Lockerbie: A Search for Truth (2025) s01e05 Episode Script
Episode 5
1
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
JANE: I think we should move.
- I'm not leaving this house!
- I want to be around life, not death.
Not death,
every single minute of the day.
- Guilty.
- He can't be
The case against you
is a travesty of justice.
The entire prosecution case
rested on this.
The tracks on the fragment
are of copper,
covered by a layer of pure tin.
What is this?
No, this is not the same fragment.
JIM: And I will do everything
in my power to help you.
I've just heard Megrahi is being
granted a second appeal.
But there's nothing in here that
helps us discover what did happen.
CRAWFORD: Was Megrahi framed?
Whatever it is,
they want to keep it buried.
I'm so sorry, but it's prostate cancer.
MEGRAHI: I don't want to die here, Jim.
I don't want that either.
RODERICK: There's a good possibility
that you're released
on compassionate grounds
and you can keep your appeal.
MEGRAHI:
I will never give up my appeal.
My name will be cleared,
and you will go on and find out
who really did this.
LIBYAN OFFICIAL: (SPEAKING ARABIC)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(SCREAMING)
(SOMBRE, PIANO MUSIC)
(GATE CREAKS OPEN)
Oh.
(DOOR UNLOCKING)
You're going to miss us.
Mmm (CHUCKLES)
Yes, of course.
It's for you.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(ENGINE STARTS)
(MOTORCYCLE ENGINES REVVING)
(GENTLE MUSIC)
NEWS: Britain's biggest
mass murderer is now a free man,
shown mercy by
Scotland's Justice Secretary.
NEWS: Mister al-Megrahi now faces a
sentence imposed by a higher power.
REPORTER 1: Justice Secretary knew
his decision
would be welcomed and reviled.
REPORTER 2: The FBI director sent
a letter
to Scotland's justice officials
blasting their decision
to release Abdelbaset
REPORTER 3: The decision gives
comfort to terrorists
around the world
This man was convicted
of murdering 270 people.
He showed no compassion to them.
Served only eight years, and
that works out at about two weeks
for every one of the lives he took.
REPORTER 3:
Liberty comes at a price.
Expected to die within months,
he will do so a guilty man.
REPORTER 4: Downing Street released
a letter written by
Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
asking the Libyan leader
to handle Megrahi's arrival
with sensitivity.
REPORTER 5: requested that
the Libyan authorities
keep Megrahi's return low-key.
It was anything but.
Alongside Megrahi was
Colonel Gaddafi's son,
Saif al-Islam.
(PAUSE BUTTON CLICKS)
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Hello, Jim Swire.
Jim, Lance Ferguson from the Mirror.
You've got the TV on, right?
- Yes.
- How are you feeling right now?
You campaigned for Megrahi to go home,
and this is how he thanks you.
Have you been played, Jim?
Has Megrahi killed your search
for justice stone dead?
(PHONE BEEPS OFF)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
(ELEVATOR DINGS)
Jim, how long have you been waiting?
A couple of hours.
I couldn't reach you on your phone.
We've been in meetings all day, and
Roddy's tied up in another case.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Come through.
I don't know why
he abandoned his appeal.
We fought so hard for him.
Why did he do it?
The Libyans requested Megrahi's release
under a prisoner transfer agreement
between Libya and the UK,
but, of course, he was convicted
in a Scottish court,
and under Scottish law, a prisoner
transfer cannot be granted
if there's an ongoing appeal,
which obviously there was.
That still left compassionate release,
which Megrahi met the criteria for.
Terminally ill, no more than
three months to live.
And, crucially,
he didn't need to drop his appeal.
The case would have still gone
to the appeal court,
even if he was in Libya.
Even if he were to die in Libya.
Well, that's what
he promised me would happen.
His appeal would go on
no matter where he was.
Then, at the eleventh hour,
he seems to have changed his mind.
When he told us, Roddy was devastated.
And it all happened so quickly.
He was smuggled out of the country
before anyone could notice.
Did he leave anything for me?
A message, letter?
Nothing.
I only have, um, his address
and telephone number in Tripoli.
(CLEARS THROAT) May I have it?
I mean, surely
his hand must have been forced.
We may never find out.
And maybe that's for the best.
(PAPER TEARING)
Thank you, John.
(CLEARS THROAT)
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LINE RINGING)
REPORTER: Reportedly living
in the family villa
in an upmarket area of Tripoli,
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,
the convicted Lockerbie bomber,
is still alive after nine months.
ROBERT MENENDEZ: Very much alive,
and very much free,
living in the lap of luxury,
by all accounts.(LINE RINGING)
REPORTER 2:
He only had three months to live,
may actually live another ten years.
REPORTER 2:
The medical evidence seems to be,
when you look at it closely,
highly suspect.
LEILA RICHARDS: Nearly one year on,
Mr al-Megrahi is still alive.
(LINE RINGING)
Correct.
Have you been in contact with him?
I've tried,
but I've been unable to reach him.
Dr Swire, has al-Megrahi
got away with it?
A cancer prognosis,
as any doctor knows,
- is an inexact science.
- Yes.
And the inference that he is somehow
"getting away with it,"
frankly, I find that offensive.
Why else would he drop his appeal?
I, and many other members
of the UK Families group,
believe that the authorities pushed
Mr al-Megrahi to drop his appeal
so that they would
never be held to account
for the false conviction
of an innocent man.
