Aan: " ifj@ifj.org"


THE UN-OBSERVER & THE TRIAL :
TEARS OVER LOCKERBIE....

News item by the Foreign Press Foundation.

(from our correspondent*)

The Netherlands - Camp Zeist - Lockerbie trial-March 15th - 2002.

- In April 2000, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Professor H. Köchler as international UN-observer at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands concerning the Lockerbie Trial. His comments on the Scottish Court's verdict in the case are bitter.

- "This is a classical case of a "Show Process" from the time of the Cold War. Like they had in the Soviet Union and East Germany before the Iron Curtain fell", Professor Hans Köchler commented in Camp Zeist after the verdict of the Scottish Court's conclusion in the Lockerbie Trial. "This has been a political court case where the verdict already was decided upon in advance", a shocked Professor Köchler stated.

In a strange way his remarks were hardly used by the international media covering the biggest mass murder trial in British legal history which ended yesterday when a court upheld the conviction of the Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi.

As one of the few more or less objective media, the British "Independent" writes : "Professor Hans Köchler, an independent observer appointed by Mr. Annan, said the appeal's dismissal was a "spectacular miscarriage of justice". Referring to the fact that one of the two accused was declared not guilty, and a near total lack of evidence. The latter mostly fabricated for - and presented to the Scottish Court by the CIA.

In a comment on Dutch national RTV Prof. Köchler openly dismissed the verdict, which took Lord Cullen, the Lord Justice General, only 50 seconds to say that he had turned down the appeal and bring to a conclusion the case which is the most expensive this far to be heard by a British court. The possibly innocent al Megrahi has been flown from his cell at the Scottish
Court at Camp Zeist, to begin a life sentence at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow."

The Scottish judges have - according to many observers at the trial - put English and Scottish legal praxis in a political and juridical ominous light. Sabra Ammar, the Egyptian assistant general secretary of the Arab Lawyers Union, said: "This was not a fair or legal process, but something which was done because of politics. Arab rulers should never again accept their citizens to be tried in this way by a foreign power. We shall be campaigning for that."

Most international observers - many having followed the case since the crash in 1988 - agree with Prof. Köchler, and urge German Police HQ - BKA (Bundes Kriminal Amt) - in Wiesbaden-Germany , to make public the Lockerbie files which - for apparent economical and political reasons - are kept secret. It is known that already in the summer of 1988 German police in Frankfurt-Neuss arrested members of a cell of Ahmed Jibril's resistance movement PFLP.
(Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, at that time based in Damascus/Syria). BKA even has evidence, like a Bombeat Radio - similar to the Bombeat Radio which brought down flight Panam 103. This radio also primed with Semtex explosives and - at the arrest in Frankfurt - found in the possession of the PFLP cell members. The BKA did however bow to the
CIA's wishes, like all Western Intelligence Services. The reason : out of political opportunism forced by the US National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA shifted all attention to Libya. All Western Intelligence Services and
almost all Western media complied.

This political verdict is very bitter for the bereaved families, but also for the Libyan accused al Megrahi, who was flown from his cell at the Scottish Court at Camp Zeist, to begin a life sentence at Barlinnie prison
in Glasgow. After this "Show Process" all participating authorities are to blame, including the Government of the Netherlands, allowing such a "Schau Prozess" to take place in their country. Whatever trust any Arab government or people may have had in The Netherlands or any Western democracy, is now a far cry for Justice, different sources confirmed.

The decision announced yesterday at Camp Zeist is the latest in the process that paves the way for Libya's return to the international fold. Once the country fulfills United Nations demands to pay compensation and - against better judgment - "accepts responsibility" for Lockerbie, the 1992 sanctions – suspended in 1999 – will be formally lifted.

As a motive for this shameful and political Scottish(?) Court decision most people refer to the following :

As "The Independent' (UK) today points out : "The prize at stake is the wealth that lies beneath Libya's vast desert expanses and, with the situation in Iraq threatening to destabilize supplies of oil from the Middle East, it has never been more important. Before relations between the north African country and the West soured utterly, a number of Western oil companies drilled in Libya. The head of the country's National Oil Corporation has held meetings with representatives from Conoco, Marathon, Amerada Hess and Occidental to discuss deals worth hundreds of millions."

Thursday, March 14th 2002, was a very bad day for not only Scottish - but "Western Justice" in general, many concluded.

It is feared that more tears will be shed over Lockerbie.

Foreign Press Foundation
The Netherlands,
Henk Ruyssenaars*


* The author worked for 40 years as journalist/foreign correspondent. The Lockerbie story was first covered during the period '88 - after the crash - to ''97, while being accredited as N-Africa & M-East correspondent - based in Tunisia. Also visiting neighboring Libya to check the case, and follow-up afterwards on a daily basis.

AND END.