The fall of Gaddafi and the assassination of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi

Gaddafi and Friends

 

As opposition forces move into Tripoli the final chapter of the Gaddafi regime seems about to be writ large, and in blood.  This time there seems little chance of yet another miraculous reprieve for The Colonel, his parasitical family, his henchmen and assorted hangers-on.

Future narratives are limited as this stage. The CIA will have been working hard behind the scenes to smooth the transition towards democracy; consorting with and advising rebel commanders, and identifying those sympathetic to US strategic objectives.

A new “democratic” “populist” “leader” may soon emerge, as if from nowhere.  A US-compliant provisional government could soon take the place of the old regime and elections will be planned, some distance down the line.  Once the US, of course, has had a chance to vet all the suitable candidates.

If the Libyan people think that their country’s vast oil reserves will end up in the hands of the people, working for the common good, then they are in for another great betrayal.  Compliant tribal warlords turned politicians in suits will ensure that global oil corporations will assume control.  It’ll be business as usual.

Then there is the troublesome figure of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, who now lives under the protection of the Gaddafi regime.  What will the CIA do with him?  Do they return him to a Scottish prison? And risk a resumption of his appeal procedure – a legal process which may clear him of the bombing and stir up an international hornet’s nest? Implement a rendition process to put al-Megrahi in the hands of the same organisations who may have framed him in the first place? Or will they take the tried-and-tested CIA option and simply put a bullet in his head.  Case closed.  Time to move on.

Let’s put it this way.  If al-Megrahi is found dead at any point in the next few weeks – irrespective of the convoluted official explanations of how he died – then we can take it as read that a) it was a premeditated strike by agents acting on behalf of the CIA b) he was assassinated for the same reasons he was released with such haste: because he was innocent of the Lockerbie bombing and a legal appeal had to be stopped at all costs, c) the Scottish legal system was complicit in this framing, and d) those responsible for framing him, like those who actually carried out the worst mass murder in Scottish history, remain at liberty.

If al-Megrahi is not assassinated then let him return to Scotland – under house arrest if need be – and resume his judicial appeal. The SCCRC have collated the evidence that formed the basis of al-Megrahi’s appeal.  It’s about time it saw the light of day.  Irrespective of the repercussions, the Lockerbie victims’ families need justice and resolution.  That will never happen if al-Megrahi is assassinated by the CIA or if a rendition process places him into the hands of those who were instrumental in the framing.

Comments (0)

Leave a Reply to wowbaggertheinfinitelyprolonged Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

  1. This is a chiling piece, and the hypothesis suggested regarding Mr Al-Megrahi rings true.

    There is though a further possibility (e) as regards his demise. He is terminally ill, and the upheavals in Tripoli can do his heath no good, either in terms of the stresses and pressures he is under and also as regards disruption to his medical treament.

    If he does pass away from natural causes, but the world, or a significant portion thereof believes that the CIA/USA was responsible, then we have a modern day version of Francis Ile’s “Malice Aforethought” where, for a change the guilty party is actually innocent of this specific crime, though responsible for others.

    As has been said by the UK Government, Mr Al-Megrahi would need to obtain appropriate authorisation to enter the UK, and I suspect that the Libyan authorities, whoever they are or might become, would not have assisting him with an exit visa as a first priority. Equally, I can foresee the UK Borders Agency being most reluctant to grant him permission to return to the UK.

    He is in danger of becoming, as I am sure many politicians would wish, what Douglas Adams referred to as “Somebody Else’s Problem” and thus invisible.

    1. Barontorc says:

      “As has been said by the UK Government, Mr Al-Megrahi would need to obtain appropriate authorisation to enter the UK, and I suspect that the Libyan authorities, whoever they are or might become, would not have assisting him with an exit visa as a first priority. Equally, I can foresee the UK Borders Agency being most reluctant to grant him permission to return to the UK.”

      Is this where things become interesting since Al Megrahi is a Scottish prisoner and was compassionately released under a Scottish law provision.

      Clearly, this is not a UK issue, or it would have been “tidied up” long since.

      Al Megrahi’s transit through UK air space and safety for onward travel into Scotland has already been given precedence by his outward homeward trip journey.

      Of course nothing can happen unless the man gives his express wish to return to Scotland to continue the legal process of his forestalled appeal, if indeed it can be re-started.

      Perhaps it would be good for THE JUSTICE FOR MEGRAHI CAMPAIGN to take a lead position on this.

      1. From Hansard – Written Answers – 21 June 2011
        http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/Lords/ByDate/20110621/writtenanswers/part001.html

        Abdul Baset Al Megrahi

        Question

        Asked by Lord Laird

        To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether reports on the whereabouts of Abdel Baset Al Megrahi are still being transmitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from Libya, and those on his health to East Renfrewshire Council; and whether they will detain him if he returns to the United Kingdom.[HL9768]

        The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not monitor the location or health of Abdel Baset Ali Al Megrahi. East Renfrewshire was designated as the local authority responsible for monitoring Al Megrahi’s health and location because his family lived in Newton Mearns during his imprisonment in Greenock prison. The Scottish Government have informed us that East Renfrewshire Council, as the supervising local authority, is maintaining regular contact with Al Megrahi as ¦266required by the conditions of his release licence. It would not be appropriate for the FCO to ask the council for this confidential information.

        Should Al Megrahi wish to return to the UK then he would be subject to UK immigration law and therefore be required to apply for an entry visa. Any such application for a visa from Al Megrahi would be considered in the appropriate way including consideration of the seriousness of the offence for which he was convicted.