And that is why I consider
Mr al-Megrahi
to be the 271st victim of Lockerbie.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
You realise how many people will
find that offensive?
The purpose is not to offend people.
The purpose is to find the truth.
(SIGHS)
Thank you.
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
- Where are you going?
- Out.
- Where?
- God knows. I just need some air.
I wish sometimes you'd think about us
before you open your mouth to them.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
Alright. Alright, alright.
Murray.
Long time no see, Jim.
I thought you'd given up on us.
Well, this story's got a funny way
of pulling me back in.
Well
Jane is over at Cathy's. She, um
(DOOR CLOSES)
She spends quite a bit of time
there with the grandkids.
Right.
Order tends to break down.
Ah, no milk. Sorry.
Mmm.
(CLEARS THROAT)
You look exhausted.
Have you been following
the WikiLeaks story?
Uh No, not really.
It's a media organisation
that's been leaking secret
and classified information online.
It's linked to all sorts of stuff.
Assassinations in Somalia,
government corruption in Kenya,
Guantanamo Bay,
and thousands upon thousands
of US embassy cables.
Well, we've read a few of those.
(CHUCKLES)
Everything that the powers that be
don't want us to see.
And I found something.
Buried amongst it all.
About Megrahi.
The Libyans made a direct threat
to the UK.
What do you mean, "threat"?
They wanted Megrahi out. Home. ASAP.
If he died in prison here,
then all trade, political ties,
would be ceased immediately.
Trade with Libya means only one thing.
Oil.
You remember when Tony Blair
met Gaddafi in 2004?
The "Deal in the Desert"? Aye?
Well, they met again in 2007,
and BP signed a £90million deal.
And in that second meeting,
Blair and Gaddafi
signed a prisoner transfer agreement.
And I reckon that was
only ever about one man.
Megrahi.
Yeah. The British wanted into
those oil fields desperately,
and Gaddafi suddenly is
threatening to rip it all up.
They had no choice but to sign.
So do you think
the Labour government put pressure
on the Scottish government
to release him?
Well, they claim they didn't,
but it's on record.
Kenny MacAskill took phone calls
from Jack Straw,
Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister
at the time.
And after that,
MacAskill met with Megrahi
and his Libyan lawyers in private.
It caused an outrage at the time.
Now, we don't know
what was said in those meetings,
but what we do know
is we've got two sides,
both wanting what the other had.
With Megrahi at the centre of it,
all reduced to a political pawn.
Aye.
Makes you wonder what was behind him
dropping his appeal.
REPORTER 1: The former Labour
government has been accused
of organised hypocrisy.
DAVID CAMERON: The Americans, they
wanted Megrahi to die in prison,
but saying privately to the Libyans
that they wanted him released.
REPORTER 2: I'd like to know if
there was some kind of
illicit deal here. There was a story
in many of the newspapers
that this was done particularly
by the British government
in return for getting an oil
contract. That would be despicable.
REPORTER 3: We need to know what
this oil deal was all about
and whether there was a compromise
to the judicial system
for commercial gain.
INTERVIEWER: Some of your citizens
believe that it was the result
of a deal, and that deal
had to do with oil.
There was no deal. I can give you an
absolute, unconditional assurance
NEWS: The so-called Arab Spring
appears to be spreading
to Libya today, as hundreds of
anti-government protesters
have clashed with police
in Libya's second city, Benghazi.
Gaddafi, go away. We don't want you.
Neither you or your family.
REPORTER 4:
Colonel Gaddafi is crazy.
They're worried he will kill
and kill and kill
just to save his regime.
REPORTER 5: This is not
an Egyptian-style protest movement.
This is a war for Libya.
HILLARY CLINTON: And the people of
Libya have made themselves clear.
It is time for Gaddafi to go.
REPORTER 6: The rebel-held east
of Libya had been staring at defeat,
but now they're tasting victory.
REPORTER 7: A degree of chaos
is settling in here.
There are simply too many gunmen
and no central authority.
REPORTER 8:
Gaddafi, from somewhere in hiding,
is vowing to fight to the death.
(SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
DAVID CAMERON: I think today is
a day to remember
all of Colonel Gaddafi's victims.
To Yvonne Fletcher,
and obviously those who died
in connection with the Pan Am flight
over Lockerbie
REPORTER 9: With the fall of
Gaddafi, the darkest secrets
of his regime are beginning to surface.
This is confirmation, now
that Colonel Gaddafi
personally ordered the bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103.
Libya's ex-foreign minister
reportedly telling a newspaper
that Gaddafi gave the order
to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
(LINE RINGING)
This brings into question
the decision to approve
Megrahi's release.
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(LINE CONTINUES RINGING)
(CALL CONNECTS)
Baset?
Baset, it's Jim Swire.
(MAN SPEAKING ARABIC)
No, please speak English.
Please speak English.
(MAN CONTINUES SPEAKING ARABIC)
I need to know what's going on.
Baset, I need to know.
Please tell me why-
(VOICEMAIL BEEPS)
(PHONE BEEPS OFF)
(LOW, TENSE STING)
Jim?
Jim?
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(KEYPAD BEEPING)
(MOBILE PHONE RINGING)
(BEEPS)
(RINGING STOPS)
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Jim?
Jim!
