{"id":458,"date":"2012-03-21T12:49:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T12:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=458"},"modified":"2012-03-21T12:49:20","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T12:49:20","slug":"private-eye-exposes-the-bbcs-shabby-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"Private Eye exposes the BBC’s shabby behaviour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest issue of Private Eye carries the following article, under the headline Source sauce<\/em>, about the BBC’s recent tawdry scoop on Abdelbaset’s private life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The <\/em>BBC <\/em>has <\/em>failed to <\/em><\/em>protect <\/em>its <\/em>journalistic <\/em>sources <\/em>over <\/em>its <\/em>recent “revelation” <\/em>about <\/em>Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, <\/em>the <\/em>man convicted <\/em>of the <\/em>Lockerbie bombing, <\/em>and his <\/em>trips <\/em>to <\/em>Malta for <\/em>sex. The <\/em>claim <\/em>was attributed <\/em>to “previously <\/em>secret documents, <\/em>seen <\/em>by BBC <\/em>Scotland” <\/em>– <\/em>ie the <\/em>report by <\/em>the Scottish <\/em>Criminal <\/em>Cases <\/em>Review <\/em>Commission <\/em>which <\/em>concluded that the <\/em>Libyan may <\/em>have <\/em>been <\/em>wrongly <\/em>convicted. <\/em>But <\/em>the Beeb is <\/em>now <\/em>accused <\/em>of <\/em>breaching the trust <\/em>of <\/em>the man <\/em>who <\/em>gave <\/em>the <\/em>information <\/em>to programme-makers <\/em>to <\/em>satisfy <\/em>lawyers’ concerns <\/em>over last <\/em>month’s BBC <\/em>Scotland documentary on the <\/em>case. <\/em>John Ashton, <\/em>author a<\/em>nd <\/em>researcher <\/em>for <\/em>Megrahi’s <\/em>defence team, <\/em>says <\/em>that when <\/em>he <\/em>was <\/em>asked <\/em>by <\/em>the <\/em>BBC <\/em>if <\/em>it <\/em>could <\/em>release <\/em>more <\/em>of <\/em>the document, <\/em>he <\/em>specifically <\/em>forbade <\/em>it <\/em>by phone and <\/em>in <\/em>writing, <\/em>saying that <\/em>doing <\/em>so <\/em>would <\/em>betray the <\/em>key <\/em>source <\/em>of <\/em>its documentary. <\/em><\/p>\n

BBC <\/em>Scotland’s home <\/em>affairs <\/em>correspondent Reevel <\/em>Alderson <\/em>used <\/em>it <\/em>anyway <\/em>to “reveal” how Megrahi <\/em>had <\/em>told <\/em>his defence lawyers that <\/em>as an <\/em>airline worker <\/em>he <\/em>could <\/em>fly <\/em>in <\/em>and out <\/em>of Malta without <\/em>a <\/em>passport, enabling <\/em>him <\/em>to <\/em>travel <\/em>undetected <\/em>– <\/em>as <\/em>documented by <\/em>Ashton in <\/em>his book, <\/em>Megrahi: <\/em>You <\/em>Are <\/em>My <\/em>Jury. <\/em>(The secret <\/em>lover <\/em>was omitted <\/em>because <\/em>of sensitivity <\/em>towards <\/em>Megrahi’s <\/em>wife.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Alderson’s article <\/em>on the <\/em>BBC <\/em>news website <\/em>said <\/em>that <\/em>“lawyers <\/em>had realised <\/em>if <\/em>the <\/em>original <\/em>trial <\/em>had <\/em>known how <\/em>easily <\/em>Megrahi <\/em>could <\/em>travel <\/em>undetected to <\/em>Malta <\/em>it <\/em>could have strengthened the prosecution case”. <\/em>But <\/em>what he <\/em>failed to <\/em>add was what the SCCRC <\/em>actually <\/em>concluded about the <\/em>issue: <\/em>that <\/em>while <\/em>it <\/em>was <\/em>unhelpful to <\/em>his defence, <\/em>it <\/em>raised the question <\/em>of why <\/em>he <\/em>didn’t travel that way <\/em>on <\/em>the <\/em>crucial <\/em>dates <\/em>– <\/em>when <\/em>he used passports. <\/em>A terrorist <\/em>surely <\/em>would <\/em>have done <\/em>so. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Ashton <\/em>has <\/em>complained <\/em>formally <\/em>to the <\/em>BBC which <\/em>is <\/em>investigating.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest issue of Private Eye carries the following article, under the headline Source sauce, about the BBC’s recent tawdry scoop on Abdelbaset’s private life.   The BBC has failed to protect its journalistic sources over its recent “revelation” about … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPrivate Eye exposes the BBC's shabby behaviour - Megrahi: You are my Jury<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=458\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Private Eye exposes the BBC's shabby behaviour - 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