More than half want Lockerbie probe

More than half of Scots think there should be a public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing
12 April 2012

More than half of Scots think there should be a public inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing, according to a new poll.

The survey, which was carried out by Angus Reid Public Opinion for the Scottish Sunday Express newspaper, also revealed that 32% of the 500 respondents believe Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was guilty of bombing Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, while 35% said they did not and 33% were unsure.

The majority of those polled said they agreed with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to free Megrahi in 2009 on compassionate grounds, when doctors advised that he had around three months to live after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.

A quarter strongly agreed with the decision - even though he is still alive two years on - and 26% moderately agreed.

The newspaper's poll found that 52% of Scots agreed there should be an independent inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 people, while 34% disagreed and 14% were not sure.

Megrahi, who was the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing, was tracked down to his villa in the Libyan capital of Tripoli at the weekend, where he is apparently comatose and near death.

Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the atrocity, has always maintained that Megrahi is innocent. He told the Sunday Express: "This is hugely encouraging. We have the right to know who really murdered our loved one.

"It is terrific that the message is getting out there. The public inquiry is not for the relatives of those that died, it is for the people of Scotland. They deserve and badly need to be told what has been going on."

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