Lockerbie revisited
I cannot see any reference in the English language media to this bombshell in Le Figaro, so here is a minor filetting of the article:
Swiss engineer Ulrich Lumpert has admitted lying in his testimony made to the court in the trial of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, currently in the Glasgow big house for involvement in the bomb that detonated on PanAm 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. He has added a claim that he stole a timer from his employer, Swiss company Mebo and to have then given it a Scottish police officer involved in the investigation. Translating directly from Le Figaro, "This assertion accredits a thesis maintained by many people - journalists, lawyers and even parents of victims: there had been a "manipulation" in the investigation to incriminate Libya, whereas the first suspicions pointed out to a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction".
Mebo had sold timers to Libya in the past, but has always maintained that the timer in question had not been sold by it to the Libyans.
I recall there being much shaking of heads over the suspicion of Syrian involvement being ruled out at the time - when they were seen as being on our side during Gulf War I - and without claiming to have studied the whole affair to any great depth felt that something was not entirely right in the apparently over-neat fingering of Libya to the exclusion of Damascus and its various cat's paws.
Meanwhile, al-Megrahi was granted leave to appeal in June, although that was prior to this business with the timer....
Swiss engineer Ulrich Lumpert has admitted lying in his testimony made to the court in the trial of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, currently in the Glasgow big house for involvement in the bomb that detonated on PanAm 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. He has added a claim that he stole a timer from his employer, Swiss company Mebo and to have then given it a Scottish police officer involved in the investigation. Translating directly from Le Figaro, "This assertion accredits a thesis maintained by many people - journalists, lawyers and even parents of victims: there had been a "manipulation" in the investigation to incriminate Libya, whereas the first suspicions pointed out to a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction".
Mebo had sold timers to Libya in the past, but has always maintained that the timer in question had not been sold by it to the Libyans.
I recall there being much shaking of heads over the suspicion of Syrian involvement being ruled out at the time - when they were seen as being on our side during Gulf War I - and without claiming to have studied the whole affair to any great depth felt that something was not entirely right in the apparently over-neat fingering of Libya to the exclusion of Damascus and its various cat's paws.
Meanwhile, al-Megrahi was granted leave to appeal in June, although that was prior to this business with the timer....
Labels: Law and order, Libya, war on terror
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on Monday, August 27, 2007 at 12:41 pm.
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This is still a mess, and it's no comfort to the relatives of those murdered in the Lockerbie bombing that they can't be sure the perpetrators have been brought to justice. Can the government please sort this out, once and for all.
That's interesting, and remarkable that there's been no coverage in Anglophone media, if that's true.
There have always been mutterings that the Libyans were "fitted up" over the case. Al-Megrahi may yet walk free.
A propos my last comment, imagine my surprise at finding this story in a copy of the Scottish Sun, of all things, that I picked up and read on the bus home this evening.
It doesn't appear to be online, though.
Mr E - Ah well. Still, nice to have been able to take the story to a smaller audience.
As you say a little too neat, especially when one rembers that a US warship 'accidentally' shot down an Iranian airliner not long before,
Just checked my dates, the Vincennes shot down the airliner on 03/07/1988
Iran has reacted with outrage, accusing the United States of a "barbaric massacre" and vowed to "avenge the blood of our martyrs".
President Reagan said the Vincennes had taken "a proper defensive action" and called the incident an "understandable accident", although he said he regretted the loss of life.
Lockerbie happened on the 21/12/1988
Real politik I think has clouded the truth.
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