A high-profile Lockerbie campaigner has called for the Scottish Government to agree to an independent inquiry into the bombing to address the otherwise "indelible stain" on the country's justice system.

Former MP Tam Dalyell's call yesterday follows a growing public demand for an independent inquiry into the atrocity.

Following Sunday's death from cancer of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, a list of 42 well-known signatories including Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for an inquiry.

They claimed Scotland's criminal justice system had become a "mangled wreck" as a result of the Lockerbie conviction.

The names on the list include former hostage Terry Waite, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, and relatives of the victims including Jean Berkley, Dr Jim Swire and the Reverend John Mosey.

Mr Dalyell, a former Father of the House of Commons, told The Herald: "The SNP Government and Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill in particular are burying their heads in the sand on the Lockerbie issue. If they were to admit that Mr Megrahi had nothing to do with the crime of Lockerbie they would then by implication condemn the very institution which shows Scotland to be most separate from England – the justice system.

"The reason to pursue an inquiry after Megrahi's death, is that to not do so would leave an indelible stain on the Scottish justice system. It is about pursuing the truth. I simply do not think party politics should be played on this. If people or parties have to be embarrassed then so be it because they will have brought it on themselves by being less than candid. For the sake of the Scottish justice system we can not let this go."

The former Labour minister also criticised Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont for her criticism of Megrahi in public.

"I was very sad to hear Johann Lamont's comments because she did not look at the merits of the case," he said. "It is wrong to go on national television and apologise on behalf of the people of Scotland without having read the report of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC ) nor the book by John Ashton. I was dismayed by her attitude."

Earlier this week Ms Lamont used the death of the Libyan to launch an attack on the SNP Government. She said: "Megrahi was convicted by a Scots court, under Scots law, of the greatest act of mass murder in Scottish history. Three years ago the Scottish Government chose to release him on the pretext he had just three months to live. That was an insult to the victims.

"At this moment let me, on behalf of the people of Scotland, apologise to the families of all the victims of the Lockerbie bombing, for his early release."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The issues now being raised relate to the conviction itself, and that must be a matter for a court of law. Mr Megrahi was convicted in a court of law, his conviction was upheld on appeal, and that is the only appropriate place for his guilt or innocence to be determined.

"As was made clear by the Cabinet Secretary in his statement to the Scottish Parliament in February, it remains open for relatives of Mr Megrahi or the relatives of the victims of the Lockerbie atrocity to ask the SCCRC to refer to the case to the Appeal Court again."