  2. David McCann says:

    A very perceptive and analysis Kevin, which should be copied by the MSM, but I doubt it.

  3. David MacGille-Mhuire says:

    K
    The poor devil seems dead regardless: A sacrificial lamb.

    God help him and his family and all of us. There will be a price to pay for all of this at some point.

    Thank you for this piece.

    Kindest
    David

  4. Barontorc says:

    wowbaggertheinfinitelyprolonged – re: Hansard Answer on Al Megrahi. Just cannot get my amateur head around why a Hansard Lords answer , which I take to be an “opinion”, can be held to be fireproof after the furore caused betwixt Westminster and Holyrood players with Holyrood prevailing to deal with Al Megrahi under Scottish Law.

    If Al Megrahi chose to return to the Scottish prison, for his own reasons, principal in that being his safety and the unfinished business of securing an appeal against his wrongful conviction, would he in all seriousness be expected to apply for a visa to the Scotland via the UK immigration service, as in, “he..would be subject to UK immigration law and therefore be required to apply for an entry visa.” Sorry, and I’m not pointing at your goodself, but somebody in charge of this ship needs to get real!

  5. Scottish republic says:

    I had already decided in my head that Megrahi will more than likely not dee many more days.

    I do think there will be a public inquiry which will clear Megrahi and show just how dirty his prosecution was.

    The average Scot and American has no idea of the ‘evidence’ and once it is officially judged to be a miscarriage of justice then the SNP will be vindicated morally and the Brit nats vilified deservedly as they sought to gain political points in this now quite sordid affair.

  6. Scottish republic says:

    see

    Hey, an edit utton ould e a nice thig to ave.

  7. In physics they say that the test of understanding is the ability to predict. Your brief and ruthless summary of the Megrahi episode makes me fear that gloomy predictions for the last act are tragically plausible. Vamos a ver.

  8. @ Barontorc – The “opinion” in the Written Answer comes from the body who will decide whether Mr Al-Megrahi will get back in to the country. It therefore has a lot more weight than anything I think, for example! Scots Criminal Law dealt with Mr Al-Megrahi as the jurisdiction for prosecuting him rested here. Immigration is a UK matter, and therefore Westminster is in charge.

    Generally, once a prisoner leaves the UK, even if they have a portion of their sentence to serve, there is no great desire to get them back here. If they breach their terms of licence, for example, then the UK could seek their return to serve the rest of their sentence, but that would be rare. With Mr Al-Megrahi, he was released on compassionate grounds because he was terminally ill. Short of him having had a miraculous recovery from cancer, he remains terminally ill. So there would be no scope to insist upon his recall to prison.

    Is it possible he could ask to come back to serve his sentence? In theory, if he could get back into the country, he could turn up at Greenock Prison and demand to be imprisoned again. In practice, that won’t happen.

    His appeal has been abandoned. There is no longer a live appeal. Legally Mr Al-Megrahi has given up his right to appeal his conviction, and the Crown dropped its appeal seeking to increase his sentence.

    @ Scottish republic – The Scottish Executive has stood firm against any public inquiry. Mr Salmond and Mr MacAskill have made it clear that they have no doubts regarding Mr Al-Megrahi’s conviction. They have aligned themselves with the historical case brought to court at Camp Zeist, and an inquiry (if one did take place) finding that the conviction was in error would in no way vindicate the present Executive.

    At least as regards the conviction, it is the Scottish legal system, rather than the Scottish politicians, which has to answer. However, the public pronouncements by the First Minister and his Justice Secretary have tied them into the verdict not being overturned, despite them being aware, as most of us are not, of the detailed criticisms of the verdict in the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission report.

  9. You’ve pretty much summed up how I think this is going to play out. I doubt al-Megrahi will ever been seen alive again – though I truly wish it were not so. I want the truth of Lockerbie to come out more than anything. I need to know if what I lived through and witnessed as a child was the abhorrent, vile machinations of a morally bankrupt state – or a genuine act of terror incited by a North-African madman. The inherited wisdom is of the latter – but something about the entire episode has always sat and gnawed at my unease.

  10. Scottish republic says:

    Salmond and McKaskil would simlpy be ‘persauded’ by the new evidence.
    No problem in my view.

  11. Scottish republic says:

    Idstlllikaeditbtn

  12. thesk says:

    It will be interesting to see how the UK Cameron government plays this.

    Try to humiliate the SNP, spin against Blair, Mandelson, Brown or with the CIA do something far more menacing

    I hope Salmond is ready for th dirty tricks heading his way

  13. Doug Daniel says:

    He’ll turn up dead, which will delight the media over here and in the states no end. We’ll never find out the truth.

  14. It will be interesting to see how the rebels play this against the CIA. Politicians in the United States and the United Kingdom are demanding that the rebels extradite Abdel Basset al-Megrahi when they establish control over the country.

    As a response, one of the rebels representative has previously suggested that any decision on al-Megrahi’s future would have to wait for an elected government in Libya. On the NTC’s own timetable that would be almost two years away.

    David Virgil Dafinoiu

  15. bellacaledonia says:

    So Al-Megrahi has been found today in a coma close to death. Exactly as I predicted. Make your own minds up folks.

  16. Un immense bravo à l’admin du blog

Help keep our journalism independent

We don’t take any advertising, we don’t hide behind a pay wall and we don’t keep harassing you for crowd-funding. We’re entirely dependent on our readers to support us.

Subscribe to regular bella in your inbox

Don’t miss a single article. Enter your email address on our subscribe page by clicking the button below. It is completely free and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.