{"id":497,"date":"2012-03-24T11:29:07","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T11:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=497"},"modified":"2012-03-24T11:29:07","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T11:29:07","slug":"the-crown-office-strikes-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=497","title":{"rendered":"The Crown Office strikes back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Daily Record has today published the following article under the headline <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyrecord.co.uk\/news\/uk-world-news\/2012\/03\/24\/lockerbie-bomber-al-megrahi-s-appeal-had-more-holes-than-swiss-cheese-86908-23799636\/\"><em>Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi&#8217;s appeal &#8220;had more holes than Swiss cheese&#8221;<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on an unattributable briefing by a Crown Office source. This strengthens my view that the Crown Office is panicking and is gearing up for a media fightback. Watch this space.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>THE Lockerbie bomber\u2019s case that he was the victim of a massive miscarriage of justice is \u201criddled with inconsistencies\u201d, the Daily Record can reveal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sources said Abdelbaset al-Megrahi came up with 40 reasons why he was \u201cwrongly convicted\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This was whittled down to just six by Scotland\u2019s appeals watchdog \u2013 which prosecutors were sure they could tear apart.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A Crown Office source said: \u201cWhen you put them under the microscope, his case starts to fall apart even more. They are full of contra-dictions and do not add up.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFor instance, he includes assertions that he never visited Malta when, in fact, we know and can prove that he did. His grounds for appeal has more holes than a Swiss cheese.\u201d <\/em>[Note: Abdelbaset\u2019s grounds of appeal contained no such assertion.]<\/p>\n<p><em>The news came after a massive row at the heart of Scotland\u2019s justice system.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Angered by leaks over Megrahi\u2019s appeal, the country\u2019s top prosecutor gave the OK to publish the killer\u2019s reasons. But appeals watchdog the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission refused and hid behind data protection laws.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>In a letter, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC said \u201crecent selective and misleading\u201d reports of extracts from the Statement of Reasons in Megrahi\u2019s case had created a \u201chighly unsatisfactory situation\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Mr Mulholland confirmed that, given the \u201cexceptional circumstances,\u201d it would not be in the public interest to prosecute a member of the commission over leaks if publication went ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: \u201cThe Lord Advocate\u2019s letter is hopefully a significant step forward in achieving publication.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Campaigner Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora, 24, died in the 1988 bombing, said: \u201cI am glad the Crown Office want these reasons published.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Daily Record has today published the following article under the headline Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi&#8217;s appeal &#8220;had more holes than Swiss cheese&#8221;.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on an unattributable briefing by a Crown Office source. This strengthens my view that the Crown &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.megrahiyouaremyjury.net\/?p=497\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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-497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Crown Office strikes back - 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=497\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Crown Office strikes back - Megrahi: You are my Jury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Daily Record has today published the following article under the headline Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi&#8217;s appeal &#8220;had more holes than Swiss cheese&#8221;.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on an unattributable briefing by a Crown Office source. 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