UK in stand-off with US over Lockerbie row investigation
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, July 23, IRNA -- Britain is locked in a stand-off over the Senate's request for former justice secretary, Jack Straw, and Scottish minister, Kenny MacAskill, to testify in an investigation over the release of Lockerbie prisoner, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Straw expressed unease about attending a Senate committee hearing, saying that it would be "highly unusual" to expect a British MP to answer in Washington for decisions made in London, while MacAskill flatly turned down the request.
There were reports that former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had been asked to appear before the Senate foreign relations committee, but this was denied by his spokesman.
The row centres over last year’s release on compassionate grounds of al-Megrahi, a former Libyan agent, who is the only person convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing over Scotland in which all 279 passengers and crew were killed, including 189 Americans.
The release has been linked with BP signing a $20 billion oil contract with Libya and a prisoner exchange deal agreed by Blair but this has been denied by Scotland’s devolved government.
MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary, who ordered the release, formally turned down an invitation to appear before the Senate committee, with a Scottish government spokesperson, saying "comprehensive information and assistance" had already been provided.
In a statement, Straw said he would be consulting Gordon Brown, who was prime minister, when al-Megrahi was freed, and be seeking advice from the Foreign Office, before coming to any decision as to whether to accept the invitation.
“It is in my experience highly unusual for the legislature of one sovereign state to conduct an inquiry into decisions of another sovereign state, including, as in this case, decisions by the devolved administration on the release of the prisoner,” he said.
“There are therefore important issues of principle here which could affect UK governments of any party and which need carefully to be considered before I come to a final view," said Straw, who has also previously served as Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary.
The Senate investigation comes despite Prime Minister, David Cameron, tried to ease transatlantic tensions by announcing a review himself of the Lockerbie papers.
Al-Megrahi was released from his Scottish jail after being reportedly diagnosed with terminal cancer but was given a hero’s welcome when he returned to Libya in August 2009 and has since defied expectations that he only had a few months to live.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 1242170
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