Foulkes urges reopening of Lockerbie Bomber Enquiry
Fri 23rd Jul 2010
George Foulkes MSP has urged that the enquiry into the release of the Lockerbie bomber be reopened. In light of the increasing speculation, on both sides of the Atlantic, that BP was involved in the decision to release Al-Megrahi, George Foulkes believes it is essential that there is a thorough re-examination of the detail surrounding his release. In his letter to Bill Aitken, Convener of the Justice Committee, he asserted ‘an inquiry is necessary due to the ill-informed speculation in the London media and US Congress’.
The Lothians MSP has persistently asked the Scottish Government and the local authority responsible for Mr Al-Megrahi’s supervision, to release information that is crucial to the case. Repeatedly, however, these requests have been refused. As far back as January 2010 George Foulkes asked the Scottish Executive whether it would make public all medical reports submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on Mr Al Megrahi, prior to the decision to release him. As is typical of this administration, George Foulkes was not given a direct answer to his question.
Time and again Kenny MacAskill has stated that the decision to release Al-Megrahi was based on compassionate grounds and that the decision was his alone. However, over a year has passed since the medical examination on which Al-Megrahi’s release was granted; medical experts who conducted the examination originally concluded that he had just three months to live. Accordingly the Lothians MSP wrote ‘Mr Al-Megrahi is unique as the only such compassionate release prisoner who has lived so long’. George Foulkes has asked, Bill Aitken, the Convener of the Justice Committee, to consider how the medical evidence on which the release was based could be made public.
George Foulkes’s letter to the Convener of the Justice Committee came in the week in which David Cameron made his first official visit to the US and as a group of US Senators called for a probe into the Lockerbie bombers release. However, Mr Cameron has asserted that responsibility lies with the Scottish Government.
Calls for a separate inquiry into the release of the Lockerbie bomber have been renewed by families of some of the 270 people that were killed in the atrocity. George Foulkes believes that a further enquiry is necessary not only to show compassion to the bereaved relatives who feel angry and betrayed but also demonstrate to them, that their elected representatives respect them and take their position seriously.
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