Megrahi death will not end battle for justice

Pale and tired, he coughed for a long time before he could greet us. I had written about the Lockerbie case for more than eight years, but this was the first time I had seen the person the courts held responsible. It was his first and last full-length interview in English.

After spending years in prisons in Scotland since his conviction in 2001, he spoke in a slight Scottish accent of not missing the "dreich" weather of Greenock. Such language sounded alien spoken in Tripoli in temperatures of 38˚C.

It was August 28, 2009, and the fury surrounding his release from HMP Greenock was palpable across the globe.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama had spoken publicly of their outrage. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, ultimately responsible for making the decision to release him, was facing calls for his resignation.

Many of the relatives of the 270 people killed in the December 1988 tragedy, particularly those in America, spoke of retribution.

While Mr MacAskill spoke of compassion and of a higher power ultimately deciding Megrahi's fate, several of the American relatives called for him to suffer and die in prison in Scotland.

Their enduring anger is understandable, but so many questions have been raised in relation to Megrahi's conviction since his trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands that it is difficult not to at least consider he may have been the wrong man.

Not only did Scotland show itself to be compassionate – despite the public defiance of the US – but many here were willing to contemplate the possibility that Megrahi may have been wrongly convicted.

Despite the pain so obviously wracking his body and the coughs punctuating his sentences, Megrahi insisted he wanted to show his gratitude to The Herald for writing about the case impartially for so many years, and said he needed to tell people about his innocence and the details of his second appeal, which was over before it had even begun.

"It is all about my family," he said. "People have said there was pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities, but it wasn't anything like this."

He agreed to drop his legal appeal and put his faith in an appeal for compassion. He was impressed, he said, by Mr MacAskill during their meeting at Greenock Prison.

"I thought he was a very decent man and he gave me a chance to say what I wanted and to express myself," he added.

However, Megrahi was highly critical of Scottish police and the justice system. "I was supposed to receive a fair trial and I was supposed to be subject to fair procedure," he said.

"From day one of the trial there were delays and delays from the Crown Office. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission found at least six grounds of appeal and said there were six grounds on which it may have been a miscarriage of justice.

"From that point we asked the Crown for more documents and more papers.

"We received only some of them and they were still redacted. Most of the pages were [blacked out] and I think this is shameful. They were supposed to give us everything."

Referring to the revelation a decade ago that some of the police notebooks recording the aftermath of the tragedy had been destroyed, Megrahi said: "It is very strange the police forces that dealt with the case – and there were more than 400 officers – it is very strange that many of their notebooks went missing.

"When one officer was asked about a notebook, he said it was destroyed. I find this very strange.

"Surely to destroy the notebooks of so many people is a decision that someone must have made? This is not fair and is a big question mark about the case."

At the time he said his priority was to spend time with his five children. "It was always my dream to come back to my family," he said.

"It was in my prayers every day and when I received the diagnosis even more so."

The appeal, which was referred back in June 2007 but did not begin until April 2009, was beset by delays – many of them a result of the Crown Office and others, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, refusing to hand over documents vital to the case.

Had it been heard, Megrahi was not the only one convinced he would have been acquitted. Whether he was innocent or not, his conviction was expected to be overturned.

As his children rallied around him at his home in Tripoli, offering water to assuage the coughs, he pointed out that the "truth never dies".

Since then, Megrahi's official biography by John Ashton has been published, as has the full 800-page report of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. But with his death, the questions still far outnumber the answers.

British relatives continue to call for a public inquiry, which Megrahi said he would support. "In my view, it is unfair to the victims' families that this has not been heard," he said.

"It would help them to know the truth. If the UK guaranteed it, I would be very supportive.

"I would want to help Dr [Jim] Swire [whose daughter was killed in the bombing] and the others with the documents I hold. My feeling is the UK Government will avoid a public inquiry because it would be a headache for them and the Americans."

As a person, the man with a reputation for masterminding the worst terrorist atrocity in Britain seemed oddly quiet, calm and friendly. He appeared devoted to his family and his children showed him a level of respect and tenderness often absent in British homes.

He talked of his devotion and the fact that, since his imprisonment, he had prayed six times a day rather than the traditional five. The sixth was a prayer for his family, for the mother he phoned every night since he was taken to Camp Zeist and for the hope he would see them again.

Time has run out now. His prayers were answered in that he had an opportunity to see his family again.

However, for those looking for definitive answers to the endless questions about what really happened to Pan Am flight 103 and who should be ultimately held responsible, the years of frustration continue.