Dr Jim Swire has hit out at the intrusion of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office into the administration of the Scottish Courts' handling of the Megrahi appeal, the procedural aspects of which are presently going through the High Court.

"Justice cannot be seen to be being done among the dirty underwear of the F&CO, which can by no means be considered an objective and impartial intruder," he says,

"The outcome of the Zeist trial was far too politically convenient, and the evidence offered far too suspect for that to be accepted."

Dr Swire was responding to remarks reported from Dr Hans Kochler, the UN observer to the Lockerbie proceedings, who had been in Scotland last week, and issued a joint accord with Professor Robert Black at the invitation of the Lockerbie Justice Group. 

"It is worth remembering that Prof Koechler not only submitted reports on the trial to the UN but was also an official observer appointed by the then Secretary General, Kofi Anan. The UN therefore has a duty to respond to the points he is now making," says Swire. 

"If it is true, as the Foreign Office (F&CO) alleges, that the High Court judges have already decided that a 'special defender' should be appointed this would be a baleful precedent in scottish law. The acceptance of a Westminster-appointed and paid adjudicator, to dictate what parts of a document, already known in full to the prosecution, should now be allowed to be seen by the defence, hardly seems in line with the expressed independence of the Scottish legal system. Nor does it support 'equality of arms' - a supposedly basic tenet of any system claiming to dispense justice."

"Intrusion of a politically originated 'Pubic Interest Immunity Certificate' in this way would be universally condemned outside that system as compromising its fairness."

"Justice cannot be seen to be being done among the dirty underwear of the F&CO, which can by no means be considered an objective and impartial intruder. The outcome of the Zeist trial was far too politically convenient, and the evidence offered far too suspect for that to be accepted."

"We would do well to rise up against any attempt by the political elite to interefere in a criminal justice system. The public must have confidence that such a system can offer them protection when justified, even against the actions of their own government."

"As Prof Koechler says, if their Lordships have made this decision, then an inquiry within Scotland and also by the United Nations internationally must be set up."

"The suspicion that political aims have interfered with this case is not of course limited to the current question over this document and the PII certificate, it pervades many aspects of the Zeist trial itself and the first appeal held there, not least the presence of FBI/CIA operatives within the prosecution bench, as mentioned by Prof Koechler."