Libya paid doctors who said Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had three months to live

[steven johnson]

Source: Daily Mail

The Libyan government paid British doctors for medical advice which could have helped bring about the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Cancer specialist Karol Sikora and two others received £100 an hour to consider how long they believed Abdelbaset Al Megrahi had to live.

Professor Sikora admitted yesterday that although he initially thought Megrahi could live for as long as 18 months, he was 'encouraged' to conclude he would die from prostate cancer within three months.

This is important as it is the amount of time under which Scottish law allows someone to be freed on compassionate grounds.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1211496/Three-doctors-paid-Libyan-government-say-Lockerbie-bomber-Abdelbaset-Al-Megrahi-months-live.html

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Who would have guessed that experts could be bought?

The Lockerbie bomber was set free for oil.

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.

The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil'

"Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt."
(When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults)

[Wilms]

1. Lockerbie trial: an intelligence operation? -

Lockerbie trial: an intelligence operation? -

BBC interview of Dr. Hans Köchler

New revelation about financial offer to a key witness from Switzerland


Vienna/Zurich, 5 October 2007

P/RE/20653c-is

In an exclusive interview earlier this week with Gordon Brewer of the BCC’s Newsnight Scotland, Dr. Hans Koechler said that the withholding of evidence by the investigators and the Prosecution from the Defense at the Lockerbie court is a serious breach of the fundamental norms of a fair trial. If such action occurs on the basis of a written commitment given to a foreign intelligence service, as has now been revealed concerning crucial evidence related to the timer that allegedly triggered the explosion of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, the judicial nature of the entire proceedings is to be put into question. If a foreign intelligence service is allowed to determine what evidence may be disclosed in court and what not, judicial proceedings before a court of law are perverted into a kind of intelligence operation the purpose of which is not the search for the truth, but the obfuscation of reality.

This evaluation is further confirmed by the offer of huge amounts of money by US officials to at least three key witnesses.

Dr. Koechler, a professor of philosophy of law at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, served in the period May 2000 – March 2002 as international observer, appointed by the United Nations, at the Lockerbie trial and appeal before the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. In his trial and appeal reports, issued in January 2001 and March 2002, he had highlighted the problematic role of intelligence services in the trial and stated that proper judicial proceedings cannot be conducted under conditions in which extrajudicial forces are allowed to intervene.

It is noteworthy that now – more than six years after Dr. Koechler’s first report – more and more details emerge that confirm the UN observer’s original doubts:

* One of the “secret” grounds of referral of the convicted Libyan national’s case back to the appeal court has been revealed to be the fact that crucial information in the possession of the CIA that is related to the timer issue was withheld from the Defense;

* Another of the “secret” grounds of appeal has now been revealed to be the offer of a huge payment by the CIA to the Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, a key witness of the prosecution, for identifying the Libyan Al-Megrahi as the one who bought clothes in his shop in Malta;

* The Libyan-US double agent Abdul Majid Giaka had similarly been offered a huge amount for his testimony as a prosecution witness;

* At least two forensic “experts” who were invited as witnesses by the Prosecution had links to intelligence agencies and were proven to be totally unreliable;

* One of the directors of the “Lockerbie Trial Briefing Unit” at the University of Glasgow which was set up at the beginning of the trial with the purpose of providing expert legal information to the interested public, was exposed by the British media as a member of British intelligence and had to step down.

http://i-p-o.org/IPO-nr-Lockerbie-5Oct07.htm

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Overall Megrahi's release

appears now to be also a move to prevent the British government from having to wipe the egg off of its very red face as it came out in his appeal that Megrahi's first trial was a travesty of justice and a frame up of a likely innocent patsy involving the use of faked evidence presented in court, the manipulation and payment of millions of dollars (aka bribery) to a couple of very unreliable witnesses, along with the intentional withholding of evidence which would likely exculpate Megrahi from being presented to the court.

See the links in this recent DU thread: "Lockerbie: Megrahi Was Framed" By John Pilger

[dipsydoodle]

3. The figures quoted @ £100 / hour

are lower than consultants fees for private consultations. What's the issue ?

[bettyellen]

4. it's who they were working for

[oct2010]

7. who did they work for?

The same people that did in Sadat or should such conclusions not be drawn?

[LeftishBrit]

5. I would not trust the Daily Mail on a topic like this.

That there was some collusion between the British and Libyan governments, I don't doubt; but let us remember that the Daily Mail is (a) totally against all foreigners; (b) totally against Muslims; (c) totally against our current government on the grounds that it's too left-wing; and (d) just plain unreliable.

[oct2010]

6. so if this terminally ill chap lives past the next seven weeks,

Quadaffy can be credited for the major miracle of our time. He truely deserves the title of emir of africa for reasons beyond simple logic
:sarcasm:

[western mass]

8. Daily Mail is a right-wing rag

people do realize that the "uproar" in the UK is all about the Conservatives ginning up a fake scandal to sling mud at Labour (and the liberal Scottish Nationalists)?

[Psephos]

10. Evidence? I'd be interested to see it. n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. It's true that opposition to the release is greater in conservative voters than liberal ones

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4029667&mesg_id=4031201

[western mass]

13. Evidence that Daily Mail is a RW rag?

If you have to ask the question, I assume you haven't read it. The exec summary (from wikipedia):

"The Mail takes an anti-EU, anti-abortion view, based upon "traditional values", and is pro-capitalism and pro-monarchy, as well as, in some cases, advocating stricter punishments for crime. It also often calls for lower levels of taxation. The paper is generally critical of the BBC, which it argues is biased to the left."

It's the UK equivalent of Fox News, and anything from a source like that is suspect.

But if the question is whether this is all cynical rabble-rousing by conservatives to bash Labour: I'm in the UK, and its conservatives who are doing all the moaning and hand-wringing on radio, tv, etc. Most people don't particularly give a damn about releasing prisoners on their deathbeds.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Indeed!

Here's a thread on the topic from Mr. Blur and other UK-ers a couple of years ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2174684

ETA: And another more recent thread from baby_mouse, another UK-er:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3556922

[Psephos]

17. Don't be silly. OP said "Conservatives ginning up a fake scandal to sling mud at Labour"

I hardly need evidence that the Daily Mail is a RW rag.

My question was whether the OP had evidence to offer that this affair has been manufactured by the UK Conservatives. The accounts in credible sources I've read deem otherwise. I have no doubt, however, that the Cons have been milking it.

[T_i_B]

15. Not just the Tories...

...Labour and the SNP have been using the case to sling mud at each other too.

It's worth noting the political situation in Scotland, where the SNP are the government and Labour the main opposition.

[notadmblnd]

9. And John McCain was the bagman?

I read somewhere (can't find the link) that he was in Libya a week before this happened.

[struggle4progress]

12. Scotland denies Libya paid for Megrahi's medical advice (Indian Express)

Scotland on Sunday rejected allegations that its decision to free the Lockerbie bomber because he is terminally ill was based on medical advice from doctors paid by Libya. The Libyan Government paid for the medical evidence that suggested Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release under Scottish law and that he had only three months to live 'The Sunday Telegraph' reported ...

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/scotland-denies-libya-paid-for-megrahis-medical-advice/513548/

[excess_3]

16. how will we know if/when this guy dies?

do we have to take Libya's word for it?