Jim Swire
Encyclopedia
James Swire is an English doctor best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
, in which his daughter Flora was killed.
, and educated at Eton College
and the University of Cambridge. From Cambridge he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
, specialising in munitions and explosives. Having completed his short-service commission, he then decided to change direction and returned to university, this time to University of Birmingham
, to study medicine.
He became a family doctor, and moved to Blackwell, a village in the district of Bromsgrove
in Worcestershire where he practised medicine as a GP
. He married his Cambridge sweet-heart, Jane, in 1961. They had two daughters, Flora and Cathy, and a son, William.
. Flora died when Pan Am Flight 103 crashed at the town of Lockerbie
, Scotland. Eleven residents of Lockerbie were killed by plummeting wreckage which brought the total number of fatalities to 270.
In February 1989, the U.S. group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 was formed to represent the interests of the families of the 189 American victims.
The same year, the British relatives founded their own campaigning group, UK Families Flight 103 (UKFF103), to press for a public inquiry into the crash, and to seek truth and justice for all of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103.
In the British media, in radio and TV interviews, and in letters to newspapers, the spokesman for UKFF103 would, more often than not, be Swire, though the position of spokesman was never defined in the organisation.
On 18 May 1990, Swire took a fake bomb on board a British Airways
from London Heathrow to New York JFK and then on a flight from New York JFK to Boston to show that airline security had not improved; his fake bomb consisted of a radio cassette player and the confectionery marzipan
, which was used as a substitute for Semtex
. Some American family members asked Swire to keep the news of the stunt quiet for a while; it became public six weeks after Swire did it. Susan and Daniel Cohen
, parents of Pan Am Flight 103 victim Theodora Cohen approved of the plan, while some other family members of American victims did not.
Susan Cohen said that in the beginning she admired Swire "a great deal." The Cohens said that both they and Swire felt suspicious about the development in the mainstream account that Libya was solely responsible for the bombing; unlike the Cohens, Swire believed that Libya had no responsibility at all. Daniel Cohen said that he and his wife did not approve of Swire travelling to Tripoli
, Libya and placing a photograph of Flora next to the photograph of Hanna, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi
's adopted daughter, who died in a 1986 U.S. bombing. The Cohens said that they thought that Swire "was being foolish and worse" since the Cohens believed that his actions were forming Libyan propaganda and that al-Gaddafi was using Swire to benefit himself. As Swire made more trips to Libya Susan Cohen said that he began to remind her of Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness
) in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai
since the character was, in Susan Cohen's words, "a brave and decent man whose obsession led him to unwittingly serve the enemy cause."
The Cohens said in their book that Swire had praised a book project, which became Trail of the Octopus. When the Cohens discovered that Lester Coleman
was the author, they told Swire to have a suspicion about the project; they said that Swire said that he wanted to "keep an open mind" about the book project.
(AAIB) of Britain's Department of Transport immediately started an investigation. The AAIB quickly found evidence at the scene of the crash indicating that it was not an accident but that the aircraft had been brought down by an explosion. From parts of the aircraft fuselage retrieved from the Lockerbie vicinity, the AAIB began a painstaking reconstruction of the jumbo jet in an aircraft hangar at Longtown
, Cumbria.
On 29 September 1989 U.S. President George H. W. Bush
set up the President's Commission into Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) to look into the security measures needed in the light of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. The PCAST report was presented to the President on 5 May 1990 and its recommendations were widely reported.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry
(FAI) into the Lockerbie bombing was conducted in Scotland by Sheriff Principal
John Mowatt QC
in October 1990. Disappointingly for Dr Swire and for UKFF103, the FAI was – like an inquest – concerned with simply establishing the facts of the Lockerbie bombing, rather than discovering why it happened and who did it.
UKFF103 renewed its demand for a public inquiry into all of the unresolved aspects of the bombing.
of two Libyans for the crime. Libya was instructed to surrender Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah
for trial in either Britain or the United States.