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES)
Oh, thank God. Thank God.
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
Jim. (BREATHING HEAVILY)
What are you doing here?
You're freezing.
I was so sure.
I thought Baset was innocent, but
I don't know anymore.
Don't know what to believe.
And if I don't know that,
if I don't know
what I believe, then
What will I do?
That's 20 years of my life wasted.
With no one to blame but myself.
You have to go.
To Libya.
I don't even know
if he's alive or dead.
I don't want you to, but it's
the only way you'll find out.
You have to find him
and you have to ask him.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SOFT MUSIC)
(AIRPLANE ENGINE WHOOSHING)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
Taxi?
(DRIVER SPEAKING ARABIC)
Where do you want to go?
Will you take me here?
(DISTANT GUNFIRE, SHOUTING)
- It's too dangerous.
- I have money.
How much do you need?
Yalla. Get in.
(DISTANT GUNSHOTS)
(MAN YELLING IN ARABIC)
(EXCLAIMS IN ARABIC)
Who are they?
Militia.
(SPEAKS ARABIC)
Many, many militia everywhere.
(TAPPING ON WINDOW)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CONVERSATION IN ARABIC)
(CONVERSATION CONTINUES)
(MILITIA MEN SPEAKING ARABIC)
(GATE CLATTERS)
Thank you.
Ah, add it to my tip.
(DISTANT GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(DOG BARKING)
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
(INTERCOM BUZZING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Uh, I'm Jim Swire.
- Jim Swire.
- I'm from England.
I've come to see Baset.
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- I'm here to see Baset.
- I'm here to see Baset.
- (SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Bye-bye.
- Baset!
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- Alright!
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- Baset! It's Jim!
- (AISHA SPEAKING ARABIC)
- It's Jim.
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
Thank you.
(DOOR OPENS)
Ghada. It's just me.
I promise you, I came alone.
I needed to see him, so I came.
Then you're crazy.
Yes, probably.
Is he here?
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Come with us.
(DOOR OPENS)
(AISHA SPEAKING ARABIC)
(ALL GREETING IN ARABIC)
You shouldn't have come.
I had to.
Libya is a dangerous country.
You could be killed.
I realise that.
Come.
Please.
(DOOR CLOSES)
I know why you have come.
It was not to inquire after my health.
I phoned. I wrote letters.
I did not reply.
I saw this as a friendship.
It is friendship.
It is.
I gave you my word.
I broke my word.
Forgive me.
I know that dropping my appeal means
you're still not released from this.
Why did you?
I had no choice.
I was allowed only to return home
to my family to die here.
Under one condition.
I still remain guilty.
I am only a tiny player in a
far greater game.
They don't care about my innocence.
They never have.
I am no use to anyone
as an innocent man.
Only to you.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
But I am tired now.
And I am dying.
I cannot take them on.
I cannot prove them wrong.
But you
You can keep fighting.
(MUTTERS)
(BUZZING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(DOOR CLOSES)
We have worked on this together,
myself, Ghada, and John Ashton.
We had to keep it secret,
for fear of censorship.
John will publish the findings soon.
Please, Jim. Open, open.
PT/35b.
The timer fragment.
The key piece of evidence
against my father.
The head of the FBI investigation,
Richard Marquis,
said that without it, there would
not have been an indictment.
Without it, there is no case
against my father.
But John Ashton met the technician
who built the MEBO timer boards.
From the timers
that were supplied to Libya.
Mmm. He told him that the circuitry
on MEBO boards was coated
with an alloy of 70% tin and 30% lead.
That is how he always constructed them.
But PT/35b was coated with pure tin,
no lead whatsoever.
The fragment is not from a MEBO board.
It was not sold to Libya.
But Feraday in court,
the forensics expert,
he swore that the timer fragment
was similar in all respects
to the sample boards
obtained from MEBO.
Feraday's notes.
The page is dated August 1991,
four months before his forensic report.
He records that the metallic coating
on the fragment is pure tin.
But here, on this page, he also states
that the metallic coating on the
sample board itself was
You see? You see what he's written?
In other notes, he even speculated
why there could be discrepancies.
He knew they weren't an exact match.
The question is, who else knew?
The Scottish police, the Crown office,
the prosecution, DOJ, CIA?
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
PT/35b
was planted.
The timer fragment
has no connection to Libya,
and no connection to my father.
It was used only to frame him.
The whole case against me
dissolves into thin air.
(SIGHS)
(DOOR OPENS)
(ALL SPEAKING ARABIC)
Dr Jim Swire.
(GREETS IN ARABIC)
Jim
How did I survive so long?
How did I confound medical expertise?
Here is the answer.
We have lived so long with the dead
and we must never forget them.
But how much sweeter
to be with the living.
(GENTLE MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
When I die, Jim
I am going to a place
where I hope to see Flora.
I will tell her
that her father is my friend.
Go back, Jim. Go home to your family.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Dr Swire?
Our father is not the Lockerbie bomber.
He's a good man.
He's lucky to have you as a friend.
Thank you.
(DOOR OPENS)
(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENTS OVER PA)
Back in one piece.
Have you got another trip in you?
Skye, me, the kids, the grandkids.
Will you come?
Am I wanted?
(SOFT STRING MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
I'll leave you to it.
So where do you think
the fragment came from?
