AddThis utility frame: "Lockerbie bomber defends internet campaign
The Lockerbie bomber has defied prosecutors and his American victims’ families by publishing more documents as part of his internet campaign to clear his name.
By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor
Published: 3:45PM BST 02 Oct 2009
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi said he did not want to further upset those “profoundly affected” by the atrocity, in which 270 people were killed.
But he argued that the furore surrounding his release showed it was in the “wider public interest” to publish the documents, which formed part of his second appeal against his conviction.
Megrahi, who is terminally ill, dropped the appeal only days before being freed from prison on compassionate grounds and his return to Libya, where he was given a hero’s welcome.
Two weeks ago he published an initial 300-page dossier of evidence, but relatives of his American victims said they were disgusted by his “lobbying” campaign and there was no new evidence in the information posted online.
Elish Angiolini, Scotland’s Lord Advocate, the most senior prosecutor, has accused Megrahi of attempting to “retry his case in the media” and said the only way he could clear his name is in a courtroom.
She pointed out the decision to drop the appeal “was taken voluntarily” and was not a precondition for Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, to free him.
Stung by the criticism, the bomber defended his actions as he published of the second tranche of documents on his website, www.megrahimystory.net.
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