Dr Swire was not entirely convinced by this indictment, but considered the Lockerbie relatives' search for truth and justice could be advanced if there were to be a trial, and especially if the trial were to be held in Scotland.
which deals with prosecutions relating to aircrashes, Libya offered to detain the two accused and prosecute them. The offer was turned down by the U.S. and Britain and there was an impasse
for the next three years in bringing the accused to trial.
Early in 1994, Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University proposed a solution whereby the two Libyans would be prosecuted under Scots law
but in a neutral country. When, later in 1994, newly elected president Nelson Mandela
offered South Africa as the neutral venue, the proposal was rejected out of hand by the then British prime minister, John Major
.
It took another three years until the election of a Labour government in Britain for any headway to be made. The new foreign secretary, Robin Cook
, while initially taking the line that a neutral country was not possible under Scots law, met UKFF103 and with much support from president Nelson Mandela went along with the proposed solution. Swire was said to have been baffled as to how Cook and prime minister, Tony Blair
, managed to persuade the Americans to agree.
In the latter part of 1997, Dr Swire and Professor Black decided to lobby internationally for support of Black's proposal and visited Egypt and Libya. Dr Swire went to America, the United Nations, Germany, back to Libya and then visited key cities throughout the United Kingdom. Eventually the Dutch government offered a choice of sites, and Camp Zeist, Netherlands was chosen to become Scottish territory for the duration of criminal proceedings.
The accused were handed over to Scottish police at Camp Zeist in May 1999, and the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
finally began on 5 May 2000. Dr Swire was present for the whole trial and when the verdicts were announced on 31 January 2001, acquitting Fhimah and convicting Megrahi, Swire fainted and had to be carried from the courtroom.
Dr Swire said:
Dr Swire added that even if Megrahi did not continue with his appeal bid, UKF103 would press the SCCRC to review the case, as interested parties.
and granted him leave for a second appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal
. Swire was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme
a few hours before the SCCRC announced its decision. Megrahi's second appeal was expected to be heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal
in 2009.
In October 2007 Swire offered £500,000 to lawyers trying to prove the innocence of al-Megrahi.
In December 2008 Peter Fraser, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie
, the former lord advocate, said that Swire's insistence that Al Megrahi was innocent was comparable to the "Stockholm syndrome
," where captives grow to admire and defend their captors. Many American families of victims criticised Swire for his support of Libya. Swire said that he felt upset by Fraser's comments. Fraser defended his position, insisting on his choice of words.
In the same month, Dr Swire became a founder member of the Justice for Megrahi Campaign which sought interim release from jail for Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with metastasized prostatic cancer
and was terminally ill, so that he could return to his family in Libya pending his second appeal against conviction.
On 20 August 2009, owing to the cancer, Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill. Application had also been made to transfer Megrahi to Libya through a prisoner transfer agreement between the UK government and Libya, though, to meet the criteria for this transfer, the conviction of a prisoner needed to be final and, ostensibly, to facilitate this, Megrahi abandoned his appeal.
Dr Swire expressed his approval of the release but disappointment that the appeal had been abandoned. He stated: "It's a blow to those of us who seek the truth but it is not an ending. I think it is a splitting of the ways."
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
, in which his daughter Flora was killed.
Early life and career
Swire was born in Windsor, BerkshireWindsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
, and educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and the University of Cambridge. From Cambridge he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
, specialising in munitions and explosives. Having completed his short-service commission, he then decided to change direction and returned to university, this time to University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, to study medicine.
He became a family doctor, and moved to Blackwell, a village in the district of Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
in Worcestershire where he practised medicine as a GP
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
. He married his Cambridge sweet-heart, Jane, in 1961. They had two daughters, Flora and Cathy, and a son, William.
Lockerbie bombing
On 20 December 1988, Swire's 24-year-old daughter Flora, who wanted to fly to the United States to spend Christmas with her American boyfriend, had little difficulty in booking a seat on the next day's half empty transatlantic Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
. Flora died when Pan Am Flight 103 crashed at the town of Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...
, Scotland. Eleven residents of Lockerbie were killed by plummeting wreckage which brought the total number of fatalities to 270.
UK Families Flight 103
The 270 Pan Am 103 victims came from 21 countries.In February 1989, the U.S. group Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 was formed to represent the interests of the families of the 189 American victims.
The same year, the British relatives founded their own campaigning group, UK Families Flight 103 (UKFF103), to press for a public inquiry into the crash, and to seek truth and justice for all of the victims of Pan Am Flight 103.
In the British media, in radio and TV interviews, and in letters to newspapers, the spokesman for UKFF103 would, more often than not, be Swire, though the position of spokesman was never defined in the organisation.
On 18 May 1990, Swire took a fake bomb on board a British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
from London Heathrow to New York JFK and then on a flight from New York JFK to Boston to show that airline security had not improved; his fake bomb consisted of a radio cassette player and the confectionery marzipan
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. Persipan is a similar, yet less expensive product, in which the almonds are replaced by apricot or peach kernels...
, which was used as a substitute for Semtex
Semtex
Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am...
. Some American family members asked Swire to keep the news of the stunt quiet for a while; it became public six weeks after Swire did it. Susan and Daniel Cohen
Daniel Cohen (children's writer)
Daniel Edward Cohen is an American non-fiction writer who has produced over one-hundred books, mainly for young audiences.-Biography:...
, parents of Pan Am Flight 103 victim Theodora Cohen approved of the plan, while some other family members of American victims did not.
Susan Cohen said that in the beginning she admired Swire "a great deal." The Cohens said that both they and Swire felt suspicious about the development in the mainstream account that Libya was solely responsible for the bombing; unlike the Cohens, Swire believed that Libya had no responsibility at all. Daniel Cohen said that he and his wife did not approve of Swire travelling to Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Libya and placing a photograph of Flora next to the photograph of Hanna, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
's adopted daughter, who died in a 1986 U.S. bombing. The Cohens said that they thought that Swire "was being foolish and worse" since the Cohens believed that his actions were forming Libyan propaganda and that al-Gaddafi was using Swire to benefit himself. As Swire made more trips to Libya Susan Cohen said that he began to remind her of Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
) in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
since the character was, in Susan Cohen's words, "a brave and decent man whose obsession led him to unwittingly serve the enemy cause."
The Cohens said in their book that Swire had praised a book project, which became Trail of the Octopus. When the Cohens discovered that Lester Coleman
Lester Coleman
Lester Knox Coleman II is an American who was the co-author of the 1993 book Trail of the Octopus, The Untold Story of Pan Am 103, in which he claimed that a secret drug sting enabled terrorists to evade airport security in the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103...
was the author, they told Swire to have a suspicion about the project; they said that Swire said that he wanted to "keep an open mind" about the book project.
Initial inquiries
The Air Accidents Investigation BranchAir Accidents Investigation Branch
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigates air accidents in the United Kingdom. It is a branch of the Department for Transport and is based on the grounds of Farnborough Airport near Aldershot, Rushmoor, Hampshire.-History:...
(AAIB) of Britain's Department of Transport immediately started an investigation. The AAIB quickly found evidence at the scene of the crash indicating that it was not an accident but that the aircraft had been brought down by an explosion. From parts of the aircraft fuselage retrieved from the Lockerbie vicinity, the AAIB began a painstaking reconstruction of the jumbo jet in an aircraft hangar at Longtown
Longtown, Cumbria
Longtown is a small town in northern Cumbria, England, with a population of around 3,000. It is in the parish of Arthuret and on the River Esk, not far from the Anglo-Scottish border. Nearby was the Battle of Arfderydd....
, Cumbria.
On 29 September 1989 U.S. President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
set up the President's Commission into Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) to look into the security measures needed in the light of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. The PCAST report was presented to the President on 5 May 1990 and its recommendations were widely reported.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry
Fatal accident inquiry
A fatal accident inquiry is a Scottish judicial process which investigates and determines the circumstances of some deaths occurring in Scotland...
(FAI) into the Lockerbie bombing was conducted in Scotland by Sheriff Principal
Sheriff Principal
The office of sheriff principal is unique within the judicial structure of Scotland, and it cannot therefore readily be compared with any other judicial office. It is one of great antiquity, having existed continuously since around the 11th century...
John Mowatt QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
in October 1990. Disappointingly for Dr Swire and for UKFF103, the FAI was – like an inquest – concerned with simply establishing the facts of the Lockerbie bombing, rather than discovering why it happened and who did it.
UKFF103 renewed its demand for a public inquiry into all of the unresolved aspects of the bombing.
Bombing investigation
Ultimate responsibility for the criminal investigation rested with the Scottish Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, who combined the political role of Conservative cabinet minister with his judicial role as Scotland's chief prosecutor. Three years after the crash, the investigation into the bombing of PA 103 was abruptly and unexpectedly concluded, with Lord Fraser and his U.S. counterpart announcing in November 1991 the indictmentIndictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
of two Libyans for the crime. Libya was instructed to surrender Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah
Lamin Khalifah Fhimah
Lamin Khalifa Fhimah was a station manager for Libyan Arab Airlines at Luqa Airport, Malta. On 31 January 2001, he was found not guilty and acquitted of 270 counts of murder in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist,...
for trial in either Britain or the United States.
Dr Swire was not entirely convinced by this indictment, but considered the Lockerbie relatives' search for truth and justice could be advanced if there were to be a trial, and especially if the trial were to be held in Scotland.
Facilitating the trial
There was no extradition treaty between any of the countries involved: Britain, the U.S. and Libya, and Libyan law prevented the extradition of its citizens in any case. Under the 1971 Montreal ConventionMontreal Convention
The Montreal Convention, formally the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, is a treaty adopted by a Diplomatic meeting of ICAO member states in 1999. It amended important provisions of the Warsaw Convention's regime concerning compensation for the...
which deals with prosecutions relating to aircrashes, Libya offered to detain the two accused and prosecute them. The offer was turned down by the U.S. and Britain and there was an impasse
Impasse
A bargaining impasse occurs when the two sides negotiating an agreement are unable to reach an agreement and become deadlocked. An impasse is almost invariably mutually harmful, either as a result of direct action which may be taken such as a strike in employment negotiation or sanctions/military...
for the next three years in bringing the accused to trial.
Early in 1994, Professor Robert Black of Edinburgh University proposed a solution whereby the two Libyans would be prosecuted under Scots law
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
but in a neutral country. When, later in 1994, newly elected president Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
offered South Africa as the neutral venue, the proposal was rejected out of hand by the then British prime minister, John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
.
It took another three years until the election of a Labour government in Britain for any headway to be made. The new foreign secretary, Robin Cook
Robin Cook
Robert Finlayson Cook was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 until his death, and notably served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 to 2001....
, while initially taking the line that a neutral country was not possible under Scots law, met UKFF103 and with much support from president Nelson Mandela went along with the proposed solution. Swire was said to have been baffled as to how Cook and prime minister, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, managed to persuade the Americans to agree.
In the latter part of 1997, Dr Swire and Professor Black decided to lobby internationally for support of Black's proposal and visited Egypt and Libya. Dr Swire went to America, the United Nations, Germany, back to Libya and then visited key cities throughout the United Kingdom. Eventually the Dutch government offered a choice of sites, and Camp Zeist, Netherlands was chosen to become Scottish territory for the duration of criminal proceedings.
The accused were handed over to Scottish police at Camp Zeist in May 1999, and the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, 11 years, 4 months and 13 days after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988...
finally began on 5 May 2000. Dr Swire was present for the whole trial and when the verdicts were announced on 31 January 2001, acquitting Fhimah and convicting Megrahi, Swire fainted and had to be carried from the courtroom.