We think,
Baset, Ghada, John Ashton, myself,
we think it was planted,
somewhere along the line.
Planted where?
Well, it could have been planted
by the US intelligence services,
or the UK's,
or both of them conspiring together.
It's happened before.
Is that what happened here?
Have they fooled the world
for 30 years?
If you think about
everything that's happened,
is it really so wild a claim?
Let Iran off the hook,
blame the rogue state, Libya.
Maybe there's some truth in that.
Younger Murray believed it.
- "Just asking the question."
- I've still got questions.
(CHUCKLES)
I'll never run out of them.
Why did Gaddafi want to get
one man back to Libya so badly?
Why was it so important to him?
- Popularity?
- Yeah.
Partly, because Megrahi is a hero,
a martyr.
We saw that when he got off that plane.
I think he was involved, Jim.
I really do.
I think Iran wanted revenge
for its Airbus being shot down.
They farmed it out to the PFLP-GC,
but then they got busted
by the German police.
So someone else stepped forward. Libya.
I think when they handed Megrahi
and Fhimah over to be tried,
they didn't think they'd be convicted.
There wasn't enough evidence.
But he was found guilty.
Gaddafi owed it to Megrahi
to get him home.
He owed it to all
his security service personnel
for keeping him in power.
But just because it was a sham trial,
it doesn't make Megrahi innocent.
It was Libya.
It was also Iran.
And Syria. And the Palestinians.
You believe all of them?
I don't think we ever truly realise
how much the West is hated.
And no wonder.
Look how we act, what we do.
Look how we justify it.
I mean, always someone else.
Never us.
You might never find the answer
you're looking for. You know that?
Well, there, Murray,
I have to disagree with you.
That's new evidence.
No one can dispute it.
No one. Changes everything.
So the fight goes on.
Well, of course the fight goes on.
They're gonna write that on
your gravestone, you know that?
Well, I'm not planning
one of those just yet.
It's been a hell of a ride, Dr Swire.
It's far from over, Murray.
It's far from over.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Can I pay for that?
What's that?
The Lockerbie disaster.
What was that?
(WEATHER REPORT ON RADIO)
But again, essentially, a dry picture.
And as I mentioned,
warming up as the week goes on.
And that's how it's looking at
the moment. Susan, back to you.
SUSAN: Thank you, Helen.
That was Helen Willets.
(BELLS CHIME)
(ON RADIO) BBC News at 6:00.
This is Peter Donaldson.
(CLOCK CHIMES ON RADIO)
Good evening.
The only person to be convicted
of the Lockerbie bombing
has died of cancer
at his home in Libya.
David Cameron said the death
of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
was a moment to remember
the victims of what he called
an "appalling terrorist act."
The Scottish government has said
investigations into the bombings
will continue.
An earthquake has struck
northern Italy
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
WILL: Go! Come on!
Run, run, run, run!
(LAUGHS)
(SIGHS)
CATHY: Isabel! Archie, come on!
He's dead.
I don't know what to say.
At some kind of peace now, hopefully.
But not you.
Well, he's gone, but
it's not the end, no.
There was a time I envied you.
Your persistence, your anger.
How it drove you on.
Well, if I'd done nothing,
if I'd just sat down and cried,
I'd never have stopped.
All these years.
On and on and on.
It's always for her.
It's always been for her.
That night, the night it happened
do you remember the awful waiting?
Not knowing if she was alive or dead?
(SOFT STRING MUSIC)
Sometimes I think we're no closer
to the truth now than we were then.
Maybe the only truth is we'll
never really know what happened.
And that breaks my heart.
But once I started to accept
that I may never get an answer,
I may never know
it meant that I could go on.
And I will.
For them.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CHEERING)
WILL: Come on, come on.
You can't give up. I know that.
I know.
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(CHUCKLES)
Lucas, I wanna catch this!
(CHEERING)
Oh, now things are going to change
up. Granddad's playing.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER CONTINUES)
- Look out over here.
- Probably better get way out.
(BALL THUDS)
Oh! Yeah!
We got out! We got him out!
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
JIM (MEMORY): It's too full.
FLORA: (WHISPERING) It's fine.
Ta-da!
(LAUGHTER)
WILL: Dad, Mum, come here.
JANE: Why? What is it?
A newsflash.
A plane's gone down.
It won't be her flight. It can't be.
CATHY: What's going on?
Cathy, did Flora make her flight?
- Yeah, I think so.
- Oh!
So all your damn computers,
and you can't say whether
my child is on that plane!
WOMAN: We have confirmation for you.
The passenger list
has been checked and verified.
Flora MacDonald Margaret Swire was
a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103.
I'm afraid there are no survivors.
(JANE AND CATHY SOBBING)
CATHY: (SOBBING) No
No, no.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
MEGRAHI: We have lived
so long with the dead,
but how much sweeter
to be with the living.
MURRAY: It's been a hell of a ride,
Dr Swire.
LORD SUTHERLAND: Guilty.
(SILENT SCENE)
(SILENT SCENE)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Be with us.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(MUSIC SWELLS)
(MUSIC SOFTENS)
Go and have the time of your life.
FLORA: Love you, Dad.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
Sub extracted from file & improved by
(THEME MUSIC)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
JANE: I think we should move.
- I'm not leaving this house!
- I want to be around life, not death.
Not death,
every single minute of the day.
