in Westminster, the SNP, under First Minister Alex Salmond, came to office in 2007 with clean hands on the Lockerbie/Zeist affair. Quite unaccountably however, it is now impossible to differentiate between the SNP’s conduct on this matter and that expected from parties that might be viewed as more likely to act at the behest of Westminster’s wishes than in the interests of the reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system. Their record shows the following:

·-On taking up the reins of power in 2007, the SNP government maintained the Labour appointed, Crown Office, career civil servant Elish Angiolini as Lord Advocate.

- Within a month of the SNP coming to office, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) released its Statement of Reasons, including its six grounds for appeal. At the end of their term, the Scottish Government had still not published this document, which had taken three years to produce and cost the tax payer in excess of £1,000,000.

- In 2009, the Scottish Government introduced secondary legislation in the form of a statutory instrument handing power to the suppliers of evidence given to the SCCRC, when drawing up the Statement of Reasons, to block publication of the document without the supplier’s consent.

- Following a flurry of activity in August 2009 during which Mr al-Megrahi was met separately by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Kenny MacAskill, and representatives of the Libyan government, the prisoner dropped his second appeal, when under no legal obligation to do so under the terms of compassionate release, and was duly repatriated. Question marks still persist over what may have transpired at these meetings in HM Prison Greenock, or on other occasions, that could have led to the dropping of what was promising to be a most revealing appeal.

- In 2010, the Scottish Government rushed the Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detentions and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010 through parliament as emergency legislation. Not only was there no emergency but section 7 of the new act, which places significant obstacles before anyone wishing to apply to the SCCRC and, if successful there, to appeal to the High Court in the interests of justice, was unnecessarily and inexplicably included.

- For over a year following Mr al-Megrahi’s release, the Scottish Government maintained that it lacked the power to open an inquiry into the Lockerbie/Zeist case. It finally admitted that it had had the power to do so all along after being backed into a corner by Justice for Megrahi (JFM). No apology for this has ever been forthcoming, either to JFM or to the Scottish people.

- Prior to seeking election for a second term, the SNP government promised to introduce primary legislation in order to facilitate the publication of the SCCRC’s Statement of Reasons. Not only is primary legislation not required to release the document for publication, the process involved would be extremely time consuming. All that is necessary is that the consent requirement in the present statutory instrument, introduced by the same SNP government in 2009, be removed by an amending statutory instrument. This, by contrast, could involve a process lasting little more than a month to complete.

- Throughout the SNP’s first term in office, and still in force, HMG has held Public Interest Immunity Certificates over two of the SCCRC’s six grounds for appeal. This deny the tax payers, who footed the bill for the document, access to the Statement of Reasons, and additionally, not once has the SNP government protested at this interference by HMG in the power devolved to Holyrood over Scots Law. In fact, the SNP government has positively supported it through the consent arrangement.

These points demonstrate serial intent by the SNP Scottish Government in what is the most high profile and sensitive case to ever have come before the High Court of Justiciary. Intent to stop at nothing to prevent a case, which has still today not been fully argued in a court of law in the interest of justice, from being heard. Moreover, it demonstrates that the Crown Office is rampant and is manipulating the government as if it were a marionette. This is an extremely unhealthy state of affairs both from a political and a legal standpoint.

And, the appointment of the new Lord Advocate? Is this another sign of implicit intent? It would, of course, be unfair to criticise the new Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland, before he has properly established his feet under the desk. However, one can be forgiven for thinking that for Mr Salmond to appoint someone who seems ostensibly to hail from the same Crown Office, career civil servant background as Elish Angiolini did indicates that we are very likely in for another four years of business as usual. Another four years of delaying tactics, obfuscation, economies with the truth and hurriedly erected barricades, all in the interest of defending the Crown’s reputation and to Hell with justice! Why? By appointing Lord Advocates whose experience is largely based upon life within the civil service structure of the Crown Office in preference to those who have worked their way up through the ranks in legal practice, it is hardly surprising if the preservation of the Crown’s image might take priority over concerns about propriety in the dispensation of justice – as the conflict between Zeist doubters and Elish Angiolini appears to attest.