Meeting Megrahi
Dr Swire met Megrahi for the first time on Wednesday 16 November 2005 and spent an hour with him in the governor's office. The purpose of the meeting, according to Dr Swire, was to ask Megrahi whether he would still press for the SCCRC to continue its review of his case if rumours of Megrahi's likely repatriation to Libya to serve the remainder of his sentence proved to be correct.Dr Swire said:
- "Megrahi was happy for me to make it known that he is determined to pursue a review of the case, no matter what might evolve concerning his future detention. It is very important to the members of UKF103 campaign group that there be a full review of the entire Lockerbie scenario through an appropriately powered and independent inquiry, but absence of a further review of the court case would also damage our search for truth and justice."
Dr Swire added that even if Megrahi did not continue with his appeal bid, UKF103 would press the SCCRC to review the case, as interested parties.
Second appeal, abandonment and release
On 28 June 2007 the SCCRC announced the completion of its four-year review. It decided that Megrahi's conviction could have been a miscarriage of justiceMiscarriage of justice
A miscarriage of justice primarily is the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. The term can also apply to errors in the other direction—"errors of impunity", and to civil cases. Most criminal justice systems have some means to overturn, or "quash", a wrongful...
and granted him leave for a second appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal
Court of Criminal Appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal is the name of existing courts of Scotland and Ireland, and an historic court in England and Wales.- Ireland :See Court of Criminal Appeal ...
. Swire was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
a few hours before the SCCRC announced its decision. Megrahi's second appeal was expected to be heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal
Court of Criminal Appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal is the name of existing courts of Scotland and Ireland, and an historic court in England and Wales.- Ireland :See Court of Criminal Appeal ...
in 2009.
In October 2007 Swire offered £500,000 to lawyers trying to prove the innocence of al-Megrahi.
In December 2008 Peter Fraser, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie
Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie
Peter Lovat Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, PC, QC is a Scottish politician and advocate.He was educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh, East Lothian, and graduated BA and LLM , Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, before going to the University of Edinburgh...
, the former lord advocate, said that Swire's insistence that Al Megrahi was innocent was comparable to the "Stockholm syndrome
Stockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
," where captives grow to admire and defend their captors. Many American families of victims criticised Swire for his support of Libya. Swire said that he felt upset by Fraser's comments. Fraser defended his position, insisting on his choice of words.
In the same month, Dr Swire became a founder member of the Justice for Megrahi Campaign which sought interim release from jail for Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with metastasized prostatic cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
and was terminally ill, so that he could return to his family in Libya pending his second appeal against conviction.
On 20 August 2009, owing to the cancer, Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill. Application had also been made to transfer Megrahi to Libya through a prisoner transfer agreement between the UK government and Libya, though, to meet the criteria for this transfer, the conviction of a prisoner needed to be final and, ostensibly, to facilitate this, Megrahi abandoned his appeal.
Dr Swire expressed his approval of the release but disappointment that the appeal had been abandoned. He stated: "It's a blow to those of us who seek the truth but it is not an ending. I think it is a splitting of the ways."
See also
- Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
- Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories
- Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer missionHans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer missionHans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission stemmed from the dispute between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Libya concerning arrangements for the trial of two Libyans accused of causing the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.The dispute was resolved on...
- The Maltese Double Cross – LockerbieThe Maltese Double Cross – LockerbieThe Maltese Double Cross – Lockerbie is a documentary film about the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.Produced, written, and directed by Allan Francovich and financed by Tiny Rowland, the film was released by Hemar Enterprises in November 1994....
External links
- Website of Dr Jim Swire and Peter Biddulph
- Dr Jim Swire: My hopes
- Aims & Objectives of Justice for Megrahi campaign
- Taking a Stand. BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. Broadcast 2 February 2010.