Megrahi: You are My Jury: The Lockerbie Evidence

by John Ashton

"Casts grave doubt on the validity of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi's conviction as the Libyan terrorist responsible for blowing up Pan Am Flight 103." --Arab News"You know me as the Lockerbie bomber. I know that I'm innocent. Here, for the first time, is my true how I came to be blamed for Britain's worst mass murder, my nightmare decade in prison and the truth about my controversial release. Please read it and decide for yourself. You are now my jury." --Abdelbaset al-MegrahiThis long-awaited book argues that, far from being an unrepentant terrorist, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the innocent victim of dirty politics, a flawed investigation and judicial folly. Based on exclusive interviews with Megrahi himself, and conclusive new evidence, it destroys the prosecution case and puts the Scottish criminal justice system in the dock. You Are My Jury makes a compelling argument that the murderers of the 270 Lockerbie victims were acting on behalf of an entirely different government, rather than Colonel Gadafy and Libya."Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the convicted 'Lockerbie bomber, ' who died earlier this year of cancer, never stopped seeking to clear his name, and this book, written by one of the lead researchers on Megrahi's appeal with the Megrahis' collaboration, documents perceived weaknesses of the Scottish state's case . . . Ashton's analysis of the evidence, though clearly partisan, is exhaustive and fascinating, highlighting how Megrahi's trial exemplified a rush to judgment viewed by many jurists as a miscarriage of justice." --Publishers Weekly

Genres: Nonfiction

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Ashton (1964- ) is a former journalist and researcher.

In 1993, he began research into the Lockerbie bombing. In 2000, he teamed up with Ian Fergusson with whom he undertook a forensic study of the trial of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi and Khalifa Fhima at the Scottish court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

Ashton now runs his own copyrighting agency, Write Arm. He lives in Brighton, England with his family.

Reviews

[Anita]

An extremely in-depth analysis of the Megrahi (Lockerbie) case. Turns out this book contains more than I ever needed or wanted to know, but top marks for the detail and for the work that's gone in to producing it.

[Duncan Maccoll]

My vote - not guilty. Magnificent book see also Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Bombings.

[Vicki Orr]

It would appear that Scotland's largest mass murder inquiry ended with a shocking miscarriage of justice. the evidence against Mr Megrahi was fatally flawed.

[William]

This book was incredibly detailed. I guess it had to be to explain all the players. Unfortunately even with all the book’s help, the evidence in this case is so murky it’s hard to make heads or tails of it.

What I’ve taken is that at best, Megrahi suffered miscarriages of justice and deserved a new trial. Failed disclosure, withheld and covered up findings and conclusions, witness identification bias, bad witnesses that changed their story 19 times, evidence that should’ve been presented that wasn’t that was exculpatory, strong back channel CIA involvement to name a few. At worst, there’s strong evidence of conspiracy and cover ups that makes you wonder whether this was actually a politically strategic ploy to make Libya pay.

There’s so much here that makes you genuinely question and be concerned that he didn’t commit the bombing - even before you consider the ridiculous outcome that his co-defendant was judged not guilty by the same judges despite much the same evidence. At the same time, there needs to be so many coincidences and perfect alignment of timing and people, for Megrahi to have been fully framed and pinned up. That’s not to say the US government haven’t done that before with relative ease though.

I think I might need to read another book. Presented with the totality of the evidence now, I’d struggle to come to a verdict either way. Maybe I lean more to thinking it was the Palestinian liberation front and not Megrahi.

Abdelbaset can’t reasonably explain why there is an undated entry in his friend’s (and Malta airport station manager) diary that says “Take/collect tags from the airport (Abdelbaset/Abdusalam)”. He states that these two people are two unrelated colleagues at Libyan Airlines who just happened to both concurrently in this context share his real and fake/coded passport name. You needed the tag in question to get a bag loaded at London for America as an interline baggage addition.

An AA battery with soldered yellow wire to it found in Christmas 1988 in a field was intriguing. The PLFP fronted German raids found similar designed elements in Khreesat’s designed bombs.

The premature destruction of evidence, including items self-described as military explosives, in only 1990 despite the appeals and international attention only further stoke the concerns of a conspiracy or cover up.

His strongest case for innocence was crown failing to prove the suitcase made it onto the plane at Luqa airport where he worked. That plus the fact that the inconsistency in tin or tin alloy coating of viable circuit boards showed that it was very unlikely that the prosecution’s purported board from the bomb was the one produced by the company Megrahi rented an office from.

[Sarah O'brien]

John Ashton has written the book well, and makes for compulsive reading. The book has been well researched, and I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the case.