Graham
02-27-2012, 10:47 AM
Lockerbie bomber Megrahi 'forgives' key trial witness
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-17152620
27 February 2012 Last updated at 11:23
By Reevel Alderson
Home affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58704000/jpg/_58704599_megrahi_bed.jpg
Megrahi is dying of prostate cancer
The only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has said he forgives the man whose evidence was crucial in finding him guilty.
Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci identified Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi as purchasing clothes found packed around the bomb.
His evidence linked Megrahi with the explosion in which 270 people died.
Megrahi, 59, denies buying the clothes, but in an interview to be shown on BBC Scotland he said he forgave Mr Gauci.
"I'll tell him he dealt with me very wrongly," said the Libyan who has been diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer.
"I have never seen him in my entire life except when he came to the court.
"I find him a very simple man. But I do forgive him."
The evidence of Tony Gauci was subjected to close scrutiny at Megrahi's trial at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands in 2000.
Miscarriage of justice
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which investigated Megrahi's 2001 conviction, found six reasons why it may have been a miscarriage of justice, and sent the case back to the Appeal Court.
Megrahi abandoned his appeal shortly before he returned to Libya.
Among the SCCRC's reasons were inconsistencies in Mr Gauci's statements and controversy surrounding an identification parade in Kamp van Zeist at which he identified Megrahi.
Megrahi was interviewed in his bed in his home in Tripoli. He returned there in August 2009 after he was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds.
He was expected to live just three months, but although he has exceeded that prognosis, expects to die soon. That is why he said he wanted to forgive Mr Gauci.
"Forgiving him, I am facing my God very soon," he said.
"I swear I have never been in his shop or buy any clothing from his shop.
"And he has to believe this because when we meet together before the God I want him to know that before I die.
"This is the truth."
Identification parade
In his evidence, Tony Gauci said a Libyan had bought a number of items of clothing and an umbrella from his shop in the Maltese district of Sliema.
The trial judges accepted this was on 7 December 1988 - a day Megrahi agreed he was in Malta.
Mr Gauci later picked out the man at the identification parade held shortly before the trial in the Netherlands.
But the SCCRC said there was doubt over this evidence, which it said may have given rise to a miscarriage of justice.
It said the fact that Mr Gauci had seen a copy of a magazine naming Megrahi as the bomber prior to the identification parade also meant the Appeal Court should review his conviction.
BBC Scotland Investigates 2012 - Lockerbie - The Lost Evidence is being shown on BBC1 Scotland at 19:30 on Monday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-17152620
27 February 2012 Last updated at 11:23
By Reevel Alderson
Home affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58704000/jpg/_58704599_megrahi_bed.jpg
Megrahi is dying of prostate cancer
The only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has said he forgives the man whose evidence was crucial in finding him guilty.
Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci identified Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi as purchasing clothes found packed around the bomb.
His evidence linked Megrahi with the explosion in which 270 people died.
Megrahi, 59, denies buying the clothes, but in an interview to be shown on BBC Scotland he said he forgave Mr Gauci.
"I'll tell him he dealt with me very wrongly," said the Libyan who has been diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer.
"I have never seen him in my entire life except when he came to the court.
"I find him a very simple man. But I do forgive him."
The evidence of Tony Gauci was subjected to close scrutiny at Megrahi's trial at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands in 2000.
Miscarriage of justice
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC), which investigated Megrahi's 2001 conviction, found six reasons why it may have been a miscarriage of justice, and sent the case back to the Appeal Court.
Megrahi abandoned his appeal shortly before he returned to Libya.
Among the SCCRC's reasons were inconsistencies in Mr Gauci's statements and controversy surrounding an identification parade in Kamp van Zeist at which he identified Megrahi.
Megrahi was interviewed in his bed in his home in Tripoli. He returned there in August 2009 after he was released from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds.
He was expected to live just three months, but although he has exceeded that prognosis, expects to die soon. That is why he said he wanted to forgive Mr Gauci.
"Forgiving him, I am facing my God very soon," he said.
"I swear I have never been in his shop or buy any clothing from his shop.
"And he has to believe this because when we meet together before the God I want him to know that before I die.
"This is the truth."
Identification parade
In his evidence, Tony Gauci said a Libyan had bought a number of items of clothing and an umbrella from his shop in the Maltese district of Sliema.
The trial judges accepted this was on 7 December 1988 - a day Megrahi agreed he was in Malta.
Mr Gauci later picked out the man at the identification parade held shortly before the trial in the Netherlands.
But the SCCRC said there was doubt over this evidence, which it said may have given rise to a miscarriage of justice.
It said the fact that Mr Gauci had seen a copy of a magazine naming Megrahi as the bomber prior to the identification parade also meant the Appeal Court should review his conviction.
BBC Scotland Investigates 2012 - Lockerbie - The Lost Evidence is being shown on BBC1 Scotland at 19:30 on Monday.