"This has been a political court case, where the verdict already was decided upon in advance", a shocked Professor Köchler - UN-observer at the Scottish Lockerbie Court in the Netherlands - stated.
" A spectacular miscarriage of justice "
by Henk Ruyssenaars
Amsterdam - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Professor H. Köchler in April 2000, 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 were bitter.
"This was 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 have hardly been used by the international media, covering the biggest mass murder trial in British legal history which ended when the court upheld the conviction of the Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi.
A spectacular miscarriage of justice.
As one of the few more or less objective media, the British "Independent" wrote: "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 - shamefull whispering - 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 Dutch Ministry of Justice never reacted.
The possibly innocent al Megrahi was flown from his cell at the Scottish Court at Camp Zeist, to begin a life sentence at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow." Where he shortly after was visited by South African icon Nelson Mandela, who often has declared that the man is innocent. No reports in the Dutch press either.
The Scottish judges have with this bogus verdict - 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 who have - like me - followed the case since the crash in 1988 - agree with Prof. Köchler, and still urge German Police HQ - BKA (Bundes Kriminal Amt) - in Wiesbaden-Germany, to make public their Lockerbie files which - for apparent economical and political reasons - are still kept secret.
Guilty ?
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 - was 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. The fact that New Scotland Yard also put the blame in Frankfurt-Neuss on Jibril's PFLP, 'disappeared'.
This political verdict was very bitter for the bereaved families, even when
being compensated,but also for the Libyan accused al Megrahi, who was flown from his cell at the Scottish Court at Camp Zeist, to begin his life sentence.
After this "Show Process" all participating authorities are to blame, including the past and present "governments" 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 socalled democracy, is now a far cry for Justice, different sources confirmed.
The $2.7 billion the US has extorted from Libya, is the latest in the vile
process that paves the way for Libya's return to the international fold. Once the country now decides to pay compensation and - against better judgment - "has accepted 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) pointed 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."
The day of the Lockerbie trial verdict - Thursday, March 14th 2002, was a very bad day for not only Scottish - but "Western Justice" in general, many concluded.
So; what is a $2.7 billion blackmail ?
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars: North Africa-correspondent 1987-1997.
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
Foreign Correspondents Website : http://tinyurl.com/jo4y
Article republished courtesy of Information Clearing House:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
Please also see:
Blood Money: http://www.sundayherald.com/36060
Lockerbie brother: 'I don't want £6m, I want the truth'
Stephen Khan, Scotland editor
Sunday August 17, 2003
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1020399,00.html
" A spectacular miscarriage of justice "
by Henk Ruyssenaars
Amsterdam - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Professor H. Köchler in April 2000, 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 were bitter.
"This was 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 have hardly been used by the international media, covering the biggest mass murder trial in British legal history which ended when the court upheld the conviction of the Libyan agent Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi.
A spectacular miscarriage of justice.
As one of the few more or less objective media, the British "Independent" wrote: "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 - shamefull whispering - 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 Dutch Ministry of Justice never reacted.
The possibly innocent al Megrahi was flown from his cell at the Scottish Court at Camp Zeist, to begin a life sentence at Barlinnie prison in Glasgow." Where he shortly after was visited by South African icon Nelson Mandela, who often has declared that the man is innocent. No reports in the Dutch press either.
The Scottish judges have with this bogus verdict - 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 who have - like me - followed the case since the crash in 1988 - agree with Prof. Köchler, and still urge German Police HQ - BKA (Bundes Kriminal Amt) - in Wiesbaden-Germany, to make public their Lockerbie files which - for apparent economical and political reasons - are still kept secret.
Guilty ?
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 - was 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. The fact that New Scotland Yard also put the blame in Frankfurt-Neuss on Jibril's PFLP, 'disappeared'.
This political verdict was very bitter for the bereaved families, even when
being compensated,but also for the Libyan accused al Megrahi, who was flown from his cell at the Scottish Court at Camp Zeist, to begin his life sentence.
After this "Show Process" all participating authorities are to blame, including the past and present "governments" 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 socalled democracy, is now a far cry for Justice, different sources confirmed.
The $2.7 billion the US has extorted from Libya, is the latest in the vile
process that paves the way for Libya's return to the international fold. Once the country now decides to pay compensation and - against better judgment - "has accepted 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) pointed 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."
The day of the Lockerbie trial verdict - Thursday, March 14th 2002, was a very bad day for not only Scottish - but "Western Justice" in general, many concluded.
So; what is a $2.7 billion blackmail ?
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
Editor : Henk Ruyssenaars: North Africa-correspondent 1987-1997.
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
Foreign Correspondents Website : http://tinyurl.com/jo4y
Article republished courtesy of Information Clearing House:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
Please also see:
Blood Money: http://www.sundayherald.com/36060
Lockerbie brother: 'I don't want £6m, I want the truth'
Stephen Khan, Scotland editor
Sunday August 17, 2003
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1020399,00.html