‘Malta must clear its name over Lockerbie’

Father’s plea over evidence against al-Megrahi.

Lockerbie campaigner Dr Jim Swire has urged the government of Malta to clear their nation’s name of any involvement in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Dr Swire who lost his daughter Flora in the disaster has had high-level talks with the Mediterranean island’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Foreign Minister George Vella also attended the summit.

Dr Swire wants the Maltese to seek a review of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s conviction.

In 2001, the Libyan was convicted of killing all 243 passengers on the Pan Am plane as well as 16 crew and 11 people who died on the ground as debris rained down on Lockerbie.

During the trial heard by a Scottish court specially convened at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands the prosecution argued that al-Megrahi planted the bomb in Malta.

It was claimed the device was placed on board an Air Malta flight at Luqa airport on the Mediterranean island. From there, the suitcase was allegedly tagged to join Flight 103 at Frankfurt.

Dr Swire said: “Twenty- five years after the murder of my daughter, the truth is still withheld from us by politicians here and in America.

“Their version of events has put Malta in a bad light because the al-Megrahi sentence holds that Malta was involved. I’m sure it was not.

“The Maltese authorities could clear the name of their island by calling for an appeal through the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission.”

In 2007, the Commission referred the case of al-Megrahi who died last year to the Court of Appeal after concluding that key evidence relating to Malta was unsound.

The original trial heard that baby clothing traced to the Mary’s House store in Silema, Malta, was believed to have been wrapped around the bomb.

Shop owner Tony Gauci was a key witness at Camp Zeist and identified al-Megrahi head of security with Libyan-Arab Airlines and suspected of being a Libyan intelligence officer as the customer who bought the baby clothes.

It later emerged senior investigators from the US Department of Justice had recommended Gauci be paid $2 million for testifying.

Dr Swire was accompanied to the summit by Robert Forester of the Justice for Megrahi Committee. Robert described the meetings as “absolutely superb”.

Dr Swire added: “After all this time, the people of Malta are still interested in this case. I think that is because there is real doubt about the verdict.”

“I am also interested in getting as many people as possible to look at the evidence, because people who actually look seem to come to the same conclusion as I have done.

“This wasn’t right. This guy was scapegoated. He didn’t come to Malta with the bomb. He didn’t put it on board at Luqa. It was put on board at Heathrow Airport in London.

“The Prime Minister and Mr Vella listened very intently to what I had to say and that is the most we could hope for.”

Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2002, but died in Libya in 2012 having been controversially released from Greenock Prison on compassionate grounds almost three years earlier.