- Guilty.
- He can't be
The case against you
is a travesty of justice.
The entire prosecution case
rested on this.
The tracks on the fragment
are of copper,
covered by a layer of pure tin.
What is this?
No, this is not the same fragment.
JIM: And I will do everything
in my power to help you.
I've just heard Megrahi is being
granted a second appeal.
But there's nothing in here that
helps us discover what did happen.
CRAWFORD: Was Megrahi framed?
Whatever it is,
they want to keep it buried.
I'm so sorry, but it's prostate cancer.
MEGRAHI: I don't want to die here, Jim.
I don't want that either.
RODERICK: There's a good possibility
that you're released
on compassionate grounds
and you can keep your appeal.
MEGRAHI:
I will never give up my appeal.
My name will be cleared,
and you will go on and find out
who really did this.
LIBYAN OFFICIAL: (SPEAKING ARABIC)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
(SCREAMING)
(SOMBRE, PIANO MUSIC)
(GATE CREAKS OPEN)
Oh.
(DOOR UNLOCKING)
You're going to miss us.
Mmm (CHUCKLES)
Yes, of course.
It's for you.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(ENGINE STARTS)
(MOTORCYCLE ENGINES REVVING)
(GENTLE MUSIC)
NEWS: Britain's biggest
mass murderer is now a free man,
shown mercy by
Scotland's Justice Secretary.
NEWS: Mister al-Megrahi now faces a
sentence imposed by a higher power.
REPORTER 1: Justice Secretary knew
his decision
would be welcomed and reviled.
REPORTER 2: The FBI director sent
a letter
to Scotland's justice officials
blasting their decision
to release Abdelbaset
REPORTER 3: The decision gives
comfort to terrorists
around the world
This man was convicted
of murdering 270 people.
He showed no compassion to them.
Served only eight years, and
that works out at about two weeks
for every one of the lives he took.
REPORTER 3:
Liberty comes at a price.
Expected to die within months,
he will do so a guilty man.
REPORTER 4: Downing Street released
a letter written by
Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
asking the Libyan leader
to handle Megrahi's arrival
with sensitivity.
REPORTER 5: requested that
the Libyan authorities
keep Megrahi's return low-key.
It was anything but.
Alongside Megrahi was
Colonel Gaddafi's son,
Saif al-Islam.
(PAUSE BUTTON CLICKS)
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Hello, Jim Swire.
Jim, Lance Ferguson from the Mirror.
You've got the TV on, right?
- Yes.
- How are you feeling right now?
You campaigned for Megrahi to go home,
and this is how he thanks you.
Have you been played, Jim?
Has Megrahi killed your search
for justice stone dead?
(PHONE BEEPS OFF)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
(ELEVATOR DINGS)
Jim, how long have you been waiting?
A couple of hours.
I couldn't reach you on your phone.
We've been in meetings all day, and
Roddy's tied up in another case.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Come through.
I don't know why
he abandoned his appeal.
We fought so hard for him.
Why did he do it?
The Libyans requested Megrahi's release
under a prisoner transfer agreement
between Libya and the UK,
but, of course, he was convicted
in a Scottish court,
and under Scottish law, a prisoner
transfer cannot be granted
if there's an ongoing appeal,
which obviously there was.
That still left compassionate release,
which Megrahi met the criteria for.
Terminally ill, no more than
three months to live.
And, crucially,
he didn't need to drop his appeal.
The case would have still gone
to the appeal court,
even if he was in Libya.
Even if he were to die in Libya.
Well, that's what
he promised me would happen.
His appeal would go on
no matter where he was.
Then, at the eleventh hour,
he seems to have changed his mind.
When he told us, Roddy was devastated.
And it all happened so quickly.
He was smuggled out of the country
before anyone could notice.
Did he leave anything for me?
A message, letter?
Nothing.
I only have, um, his address
and telephone number in Tripoli.
(CLEARS THROAT) May I have it?
I mean, surely
his hand must have been forced.
We may never find out.
And maybe that's for the best.
(PAPER TEARING)
Thank you, John.
(CLEARS THROAT)
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LINE RINGING)
REPORTER: Reportedly living
in the family villa
in an upmarket area of Tripoli,
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,
the convicted Lockerbie bomber,
is still alive after nine months.
ROBERT MENENDEZ: Very much alive,
and very much free,
living in the lap of luxury,
by all accounts.(LINE RINGING)
REPORTER 2:
He only had three months to live,
may actually live another ten years.
REPORTER 2:
The medical evidence seems to be,
when you look at it closely,
highly suspect.
LEILA RICHARDS: Nearly one year on,
Mr al-Megrahi is still alive.
(LINE RINGING)
Correct.
Have you been in contact with him?
I've tried,
but I've been unable to reach him.
Dr Swire, has al-Megrahi
got away with it?
A cancer prognosis,
as any doctor knows,
- is an inexact science.
- Yes.
And the inference that he is somehow
"getting away with it,"
frankly, I find that offensive.
Why else would he drop his appeal?
I, and many other members
of the UK Families group,
believe that the authorities pushed
Mr al-Megrahi to drop his appeal
so that they would
never be held to account
for the false conviction
of an innocent man.
And that is why I consider
Mr al-Megrahi
to be the 271st victim of Lockerbie.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
You realise how many people will
find that offensive?
The purpose is not to offend people.
The purpose is to find the truth.
(SIGHS)
Thank you.
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
- Where are you going?
- Out.
- Where?
- God knows. I just need some air.
I wish sometimes you'd think about us
before you open your mouth to them.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
Alright. Alright, alright.
Murray.
Long time no see, Jim.
I thought you'd given up on us.
Well, this story's got a funny way
of pulling me back in.
Well
Jane is over at Cathy's. She, um
(DOOR CLOSES)
She spends quite a bit of time
there with the grandkids.
Right.
Order tends to break down.
Ah, no milk. Sorry.
Mmm.
(CLEARS THROAT)
You look exhausted.
Have you been following
the WikiLeaks story?
Uh No, not really.
It's a media organisation
that's been leaking secret
and classified information online.
It's linked to all sorts of stuff.
Assassinations in Somalia,
government corruption in Kenya,
Guantanamo Bay,
and thousands upon thousands
of US embassy cables.
Well, we've read a few of those.
(CHUCKLES)
Everything that the powers that be
don't want us to see.
And I found something.
Buried amongst it all.
About Megrahi.
The Libyans made a direct threat
to the UK.
What do you mean, "threat"?
They wanted Megrahi out. Home. ASAP.
If he died in prison here,
then all trade, political ties,
would be ceased immediately.
Trade with Libya means only one thing.
Oil.
You remember when Tony Blair
met Gaddafi in 2004?
The "Deal in the Desert"? Aye?
Well, they met again in 2007,
and BP signed a £90million deal.
And in that second meeting,
Blair and Gaddafi
signed a prisoner transfer agreement.
And I reckon that was
only ever about one man.
Megrahi.
Yeah. The British wanted into
those oil fields desperately,
and Gaddafi suddenly is
threatening to rip it all up.
They had no choice but to sign.
So do you think
the Labour government put pressure
on the Scottish government
to release him?
Well, they claim they didn't,
but it's on record.
Kenny MacAskill took phone calls
from Jack Straw,
Lord Chancellor and Justice Minister
at the time.
And after that,
MacAskill met with Megrahi
and his Libyan lawyers in private.
It caused an outrage at the time.
Now, we don't know
what was said in those meetings,
but what we do know
is we've got two sides,
both wanting what the other had.
With Megrahi at the centre of it,
all reduced to a political pawn.
Aye.
Makes you wonder what was behind him
dropping his appeal.
REPORTER 1: The former Labour
government has been accused
of organised hypocrisy.
DAVID CAMERON: The Americans, they
wanted Megrahi to die in prison,
but saying privately to the Libyans
that they wanted him released.
REPORTER 2: I'd like to know if
there was some kind of
illicit deal here. There was a story
in many of the newspapers
that this was done particularly
by the British government
in return for getting an oil
contract. That would be despicable.
REPORTER 3: We need to know what
this oil deal was all about
and whether there was a compromise
to the judicial system
for commercial gain.
INTERVIEWER: Some of your citizens
believe that it was the result
of a deal, and that deal
had to do with oil.
There was no deal. I can give you an
absolute, unconditional assurance
NEWS: The so-called Arab Spring
appears to be spreading
to Libya today, as hundreds of
anti-government protesters
have clashed with police
in Libya's second city, Benghazi.
Gaddafi, go away. We don't want you.
Neither you or your family.
REPORTER 4:
Colonel Gaddafi is crazy.
They're worried he will kill
and kill and kill
just to save his regime.
REPORTER 5: This is not
an Egyptian-style protest movement.
This is a war for Libya.
HILLARY CLINTON: And the people of
Libya have made themselves clear.
It is time for Gaddafi to go.
REPORTER 6: The rebel-held east
of Libya had been staring at defeat,
but now they're tasting victory.
REPORTER 7: A degree of chaos
is settling in here.
There are simply too many gunmen
and no central authority.
REPORTER 8:
Gaddafi, from somewhere in hiding,
is vowing to fight to the death.
(SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
DAVID CAMERON: I think today is
a day to remember
all of Colonel Gaddafi's victims.
To Yvonne Fletcher,
and obviously those who died
in connection with the Pan Am flight
over Lockerbie
REPORTER 9: With the fall of
Gaddafi, the darkest secrets
of his regime are beginning to surface.
This is confirmation, now
that Colonel Gaddafi
personally ordered the bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103.
Libya's ex-foreign minister
reportedly telling a newspaper
that Gaddafi gave the order
to Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
(LINE RINGING)
This brings into question
the decision to approve
Megrahi's release.
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(LINE CONTINUES RINGING)
(CALL CONNECTS)
Baset?
Baset, it's Jim Swire.
(MAN SPEAKING ARABIC)
No, please speak English.
Please speak English.
(MAN CONTINUES SPEAKING ARABIC)
I need to know what's going on.
Baset, I need to know.
Please tell me why-
(VOICEMAIL BEEPS)
(PHONE BEEPS OFF)
(LOW, TENSE STING)
Jim?
Jim?
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(KEYPAD BEEPING)
(MOBILE PHONE RINGING)
(BEEPS)
(RINGING STOPS)
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Jim?
Jim!
(TENSE, DRAMATIC MUSIC CONTINUES)
Oh, thank God. Thank God.
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
Jim. (BREATHING HEAVILY)
What are you doing here?
You're freezing.
I was so sure.
I thought Baset was innocent, but
I don't know anymore.
Don't know what to believe.
And if I don't know that,
if I don't know
what I believe, then
What will I do?
That's 20 years of my life wasted.
With no one to blame but myself.
You have to go.
To Libya.
I don't even know
if he's alive or dead.
I don't want you to, but it's
the only way you'll find out.
You have to find him
and you have to ask him.
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SOFT MUSIC)
(AIRPLANE ENGINE WHOOSHING)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC)
Taxi?
(DRIVER SPEAKING ARABIC)
Where do you want to go?
Will you take me here?
(DISTANT GUNFIRE, SHOUTING)
- It's too dangerous.
- I have money.
How much do you need?
Yalla. Get in.
(DISTANT GUNSHOTS)
(MAN YELLING IN ARABIC)
(EXCLAIMS IN ARABIC)
Who are they?
Militia.
(SPEAKS ARABIC)
Many, many militia everywhere.
(TAPPING ON WINDOW)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CONVERSATION IN ARABIC)
(CONVERSATION CONTINUES)
(MILITIA MEN SPEAKING ARABIC)
(GATE CLATTERS)
Thank you.
Ah, add it to my tip.
(DISTANT GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS)
(LOW, TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(DOG BARKING)
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
(INTERCOM BUZZING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Uh, I'm Jim Swire.
- Jim Swire.
- I'm from England.
I've come to see Baset.
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- I'm here to see Baset.
- I'm here to see Baset.
- (SHOUTING IN ARABIC)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Bye-bye.
- Baset!
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- Alright!
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
- Baset! It's Jim!
- (AISHA SPEAKING ARABIC)
- It's Jim.
- (SPEAKING ARABIC)
Thank you.
(DOOR OPENS)
Ghada. It's just me.
I promise you, I came alone.
I needed to see him, so I came.
Then you're crazy.
Yes, probably.
Is he here?
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
Come with us.
(DOOR OPENS)
(AISHA SPEAKING ARABIC)
(ALL GREETING IN ARABIC)
You shouldn't have come.
I had to.
Libya is a dangerous country.
You could be killed.
I realise that.
Come.
Please.
(DOOR CLOSES)
I know why you have come.
It was not to inquire after my health.
I phoned. I wrote letters.
I did not reply.
I saw this as a friendship.
It is friendship.
It is.
I gave you my word.
I broke my word.
Forgive me.
I know that dropping my appeal means
you're still not released from this.
Why did you?
I had no choice.
I was allowed only to return home
to my family to die here.
Under one condition.
I still remain guilty.
I am only a tiny player in a
far greater game.
They don't care about my innocence.
They never have.
I am no use to anyone
as an innocent man.
Only to you.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
But I am tired now.
And I am dying.
I cannot take them on.
I cannot prove them wrong.
But you
You can keep fighting.
(MUTTERS)
(BUZZING)
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
(DOOR CLOSES)
We have worked on this together,
myself, Ghada, and John Ashton.
We had to keep it secret,
for fear of censorship.
John will publish the findings soon.
Please, Jim. Open, open.
PT/35b.
The timer fragment.
The key piece of evidence
against my father.
The head of the FBI investigation,
Richard Marquis,
said that without it, there would
not have been an indictment.
Without it, there is no case
against my father.
But John Ashton met the technician
who built the MEBO timer boards.
From the timers
that were supplied to Libya.
Mmm. He told him that the circuitry
on MEBO boards was coated
with an alloy of 70% tin and 30% lead.
That is how he always constructed them.
But PT/35b was coated with pure tin,
no lead whatsoever.
The fragment is not from a MEBO board.
It was not sold to Libya.
But Feraday in court,
the forensics expert,
he swore that the timer fragment
was similar in all respects
to the sample boards
obtained from MEBO.
Feraday's notes.
The page is dated August 1991,
four months before his forensic report.
He records that the metallic coating
on the fragment is pure tin.
But here, on this page, he also states
that the metallic coating on the
sample board itself was
You see? You see what he's written?
In other notes, he even speculated
why there could be discrepancies.
He knew they weren't an exact match.
The question is, who else knew?
The Scottish police, the Crown office,
the prosecution, DOJ, CIA?
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
PT/35b
was planted.
The timer fragment
has no connection to Libya,
and no connection to my father.
It was used only to frame him.
The whole case against me
dissolves into thin air.
(SIGHS)
(DOOR OPENS)
(ALL SPEAKING ARABIC)
Dr Jim Swire.
(GREETS IN ARABIC)
Jim
How did I survive so long?
How did I confound medical expertise?
Here is the answer.
We have lived so long with the dead
and we must never forget them.
But how much sweeter
to be with the living.
(GENTLE MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
When I die, Jim
I am going to a place
where I hope to see Flora.
I will tell her
that her father is my friend.
Go back, Jim. Go home to your family.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Dr Swire?
Our father is not the Lockerbie bomber.
He's a good man.
He's lucky to have you as a friend.
Thank you.
(DOOR OPENS)
(INDISTINCT ANNOUNCEMENTS OVER PA)
Back in one piece.
Have you got another trip in you?
Skye, me, the kids, the grandkids.
Will you come?
Am I wanted?
(SOFT STRING MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
I'll leave you to it.
So where do you think
the fragment came from?
We think,
Baset, Ghada, John Ashton, myself,
we think it was planted,
somewhere along the line.
Planted where?
Well, it could have been planted
by the US intelligence services,
or the UK's,
or both of them conspiring together.
It's happened before.
Is that what happened here?
Have they fooled the world
for 30 years?
If you think about
everything that's happened,
is it really so wild a claim?
Let Iran off the hook,
blame the rogue state, Libya.
Maybe there's some truth in that.
Younger Murray believed it.
- "Just asking the question."
- I've still got questions.
(CHUCKLES)
I'll never run out of them.
Why did Gaddafi want to get
one man back to Libya so badly?
Why was it so important to him?
- Popularity?
- Yeah.
Partly, because Megrahi is a hero,
a martyr.
We saw that when he got off that plane.
I think he was involved, Jim.
I really do.
I think Iran wanted revenge
for its Airbus being shot down.
They farmed it out to the PFLP-GC,
but then they got busted
by the German police.
So someone else stepped forward. Libya.
I think when they handed Megrahi
and Fhimah over to be tried,
they didn't think they'd be convicted.
There wasn't enough evidence.
But he was found guilty.
Gaddafi owed it to Megrahi
to get him home.
He owed it to all
his security service personnel
for keeping him in power.
But just because it was a sham trial,
it doesn't make Megrahi innocent.
It was Libya.
It was also Iran.
And Syria. And the Palestinians.
You believe all of them?
I don't think we ever truly realise
how much the West is hated.
And no wonder.
Look how we act, what we do.
Look how we justify it.
I mean, always someone else.
Never us.
You might never find the answer
you're looking for. You know that?
Well, there, Murray,
I have to disagree with you.
That's new evidence.
No one can dispute it.
No one. Changes everything.
So the fight goes on.
Well, of course the fight goes on.
They're gonna write that on
your gravestone, you know that?
Well, I'm not planning
one of those just yet.
It's been a hell of a ride, Dr Swire.
It's far from over, Murray.
It's far from over.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
Can I pay for that?
What's that?
The Lockerbie disaster.
What was that?
(WEATHER REPORT ON RADIO)
But again, essentially, a dry picture.
And as I mentioned,
warming up as the week goes on.
And that's how it's looking at
the moment. Susan, back to you.
SUSAN: Thank you, Helen.
That was Helen Willets.
(BELLS CHIME)
(ON RADIO) BBC News at 6:00.
This is Peter Donaldson.
(CLOCK CHIMES ON RADIO)
Good evening.
The only person to be convicted
of the Lockerbie bombing
has died of cancer
at his home in Libya.
David Cameron said the death
of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
was a moment to remember
the victims of what he called
an "appalling terrorist act."
The Scottish government has said
investigations into the bombings
will continue.
An earthquake has struck
northern Italy
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
WILL: Go! Come on!
Run, run, run, run!
(LAUGHS)
(SIGHS)
CATHY: Isabel! Archie, come on!
He's dead.
I don't know what to say.
At some kind of peace now, hopefully.
But not you.
Well, he's gone, but
it's not the end, no.
There was a time I envied you.
Your persistence, your anger.
How it drove you on.
Well, if I'd done nothing,
if I'd just sat down and cried,
I'd never have stopped.
All these years.
On and on and on.
It's always for her.
It's always been for her.
That night, the night it happened
do you remember the awful waiting?
Not knowing if she was alive or dead?
(SOFT STRING MUSIC)
Sometimes I think we're no closer
to the truth now than we were then.
Maybe the only truth is we'll
never really know what happened.
And that breaks my heart.
But once I started to accept
that I may never get an answer,
I may never know
it meant that I could go on.
And I will.
For them.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CHEERING)
WILL: Come on, come on.
You can't give up. I know that.
I know.
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CLEARS THROAT)
(CHUCKLES)
Lucas, I wanna catch this!
(CHEERING)
Oh, now things are going to change
up. Granddad's playing.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER CONTINUES)
- Look out over here.
- Probably better get way out.
(BALL THUDS)
Oh! Yeah!
We got out! We got him out!
(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
JIM (MEMORY): It's too full.
FLORA: (WHISPERING) It's fine.
Ta-da!
(LAUGHTER)
WILL: Dad, Mum, come here.
JANE: Why? What is it?
A newsflash.
A plane's gone down.
It won't be her flight. It can't be.
CATHY: What's going on?
Cathy, did Flora make her flight?
- Yeah, I think so.
- Oh!
So all your damn computers,
and you can't say whether
my child is on that plane!
WOMAN: We have confirmation for you.
The passenger list
has been checked and verified.
Flora MacDonald Margaret Swire was
a passenger on Pan Am Flight 103.
I'm afraid there are no survivors.
(JANE AND CATHY SOBBING)
CATHY: (SOBBING) No
No, no.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
MEGRAHI: We have lived
so long with the dead,
but how much sweeter
to be with the living.
MURRAY: It's been a hell of a ride,
Dr Swire.
LORD SUTHERLAND: Guilty.
(SILENT SCENE)
(SILENT SCENE)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
Be with us.
(SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(MUSIC SWELLS)
(MUSIC SOFTENS)
Go and have the time of your life.
FLORA: Love you, Dad.
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)
(LOW, SOMBRE MUSIC)
Sub extracted from file & improved by
(THEME MUSIC)