And, what of pledges? Given the past record and the current circumstances, any likelihood of seeing the SCCRC’s Statement of Reasons being published in its complete and unexpurgated form any time soon is looking pretty forlorn. Doubtless the smart money is now on a bill for unnecessary primary legislation dealing with this matter being tabled before parliament at the tail end of the SNP’s new term in office, when it won’t overly perturb the government if it is voted down. Moreover, it is not a foregone conclusion that it will even pass in a form that would satisfy justice campaigners. Let’s also face it that, irrespective of the serious implications that the case has for the Crown, several governments, the Scottish criminal justice system and etc, a ten year old conviction relating to an incident that took place almost a quarter of a century ago, likely does not inspire the same sense of urgency in some parliamentarians as other matters on the new government’s agenda for the coming session. However, as with the appointment of the new Lord Advocate, it is simply a matter of wait and see for the moment.

The campaign to have this case reinvestigated is not an obscure and exotic quest being conducted by some lunatic fringe group, it has the support of a multitude of eminent individuals from a wide range of backgrounds, not least from members of the legal profession, and if that were not enough, even bereaved families of 103’s victims are deeply concerned that something is seriously awry with the Zeist conviction of Mr al-Megrahi. Surely they of all people have the right to know whether or not they have been sold a pup. It is a downright scandal that the Scottish Government, particularly an SNP one, should be willing to sacrifice the name of the Scottish criminal justice system in this manner. There are no more excuses left, the arguments have run out, and the more the Crown and the government dig in, the more overpowering becomes the stench hanging over Edinburgh. The only ammunition remaining in the magazine is the word “No”. And, all that firing salvoes of “No” off from Chambers Street and Bute House achieves is: to allow US senators to make public spectacles of themselves by complaining about Mr al-Megrahi’s compassionate release whilst completely ignoring the issue of whether he should have been convicted in the first instance; to leave the bereaved who cannot bring themselves to credit that the Zeist court might have presided over a miscarriage of justice, because they have invested so much of their psyches in the conviction, not knowing which way to turn; to make those who doubt the safety of the Zeist judgement, including many bereaved, feel ever more confident that they have been duped; to inspire conspiracy theorists with the best thing going since the Kennedy assassination; to shred the reputation of the Scottish criminal justice system; and to leave Mr al-Megrahi facing the prospect of never being able to clear his name in his lifetime. Furthermore, this is not simply about one case, no matter how high profile, the implications of it have profound ramifications for the dispensation of criminal justice across the board in Scotland.

With a newly emboldened post election SNP, never has the prospect of attaining the party’s dream of independence been so close to becoming a reality. This makes the government’s unswerving defence of the Crown and its parroting of all that emanates from Chambers Street on this affair all the more mystifying. Why is a party whose very raison d'être is to break the ties with the Union seemingly playing second fiddle to the most powerful symbol of that union on such a fundamental, devolved issue as the law in Scotland? It makes no sense. It is one thing to have faith in the probity and expertise of those representing the independent powers of state, it is quite another to defend them whilst wearing a blindfold. There is precedent for inquiries into judicial decisions made under Scots Law and the government admits it has the power to initiate an inquiry, what, therefore, is the problem? This is a Scottish problem, it requires to be addressed by Scotland, only the government can do this, it is time for them to show some mettle and moral fibre and to govern in the name of the people.

A nation’s law and how it is administered describes a portrait of its people’s identity. The picture that might be revealed when the attic door labelled ‘The Lockerbie/Zeist Case’ is finally unlocked certainly leaves much to the imagination.


Robert Forrester (Secretary, Justice for Megrahi) on behalf of the Committee of Justice for Megrahi.

Image Credits: Murdo Macleaod,Copyright The Guardian/The Independent