���For those interested in the discussion about Megrahi, the man convicted for the Lockerbie atrocity, Mike Palij deserves thanks for his preliminary research into the matter. For those having less interest in the episode itself, these observations of Mike's (and, I hope, my follow-up to his request) should be of a more general interest:
>I assume that Tipsters in the UK might be able to give an >opinion about how credible this and similar sources are. >Perhaps it's a good time to remember that even experimental >research only provides tentative knowledge subject to support >through replication. All other knowledge is frequently of even >less quality. Mike quotes from Wikipedia: >Tam Dalyell, the former Labour MP for West Lothian has long believed Megrahi is the victim of a catastrophic miscarriage of justice, and has publicly stated that Megrahi is merely a scapegoat. [41]< The footnote links to an article in The Times by Dayell himself. Dayell has a history of conspiracy claims, the most notorious of which is related here: >The Home Office is investigating allegations by the Labour MP Mr Tam Dalyell, that a 78-year-old Shrewsbury woman died after a violent encounter with British intelligence officers she discovered searching her home for sensitive documents concerning the Belgrano affair. The claims, made in the House of Commons yesterday by the MP for Linlithgow, were denied 20by the police, whose own investigation into the mysterious death of Miss Hilda Murrell earlier this year is now in its ninth month.< http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1984/dec/21/argentina.falklands The facts turned out to be a disappointment to the conspiracy theorists: "Andrew George, a builder's labourer with previous convictions, was arrested and charged in June 2003, after his DNA was found to match samples taken from the scene. He had been in care at a children's home near Miss Murrell's house at the time of the murder." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/4469143.stm Mike links to an article on a blog called The Scottish Law Reporter. I'm inclined to take little notice of a blog that is an onymous, and does not have an "About" link. http://scottishlaw.blogspot.com/ Mike also links to an article by Dr. Hans Koechler, an international observer at the Lockerbie trial at the Hague held under Scottish law. http://i-p-o.org/nr-lockerbie-14Oct05.htm At first sight this seems impressive, and no doubt the article contains important points, but my confidence in Dr Koechler ebbed away the more I read around the subject. The article is on the website of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization. I was prepared to be impressed until I looked into some of the articles on the website. When I see an article with the following concluding sentence I tend to look el sewhere for the facts about a given situation: >Thus Congolese man and woman where you are stand [stand where you are?] and cut the string [held by international "Capitalist Interests"] that prevent each of you to transform this country into a land where flows milk and honey.< http://i-p-o.org/congodem.htm More on Dr Koechler (a professor of political philosophy at Innsbruck University, not a legal expert), who is quoted as saying about the original trial: "You cannot come out with a verdict of guilty for one and innocent for the other when they were both being tried with the same evidence. In my opinion there seemed [sic] to be considerable political influence on the judges a nd the verdict. My guess [sic] is that it came from the United Kingdom and the United States. This was my impression [sic]." How seriously can you take an assertion from someone who resorts to "seems" and guesses? From my own very limited knowledge of the case, I know that there was evidence relating to Megrahi that did not relate to the other defendant. More important is Koechler's ignorance of the independence of the judiciary in the UK. And the notion that *Scottish* judges would be influenced by behind-the-scenes representations from the *Westminster* government in London displays an ignorance of UK affairs of some magnificence! But let the Scottish Crown office speak for itself: =0 D >A spokesman for the Crown Office in Edinburgh said… that Koechler's views were based on a "complete misunderstanding of the function and independence of the judiciary". He added "In particular he misunderstands that in Scotland, as in other English-speaking systems, criminal proceedings are adversarial, that is, involving a contest between prosecution and defence, rather than an enquiry carried out by judges.< http://i-p-o.org/times.jpg I was not at the trial, nor followed details in the press at the time, so my previously expressed view that the verdict was unsafe on the grounds that one major element of the prosecution case was based on eye witness testimony is only very tentative. 20One adverse effect of the release of Megrahi is that his second appeal will now not go forward. Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
