WikiLeaks: Brits Bullied into Megrahi Release
The Guardian reports:
The British government's deep fears that Libya would take "harsh and immediate" action against UK interests if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish prison are revealed in secret US embassy cables that show London's full support for the early release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, made explicit and "thuggish" threats to halt all trade deals with Britain and harass embassy staff if Megrahi remained in jail, the cables show. At the same time "a parade of treats" was offered by Libya to the Scottish devolved administration if it agreed to let him go, though the cable says they were turned down.
Britain at the time was "in an awkward position" and "between a rock and a hard place". The London charge d'affaires, Richard LeBaron, wrote in a cable to Washington in October 2008. "The Libyans have told HMG [Her Majesty's Government] flat out that there will be 'enormous repercussions' for the UK-Libya bilateral relationship if Megrahi's early release is not handled properly."
This intelligence, the cable said, was confided to the US embassy by two British officials: Ben Lyons, in charge of north Africa for Downing Street, and Rob Dixon, his counterpart at the Foreign Office.
But Jack Straw, the former Labour justice secretary, denied that pressure from Libya had played any part in the decision to allow Megrahi to return to his home country. "Both Alex Salmond [the Scottish first minister] and the British government have said until they're blue in the face what is true is that this was a decision which was made by the Scottish government and by nobody else and they did it on the basis of their law and their practice so far as the release of people who have serious medical conditions on compassionate grounds," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said he felt that the cables did not "really add anything to what was already known".
"It was a matter of record that Libya wanted al-Megrahi released," Straw said. "It is also a matter of record that I signed up to a prisoner transfer agreement in 2007 in respect of general prisoner transfers with Libya, but that the agreement was never the vehicle for al-Megrahi's release. Indeed, he was refused transfer under the PTA and he instead was released under long-standing Scots law on compassionate grounds."
Straw, justice secretary at the time, insisted he had "nothing directly to do, or I think whatever to do with the release" and only heard about it while he was on holiday in Italy. "This was a decision that was made by the Scottish government and nobody else, they did it on the basis of their law and their practice so far as the release of people with serious medical conditions on compassionate grounds," he said.
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