"I am desperate for the truth of the matter to come out..."

A few days ago, I drew your attention to the fact that Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee have decided to sustain the parliament's examination for the Justice for Megrahi public petition, by forwarding it to their colleagues in Holyrood's Justice Committee. The petition calls...

"...on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to open an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988."

I have only now been able to get sight of the official report of the Petitions Committee meeting on the 28th of June, in the course of which they came to this decision. Their discussion was brief and consensually adopted. Many members are new faces from the Nationalist benches. While the trenchant and unstinting Aberdonian, Kevin Smith, couldn't remember whether or not he'd signed the petition himself - clearly has an eye for detail, wur Kevin - it was a fellow Nationalist member, Bill Walker (above, right), who most vehemently contended for the parliament's continued examination of the circumstances surrounding the calamity over Lockerbie and the character of the criminal investigation and proceedings which followed..

Justice for Megrahi (PE1370)

The Convener (David Stewart) (Labour): PE1370 is on justice for Megrahi. I refer members to the clerks' paper and invite comments from the committee.

Nanette Milne (Tory): I find this to be a difficult petition to deal with. There is an option to get an update from the Scottish Government on its plans for legislation regarding the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Beyond that, however, I think that the committee has gone as far as it can with the petition. I know that I have been a bit reluctant to refer petitions to subject committees, but this is clearly one to refer to the Justice Committee.

Sandra White (SNP): It is an extremely important petition on a subject that people have various views on. It could be controversial, but I think that it is an honest petition that is seeking the truth. I was not a member of the previous session's committee, which deliberated on the petition. Would it be sufficient for the Public Petitions Committee to ask the Scottish Government to open an inquiry, or would it be better to send the petition to the Justice Committee with the recommendation that the Government pursue an inquiry? My problem is that I do not want it to get hidden in the Justice Committee stuff and not come back out again.

Kevin Stewart (SNP): I agree that the petition should go to the Justice Committee. As a new member of Parliament, I should probably declare an interest in that I may have signed the petition—I am not quite sure. If I did not, I probably did not see it, otherwise I would have signed it. It is a matter for the Justice Committee and we should allow that committee to have a clear look at it.

The Convener: I should have mentioned that Jim Swire and Robert Forrester are present. I thank them for the comprehensive work that they have done on the petition and for referring us to the interview with Gareth Peirce, "The Quiet Storm", which made fascinating reading.

Bill Walker (SNP): I am desperate for the truth of the matter to come out. It is fundamental that the truth come out, and we should do everything that we can to help it to come out. I agree with Kevin Stewart that the petition should go to the Justice Committee, although I was a bit concerned when Sandra White said that it might get buried in that committee's paperwork. The terrible events happened a long time ago so we must get to the truth sooner rather than later. Let us not let the Justice Committee bury it.

The Convener: I cannot make any predictions about other committees, but given Christine Grahame's interest in the matter, I would be extremely surprised if the petition did not have a high profile in the Justice Committee.

John Wilson (SNP): You said it, convener. The interest of the new convener of the Justice Committee in the matter will do the petition justice and ensure that the issues that have been raised are examined. The previous Public Petitions Committee tried to deal with the petition although it came to the committee late in the previous session. However, the responses that we have received and the further evidence that has been submitted by the petitioners indicate that the matter is for the Justice Committee to consider. The petition raises a number of concerns about who takes responsibility for what decisions in relation to the process of appeals within the Scottish criminal justice system, so I would be happy to see it passed on to the Justice Committee.

The Convener: If no member wishes to make any further comment, we will move on. It is agreed that we will refer the petition to the Justice Committee under rule 15.6.2?

Members indicated agreement.

Source.

Lockerbie case in Holyrood...

There is one fascinating passage which I neglected to mention in my Sunday review of David Torrance's biography of Alex Salmond, Against the Odds. It is particularly worth highlighting today, as the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee sits this afternoon to consider the Justice for Megrahi petition, which calls:

"...on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to open an independent inquiry into the 2001 Kamp van Zeist conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988."

The petition received 1646 signatures - including mine - and will be spoken to today by Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora perished in the tragedy; Robert Black QC, who many of you will undoubtedly have encountered on his Lockerbie Case blog; former police officer Iain McKie and co-founder of the campaign committee, Robert Forrester. Although the title of the petition suggests a particular view of the guilt of al-Megrahi, and its founder members are folk who believe him to have been wrongly convicted, the petition itself is ecumenical. If doubts are harboured, outstanding questions remain - that is a real issue for those people who believe he was properly convicted. There are others - including myself - who are cautious about taking a strong position on the question of Megrahi's guilt. Not having seen the evidence, one ought to be shy of certainties. That ought to include all certainties, including the idea that the judges of the High Court of Justiciary who tried him are exempt from human error, that all the relevant evidence was presented, that doubts were justly explored. Although not a figure I'd normally expect to borrow the words from my own mouth, Cardinal Keith O'Brien pretty faithfully articulates my own concerns and why, like him, I support the independent enquiry Holyrood is being petitioned to conduct today:

"Earlier this year, I described the murder of 243 innocent people on board Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988 as an act of unbelievable horror and gratuitous barbarity. Many legal consequences flowed from that act culminating in the conviction of a Libyan citizen, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing. From the moment that verdict was announced, voices have been raised in protest. Over the years the clamour has grown amongst, lawyers, politicians, academics and growing numbers of ordinary citizens that the verdict amounted to a miscarriage of justice.

I do not claim to have examined all the evidence in this case, far from it, but I do claim to be increasingly concerned about the reputation of the Scottish Justice system. I have defended publicly the system of justice in this country and have done so because it enjoys my support and confidence. Global accusations of wrongful conviction made against our system must be dealt with. Left unheeded they will weaken the administration of justice in Scotland by casting doubts on its probity and ability. I believe the best way to remedy this is for the Scottish Parliament to launch an independent inquiry into the 2001 conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.

Regardless of the outcome I believe Scotland’s Justice System would be strengthened by such a process. Either a conviction will be upheld and the process vindicated or it will be struck down, demonstrating to the world that Scotland has the wisdom and compassion needed to rectify its mistakes. In either event I will willingly accept the outcome.”

But back to Salmond and Torrance. In some quarters, it is often assumed that Megrahi's compassionate release was predicated on an unavowed belief that the man was innocent. When he was released from prison, the most familiar argument I encountered was a confused one - but reduced to its bones it ran - if he was innocent he should go free, if he was guilty he should have stayed in prison. At the time, I suggested that this was to confuse justice with mercy, obliterating the particular features of the latter. Interestingly, Torrance presents evidence that Salmond himself seems to have made no such conflation, arguing that:

"... Salmond most likely believed that al-Megrahi was guilty as charged. Indeed, the BBC journalist James Cook recalled asking the First Minister about his own view shortly after the release. Salmond replied that one of his first actions on coming to office had been to request all the papers relating to Lockerbie which, having read them, led him to believe al-Megrahi's conviction was sound." (Torrance (2010) Salmond Against the Odds, p. 264.)

The first hour of the Committee's time was taken up with discussion of the petition today. The panel's evidence can be seen here: