All language subtitles for Lockerbie 01x04

Court!

The whole case against them
is a fiction.

It's a lie. The entire prosecution case

rested on this... fragment
of electronic circuit board.

It was a clue,
but no one could identify it

until a forensic scientist at
the FBI did nearly a year later.

He matched it to timers they'd seized
from Libyan Intelligence agents.

British forensic scientists
agreed with the FBI.

Similar in all respects.

The timers that the fragment
circuit board came from

were made by MEBO, a Swiss
company owned by Edwin Bollier.

Yes, we supplied Libya

with 20 of these timers.

MEBO used long delay timers,

which are manually set to trigger the
bomb's detonator hours in advance.

So my question is, why put
the bomb onto two flights,

Malta to Frankfurt,
Frankfurt to Heathrow,

before it goes on the plane you want
to blow up? It doesn't make sense.

You run the risk of
your suitcase being found

by security at three airports.

It's clearly a ludicrous basis
for a prosecution.

Next...

Tony Gauci.

Now, he claims that Megrahi
bought from his shop

the clothes that were wrapped around
the bomb inside the suitcase.

But a year before he identified
Megrahi, he mentioned someone else.

Abu Talb, a terrorist with links
to Palestinian militant groups

operating out of Syria.

One of the Scottish Police's
first suspects.

The whole prosecution case against
Fhimah and Megrahi is full of holes.

It was presented as a foregone
conclusion from the very first day.

These men are guilty.
We will get a conviction.

Murtagh represented
the US Department of Justice.

He said that before the trial began,
but nothing has been proven.

But if it wasn't them, then who?

Iran. Syria.

- But, Jim, they moved on from them.
- There's more.

One of the prosecution's last witnesses

was a German Police explosives expert.

They wanted him to destroy
the Palestinian theory.

Remember the initial suspects,
the PFLP-GC?

Well, he did the opposite.

Flight 103 could only have been
brought down by a PFLP-GC device

if it had been primed
or put on board at Heathrow.

And a baggage handler at
Heathrow saw two suitcases.

There was two new suitcases
lying in the container.

I didn't put them there.

Was the bomb that killed Flora
in one of those suitcases?

Was the bomb loaded
onto the plane at Heathrow?

Is Iran behind it? Is Syria?

Did a member of the PFLP-GC
put the suitcase there?

Nothing in this whole case
adds up. Nothing.

Fhimah and Megrahi are both innocent.

Would you give me please your verdict

in respect of the named accused,
Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah?

Not guilty.

Would you give me please your verdict

in respect of the named accused,
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi?

Guilty.

He can't be...

He can't...

..for the crime of
murder is 20 years...

...life imprisonment...

...and that is the
sentence that we impose.

Jim?

Jim! Quick, get someone, please!

He's collapsed. Please, help me.

- Please, help me.
- Can we get someone in here?

Please get someone.

Jim, Jim, it's alright.

- Jim, it's alright.
- Need a doctor.

It's alright, Jim. Please...

Coming to us live from New York.

Reports are reaching us of a collision

involving a passenger plane

which appears to have struck
the World Trade Centre.

Let's go over
to our colleagues in New York.

..tip of Manhattan, you're
looking at the World Trade Centre.

We understand that a plane has
crashed into the World Trade Centre.

We don't know anything more than that.

We don't know if it was
a commercial aircraft.

We don't know if it was
a private aircraft.

We have no idea how many were on board,

or what the extent
of the injuries are right now.

Oh... Oh, my God!

A second plane.

It looks like a second plane
has hit the south tower

of the World Trade Centre.

Oh... Oh...

My God... Um, it looks...

to be a passenger jet.

The second plane...

Fucking terrorists.

Good luck with your appeal now, huh?

These acts of mass murder

were intended to frighten our nation
into chaos and retreat.

But they have failed.

These terrorists
will regard us all as targets.

More Muslim terror.

Forget political correctness.

Racially profile... Racial factor.

..number of hate crimes-

Four attempted arson
attacks on Arab businesses.

- Muslims threatened with gunfire.
- The target of hate...

- War on terror.
- War on terror.

- Terrorist.
- Terrorist.

Terrorism must be fought resolutely.

We will find those who did it.

We'll smoke them out of their holes
and we'll bring them to justice.

After a year of witnesses testifying,

al-Megrahi's appeal
against his life sentence

was refused earlier today

by a panel of five judges
at Camp Zeist, who concluded

that none of the grounds
of his appeal were well-founded.

No surprises there.

Mr Al Megrahi has been
flown to Scotland,

where he will serve
his 20-year life term

here at Barlinnie Prison,
outside Glasgow.

You better fucking watch yourself.

Youse gonna die, you dirty rag-head!

Welcome to Scotland.
You're screwed, pal.

If you want room service, just ring.

How are you, darling?

Exhausted.

- Sleep-deprived.
- Doesn't show.

Much.

Do you mind her being in here?

Her name's Isabel, Jim.

It's a bit odd, but...

I know why you've done it.

I want this room used again.

How are you, Dad?

Oh, you know...

No, I don't.

It's very difficult, obviously.

Megrahi lost his appeal.

- He's in prison now over...
- Shall we go downstairs, let her sleep?

But trying to get any information
about how he is,

- is proving impossible.
- You're still convinced of his innocence?

Of course.

You only have to
look at his failed appeal.

All kinds of new evidence heard,

new information about
the shopkeeper, Heathrow.

You know there was a break-in?

He has to appeal again.

- Jim! Jim! Jim, please.
- He has to show...

- Hello?
- Hey, Jim. Good news.

I've just heard Megrahi is being
granted application

- for a second appeal.
- Oh, that is fantastic.

He's also got rid of his legal team,
hired a new lawyer, Roddy McGill.

- He was with Fhimah's defence team.
- Yeah, well, Megrahi is obviously

hoping for the Midas touch.

Also, Jim, I found a detective who was
on the original investigation.

He wants to talk. Oh, I've gotta go.

Bryan?

What the hell are you doing here?

- I said no.
- Oh, you phoned me...

Aye, then I thought better of it.
Now, fuck off.

Look, I remember talking to you
a few weeks after Lockerbie

about the FBI, CIA. Possible
interference in the investigation.

- Evidence tampering.
- I...

I can't speak to you.
I'm still with the force.

Why call me out of the blue
14 years later?

You know there's been
a cover-up, don't you?

You're looking in the wrong place.

What do you mean?

Bryan...

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

Your source pan out?

Uh, no. He got spooked.

But, um, I'll give it
a couple more days

and try again.

I'd drop it, Guthrie.
There are bigger things going on.

Mr McGill.

I've got a Jim Swire here.

It's very good to meet you, Mr McGill.

Congratulations on getting Fhimah off.

Well, we're hoping
for a repeat performance.

Um... Shona Randall,
my senior associate.

John Ashton, our researcher.

As you can see, we're targeting
the prosecution's weak spots.

Tony Gauci being a big one.

I see you have
Robert Baer's name there.

Ex-CIA case officer who was
based in the Middle East.

You certainly need to talk to him.

What he says in that book about
Iran being behind the bomb

is potentially game-changing.
Yeah, I know, but...

I've had no response
from him or his publisher.

I do know he happens to have
a book tour coming up.

- What are Megrahi's chances?
- I'd say it's pretty good.

But it's up to the Scottish Criminal
Cases Review Commission, not us.

I will never understand it.

The prosecution built
its entire case around the claim

- that they acted together.
- I mean, even the UN observer

and the trial questioned how judges
came up with guilty in one case

- and not guilty in the other.
- Well, we need to make sure

the Review Commission
sees the absurdity of that.

It's a total miscarriage of justice.

As you can see, Dr Swire, we're in
the midst of doing exactly that.

I want to visit Mr Megrahi.

I fought long and hard for that trial.

I want to meet him.

All that blood on his hands.

How can you, of all people,

be able to be in the same room as him?

Did you kill my daughter?

No.

I did not.

Forgive me. I had to hear you say it.

Sometimes...

...it is best to be direct.

You must have other questions.

Ask.

How are you?

I will spend 20 years
in a foreign jail for a...

crime I did not commit.

My family have had to
move to this foreign country

where they are abused
and attacked daily.

I can't imagine what it must be
like for you, being in here.

With your family having to suffer that.

- Especially knowing what I know now.
- What do you know now?

That the case against you is a sham.

A travesty of justice.

And I will do everything in my power

to help you, Mr Megrahi.

Get your conviction overturned.

I...

I am intrigued.

It is to absolve your guilt?

Like I said, Dr Swire,
sometimes it's best to be direct.

You are here partly
because of my actions.

Not a day goes by without
my bitterly regretting that.

I was led to believe that the
evidence against you was watertight.

- Incontestable.
- Yes.

They did their best.

They lied, deceived.

They succeeded.

Dr Swire...

my country Libya is paying
for my legal fees.

I have new legal team
after the failure...

...of my first appeal.

So, please tell me,

why do I need you to help me?

What do you expect, Dr Swire?

I would embrace you as my saviour?

No, that's not what I expect at all.

I have to do something.

Because if you do not...

we may never find out
who killed your daughter.

Yes.

So in truth, it's not about
me at all, is it, Dr Swire?

Perhaps not.

Not entirely.

I wear this badge for my daughter.

And now wear it also for you,
Mr Megrahi.

And simply for what it says.

The truth must be known.

Please...

...call me Baset.

I thought I might find you here.

You're hard to get hold of these days.

Good to see you, Jim.

- How long has it been? Nearly a year?
- Something like that.

- You on your way to Skye?
- I visited Barlinnie this morning.

You never cease to amaze.

What if I got you
an interview with Baset?

- Baset?
- I can arrange it. I can speak to him,

- speak to his appeal team...
- Megrahi's not news, Jim.

The last time I wrote
anything about Lockerbie,

buried on page eight, two columns.

The world and my editor wants
9/11 and the war on terror.

- I'm being left behind.
- You can interview both of us.

The father of Flora Swire and the
innocent man convicted of her murder.

Then the press would murder you, Jim.

Believe me, that's not
the exposure you're wanting.

The... Look, Jim...

The thing is,

most people think he did it.

And now, most people
just want to forget.

Bye, darling. Take care. Love you.
Drive safely now.

I do.

How was Cathy? Isabel?

What?

It saddens me you have to ask that.

They're fine, Jim.

How is he?

Struggling.

I think he appreciated my visit.

Did you not want me to go?

I'm not sure it matters
what I say anymore.

He's all you talk about.
You know that, don't you?

I'm trying to get him freed.

Hmm.

You've not asked one of us
directly what we think.

You've never wanted to sit down
and discuss it as a family.

You just assume we're behind you,
supporting you.

Is that what the children think?

Well, why can't they just
come and speak to me?

Because they don't think
you listen, Jim, and you don't.

You haven't noticed
they hardly come here anymore.

There are too many bad memories.

But this-this is where they grew up.
This is where they all grew up.

I think we should move.

I'm not leaving this house!

I want to be closer to my
children, to my grandchildren.

I want to be around life, not death.

Not-Not death every
single minute of the day.

Would I rejoin the CIA if I was asked?

With all due respect,

have you read any of my books?

Thank you.

Jim Swire, as I live and breathe.

Professional thorn in the side,
just like me.

- How are you?
- It's good to meet you, Bob.

This is John Ashton
from Megrahi's appeal team.

Of course. Let me finish up here.

I'll meet you guys in
the next room to this in ten.

No prying ears.

Damn good to meet you, Jim.

Look, Lockerbie is very simple.
It was Iran's revenge.

For the Americans
shooting down their Airbus?

Like I say in the book, the CIA
had known about it all along.

The bombing of Flight 103
was conceived,

authorized and financed by Iran.

They paid the Syrian-based
PFLP-GC to do it.

The bomb was made
by a PFLP-GC bomb maker,

a Jordanian named Marwan Khreesat.

We know that they were raided
by German police in October 1988.

- The Autumn Leaves operation.
- Yeah.

They arrested
some of their main players,

but others slipped through the net.

They only found four explosive devices.

Lost track of the fifth.

I believe that was the bomb
that killed your daughter, Jim.

Your guy, Megrahi,

had nothing to do with it.

You talk about a meeting.

The Iranians met with
the PFLP-GC people in Beirut.

We had telephone intercepts
of them discussing it.

Two days after Lockerbie,

Iran transferred $11 million
into a PFLP-GC bank account.

We have records of the transfer.

Hell, we had ironclad proof.

Handed over our intel to the US
Administration. What did they do?

One look, quietly shelved it.

- Why?
- There were bigger problems.

Like Saddam Hussein.

Once he invaded Kuwait in 1990,
suddenly everything changed.

We were at war, and we needed
Iran and Syria on our side,

so the heat was off them,
sands shifted.

- They pointed the finger at Libya.
- A rogue state,

proven terrorist links, developing
weapons of mass destruction.

Gaddafi was the top of our hit list.

Plus, we needed to throw
some kind of bone

to the victims' grieving families.

Libya was that bone.

This has to go
into the submission, John.

The Review Commission have
to know about this.

Would you speak to them?
Go on the record?

Sure.

I'll talk to whoever you want,
but it won't make a difference.

Right now, Libya is
right where we want them.

Tomorrow, that could all be flipped.

Libya has oil, remember.

Suddenly Gaddafi will be back in
favour,

or he'll buy his way back into favour.

And Megrahi will stay guilty
for as long as they need him to.

It's all transactional, Jim...

so tread carefully.

You don't want to be
on loose footing when the sands shift.

There it is, our full
report ready to be submitted

to the Scottish Criminal
Cases Review Commission.

Where's the champagne, then?

On ice. For now, it's the pub.

We have to get it accepted first.

We appreciate what you've
gone through to help out.

How long will it take
the Review Commission to decide?

Well, they're professionals,
they know what they're doing.

Thank you.

It's a man's incarceration
we're talking about.

I'd say a year...

...maybe less.

They took their time...

but the Review Commission have finally

delivered their statement of reasons.

They rejected all of our submissions.

Shit.

Apart from six.

Six grounds for referral
back to an Appeal Court.

The first ground of referral.

Unreasonable verdict.

The judges were satisfied
the purchase of clothing

was made from Gauci's shop on
December 7th, 1988,

when Megrahi was in Malta.

But Tony Gauci was never clear
on the exact purchase date.

He tell the court a Libyan customer
buy umbrella from his shop

because it's raining outside.

My defence team called
Malta's chief meteorologist...

Who said there was no rain
on the 7th of December.

Yes, but...

there was rain on the 23rd of November.

The only other potential purchase
date matching Gauci's statement...

and I was not on Malta
on the 23rd of November.

- Baset?
- Please...

I must use bathroom.

Referral grounds two and three,

undisclosed evidence relating

to Gauci's identification of Megrahi,

and the date when the clothes
were purchased from his shop.

Thank you.

When the Commission looked into this...

Everything alright?

...they found that Gauci
actually gave 23 statements,

and he was visited by the Scottish
Police, Jim, more than 50 times.

- 50?
- 50.

You remember, only 19 of his statements
were given to my defence team.

The details of these meetings,
they have never been revealed.

What else did Gauci
claim in them, I wonder?

By withholding this information,

the Crown denied the defence
items of real importance...

in undermining the Crown case.

Fourth referral. Undisclosed evidence

about Gauci's interest in rewards.

The commission discovered
three Scottish police documents

that suggested that Gauci...

Gauchi was aware
that a substantial reward

was an offer from the US Government.

A reward for giving evidence?

Jesus! Did he get paid?

Referral five. Undisclosed
secret intelligence documents.

Last year, the Crown
informed the commission

of two classified documents
held at Dumfries police station.

The commission believes non-disclosure

of one of the documents indicates...

that a miscarriage of justice
may have occurred.

That is what we were waiting for.

Music to my ears.

It's all centered, everything,
on Gauci's evidence.

They seem to have dismissed
pretty much everything else.

There's nothing here
about Robert Baer, PFLP-GC.

There's nothing whatsoever
about the timer fragment.

You're frustrated.

I'm happy for you, of course, I am.

But there's nothing in here that
helps us discover what did happen.

Nothing that gets us
closer to the truth.

It's, uh...

You would say, one step at a time.

So, Jim, one step at a time.

I didn't think I'd see you again.

So you left the Dumfries force?

Megrahi got his second appeal.

Second appeal.
Possible miscarriage of justice.

And the Crown with a hell of
a lot of questions to answer.

Including one about
undisclosed secret documents

held at your police station.

I'll drive. You talk.

One of these documents is a
letter from the King of Jordan

to the then Prime Minister John Major,

intimating that the Libyans
were innocent of the crime.

It points the finger at the PFLP-GC
and the bomb maker Marwan Khreesat,

who is believed by many,

including and according to
Robert Baer and most of the CIA,

to have built the bomb
that brought down Flight 103.

Now, these documents were known
to the Crown during the trial,

and they withheld them
from the defence.

We're still not allowed to see them.

So what are we talking about here?

A cover-up? Was Megrahi framed?

Whatever it is, they want to keep
it buried. It's mucky as hell.

So why are you still standing here?

Go and talk to people and find out
what they're not telling us.

Then write the bloody thing.

Jim, it's Murray.

Good to hear from you, Murray.

Wait till you hear
what I've got for you.

- Front page?
- Without a doubt.

What do you mean we can't publish it?

- We want to...
- But you can't.

- Phil Marsden, our lawyer.
- Why the hell not?

We ran the story past the FCO
for comment.

I got a call back
threatening legal action.

You don't think that's
just scare tactics?

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband,

has issued a public interest
immunity certificate, a PII.

- What?
- For reasons of national security.

To protect the contents
of certain documents.

These documents your source
is talking about

may well be the same ones
Megrahi's defence team

were denied access to under that PII.

We're still going to print it, right?

- Publish and be damned and all that?
- You'll be damned, and I'll be sued.

And your legal fees alone will
mean this newspaper goes down.

I just don't get it.
The documents in that safe,

- they're over 20 years old.
- Makes no matter.

This is the long arm of the state.

For national security,
read intelligence services, MI6,

CIA, who knows who else?
Protected like they always are...

You said you'd publish it.

You phoned me up and
you told me you'd publish it.

- Yeah, I know, but...
- No.

Take it somewhere else. Someone will
print it. Someone not afraid of them.

Not gonna do that.

Give it to me.

I will.

I'm not going to let them
get away with it.

This is serious.

You need to see sense.
You could be sued.

I could be sued.

You ever think this might
be a lost cause, Jim?

That they will never
allow us to know the truth?

I never thought I'd hear you say that.

I'm so sorry, but it's cancer.

Prostate cancer.

Will he survive?

I'm afraid I don't know
the answer to that.

I'm sorry.

How is he?

Thank you.

How're you doing?

Please, go sit down.

OK. I can do it. I can do it.

You have been told?

Yes.

Is it...

severe?

Yes. Yes, it is.

But I've had patients who fought
their cancer, who beat it.

And you, Baset, you're a fighter.

Mmm.

I don't want to die here, Jim.

I don't want that either.

I don't want my family
to see me die here.

I want to go home to die.

Jim...

...the UK and Libya are negotiating

a prisoner transfer agreement.

I heard.

I will be instructing my Libyan
lawyers to make an application to...

...return home and serve
whatever time I have left there.

And what about your appeal?

You think I would give it up?

If Prisoner Transfer is granted,
you'll be in Libya.

Jim...

OK...

...I have said to you before,
I will say it again.

I will not go down in history
as a Lockerbie bomber.

I will not let them do that to me.

I will never give up my appeal.

Whether I am here,

in Libya, dead or alive...

my appeal will go to court.

