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Lockerbie letters between Downing Street and Scottish Executive to be made public

The Government is to publish “all relevant” correspondence with Scotland over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, amid tension between the administrations over his release.


The Government is to publish ?all relevant? correspondence with the Scottish Executive over the release of the Lockerbie bomber amid growing tension between the two administrations over the handling of his release.
There have been persistent allegations the bomber?s release was linked to lucrative trade deals with Libya. Photo: Reuters

Exchanges between ministers at Westminster and their counterparts in Edinburgh relating to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi will be made public on Tuesday.

The letters could quell allegations that Downing Street put pressure on the Scottish administration to release Megrahi.

Both sides have been forced to make the documents public after persistent allegations that the bomber’s release was linked to lucrative trade deals with Libya.

The Scottish Government had earlier signalled it was willing to publish letters relating to the decision but complained that the UK Government was refusing permission to make the correspondence public.

A leaked letter from Justice Secretary Jack Straw showed he decided two years ago that it was in the UK's "overwhelming interests" not to exclude Megrahi from the scope of the prisoner transfer agreement negotiated with Libya.

The letter from Mr Straw to the Scottish Government was written in 2007 when talks were also under way about an oil exploration contract for BP in Libya.

Mr Straw said he had not been able to secure Megrahi's exclusion from the prisoner transfer agreement - and "wider negotiations" were reaching a critical stage.

However, Mr Straw has insisted it was "simple nonsense" to suggest that there had been any kind of "backdoor deal" to release Megrahi.

Although Libya succeeded in keeping the convicted bomber within the scope of the prisoner transfer agreement, his application under the scheme was eventually refused by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

Instead, Mr MacAskill released Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal cancer, on compassionate grounds, sparking outrage from relatives of the Pan Am Flight 103 victims.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government was committed to full disclosure of relevant documents and we were seeking agreement with other parties to do that.”

It came as the father of a Lockerbie bombing victim has praised the Government for using the atrocity to improve trade links with Libya.

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was one of 270 people who died in the attack, argued that UK ministers were merely “wresting something good out of something evil.”

But he insisted that commercial ties had not influenced the release of Megrahi.

Opposition parties in Scotland have demanded a full inquiry into the transfer agreement but Dr Swire claimed UK ministers were merely doing their jobs by signing it.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, he wrote: “Whatever the unsavoury concealment of the 'deal in the desert' may mean, there are a number of us who believe that wresting something good out of something as evil as Lockerbie is the way to go.

“Surely improving commercial ties is a good thing for the citizens of both countries, that is what good politicians do.”

Col Muammar Gaddafi has admitted that the Libyans were targeting Megrahi's return during negotiations over the agreement and discussions about “commerce and oil” were wrapped up in this.

Concerns have also been raised again on Monday about why Megrahi dropped his appeal against his conviction despite that not being necessary for release on compassionate grounds.

Oliver Miles, the former British ambassador to Libya, asked: “Did somebody tip him the wink or tip the Libyan authorities the wink that the only way to get back to Libya is to give up the appeal?”

But Dr Swire said: “Under the shadow of death, who can blame him (Megrahi) for changing his mind, uncertain as he was that he could trust his captors?”

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