The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Megrahi found in a coma, "at death's door"

Lockerbie bomber, apparently close to death, located at his family's villa in Tripoli.

By George Eaton Published 29 August 2011 10:47

Two years after he was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government and given three months to live, it seems that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, is close to death. CNN's international correspondent Nic Robertson found Megrahi in a coma at his family's palatial villa in Tripoli, "surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip."

In recent days there have been calls for Megrahi's extradition but Robertson's account of a man "near death's door" ("much iller, much sicker ... just a shell of the man he was") suggests there is little prospect of him returning to jail in Britain or, as some have suggested, to face trial in the US. In any case, the National Transitional Council has consistently maintained that it will not hand over a Libyan citizen to the west, insisting that Megrahi has been judged once and will not be "judged again". Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, has since indicated that the government will not challenge this decision. Speaking on Radio 5 this morning, he said: "In the case of al-Megrahi, he has been through a legal process and, as we have found out overnight, his life does appear to be drawing to a close."

However, he indicated, that the government would seek the extradition of Yvonne Fletcher's alleged killer, Abdulmagid Salah Almeri. He remarked: "In the case of the assassin of Yvonne Fletcher, there has been no legal process, and I think a new regime in Tripoli, the NTC delivering both a new constitution and credible elections within the eight month period they have set themselves, there's plenty of room for discussion about a situation where there hasn't been any legal process at all so far."

Megrahi's conviction is, of course, widely disputed, a fact noted this morning by some of the relatives of the victims of the bombing. For instance, Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter was killed in the blast, spoke of a "tissue of lies which led to a politically useful outcome". At the very least, it is absurd that Megrahi is the only person who has been convicted of involvement in the bombing. But it appears increasingly likely that he will take the truth with him to the grave.

Special Offer: Get 12 issues of New Statesman magazine for just £12

Tags: Lockerbie bomber

More from George Eaton

8 comments

Tue, 2011-08-30 03:37 — sven king (not verified)

I cant actually believe your all falling for this. Its like taking a sickie from work but putting it on camera, thats it, lay down, look real ill, we'll stick a machine next to your bed, everyone look worried. Its funny how this coma has coincided with the Scottish governments decision to see if he should be returned or not. I mean, these people are born liars and the liberal left lap it up, what dupes you all are, idiots.

Sun, 2011-09-04 19:04 — The Starr Blog (not verified)

We have just written an article on this on my blog! I argue both that the compassionate release was the morally right thing to do, and that the evidence at hand leads us to believe Megrahi was innocent. Have a read and let me know what you think. http://thestarr-blog.blogspot.com/2011/09/lockerbie-bomber-for-life-till...

Tue, 2011-11-15 16:17 — Pharmd368878 (not verified)

Hello! ekekkdk interesting ekekkdk site! I'm really like it! Very, very ekekkdk good!

Tue, 2011-11-15 16:20 — Pharmb598717 (not verified)

Very nice site!

Mon, 2011-08-29 11:01 — swatantra nandanwar

This will be the final chapter on Lockerbie.
The NTC have rather a lot on their plate at the moment, than to be looking into who killed who.
They have a whole country to sort out.

Wed, 2011-08-31 20:10 — Julia Harris (not verified)

Willip, your not judge and jury either.

Mon, 2011-08-29 15:12 — Dr_Paul

This had better not be the last word on Lockerbie. The case against Libya, conveniently shifted away from Syria when the big powers wanted the latter in their anti-Iraq coalition 20 years back, was one of the most cynical bits of international politics that there has ever been.

Wed, 2011-08-31 13:15 — Willp

Sven, Megrahi didn't do the Lockerbie bombing.
Dr Hans Koechler, the UN’s observer, said the trial was ‘not fair’, writing, “the guilty verdict in the case of the first accused [al-Megrahi] is particularly incomprehensible in view of the admission by the judges themselves that the identification of the first accused by the Maltese shop owner was ‘not absolute’ … and that there was a ‘mass of conflicting evidence’.”
Koechler wrote, “the presence of at least two representatives of a foreign government in the courtroom during the entire period of the trial was highly problematic. The two state prosecutors from the US Department of Justice were seated next to the prosecution team. They were not listed in any of the official information documents about the Court’s officers produced by the Scottish Court Service, yet they were seen talking to the prosecutors while the Court was in session, checking notes and passing on documents.” As he noted, “the presence of foreign governments in a Scottish courtroom (in any courtroom for that matter) jeopardises the independence and integrity of legal procedures and is not in conformity with the general standards of fairness.”
The key scientific witness in the trial had earlier been banned from being called as an expert witness. Koechler wrote, “A general pattern of the trial consisted in the fact that virtually all people presented by the prosecution as key witnesses were proven to lack credibility to a very high extent, in certain cases even having openly lied to the Court.”
Koechler concluded, “there is not one single piece of material evidence linking the two accused to the crime. In such a context, the guilty verdict in regard to the first accused appears to be arbitrary, even irrational.” He also described the dismissal of al-Megrahi’s appeal in March 2002 as a ‘spectacular miscarriage of justice’. We still need a full public inquiry into the bombing.