Trust me and you will get
what you want.

My name will be cleared,

and you will go on and find out
who really did this.

Baset, I'm afraid there's a problem.

Under Scottish law...

...to be considered for a PT,

a prisoner can't have
an appeal ongoing.

You'd have to give it up.

Baset, there is another way.

You're released
on compassionate grounds.

You'll be examined
by three separate doctors

who will decide...

how long you have to live.

And if it's less than three months,

then there's a good possibility

that you will return home
and you can keep your appeal.

These are the options.

You must decide.

Well, we have beliefs
and values in Scotland that

those who perpetrate crimes,
certainly heinous atrocities

such as this,
should be brought to justice.

That has been done.

Equally, we recognise that justice
has to be tempered by mercy.

That there has to be
the ability to recognise

that although he did not show
compassion to the victims,

that doesn't mean that we should
lower our beliefs, or our values.

A campaign for the release of the man

convicted of the Lockerbie bombing
was launched today.

Justice for Megrahi is appealing
for the early release

of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
on compassionate grounds.

I just think it is absolutely
wrong to release someone

who has been imprisoned
based on evidence,

about his involvement
in such a horrendous crime.

I think this is a very bad decision.

This man was convicted
of murdering 270 people.

Some claim economic influences were key

to the deal struck by Tony Blair
and Colonel Gaddafi

on the potential release
of the Lockerbie bomber,

the so-called "deal in the desert."

The fact that Libyan
oil reserves are now understood

to be far greater than they may have
thought to have been in the past...

shouldn't be overlooked.

Megrahi will continue with his appeal,

and regardless of opinion
on his conviction,

the Justice For Megrahi campaign
urges the Scottish government

to send Mr Megrahi back to Libya
on compassionate grounds.

Jim, take it off.

Please. Not here. Not today.

I'm not ashamed.

- I'll look them in the eye.
- For us...?

Do it for us.

John Michael Gerard Ahern.

Sarah Margaret Aicher.

John David Ackerstrom.

Ronald Ely Alexander.

Thomas Joseph Ammerman.

Bridget Concannon.

Thomas Concannon.

Roger Elwood Hurst.

Elizabeth Sophie Ivell.

Andrew Alexander Teran.

Arva Anthony Thomas.

Jonathan Ryan Thomas.

Flora McDonald Margaret Swire.

I don't know what he thinks he's doing.

This should be about
remembrance, not politics.

I can't believe he's here.

It's a disgrace.
He's befriended a killer.

Lovely to see you again.

Four grandkids myself actually. Yeah.

Is it Ellen?

- Jane's spoken a lot about you.
- Sorry. This is...

- Jim, my husband.
- Yes, I know. Hello, Jim.

Look, I'm sorry, I think we're
running low on hot water.

I'll see you shortly.

Um, I'd like to go.

Everyone here agrees
with me, the world agrees.

Releasing Megrahi would be insane,
immoral, reprehensible.

He has to serve his time
here in Scotland.

Then they can send his ashes
back to Libya in a casket.

Jim. Jim!

Can't you see it from their
point of view for one second?

It is so completely irrational.

Who are you to decide
what's rational or irrational?

Maybe this appeal isn't rational
to them.

Maybe none of this is rational

to people who process their
grief by moving forwards

rather than scrambling around
in the past.

They're hurt and they're angry.

- And completely fixated on one man.
- Oh, not like you, then?

That's how they cope.

- This is how you cope.
- I am not coping.

Oh, yes, of course. You're doing
this for Flora. What you always say.

But it's not about Flora anymore, Jim.

It's not even about him.

You have visitors.

You're just doing anything
you can to avoid grieving.

- That is simply not true.
- Jim!

You can't sit still.

You can't be silent for one moment
to take in what happened to us.

If you did, then you'd
see the-the damage.

- You're saying this is my fault?
- No. I'm to blame, too.

But you're missing everything, Jim.

We need you now before it's too late.

Baset has promised me
he's committed to fighting this.

Once his appeal is over,

we will find out who really did this.