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deBriefings THE LOCKERBIE TRIAL is being prevented from testifying. United Nations diplomats are Prosecution Case in Chaos reportedly outraged at this apparent suppression and are demand- ing that Dr Fuisz be released. Dr Fuisz, allegedly a key CIA r “The two Libyans accused of downing Pan Am Flight 103 operative in Syria during the 1980s, claims that Libya is not over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988 could not responsible for the Lockerbie bombing. He was "gagged" in have planted the bomb, according to a devastating scientif- | November 1994 under US state secrecy laws and faces 10 years ic report submitted by one of the Crown's star witnesses, said _ in prison if he reveals anything about the terrorist attack. Glasgow's Sunday Herald on 14 May. The report threw the pros- US congressional aide Susan Lindauer, involved in early nego- ecution case into disarray and forced a 12-day adjournment of the _tiations over the Lockerbie trial, met with Dr Fuisz a month Lockerbie trial, being held at a Scottish court in The Netherlands. _ before the gagging. In an affidavit, Lindauer stated that Fuisz has The report concludes that the shape of the wreckage fragments "first-hand knowledge about the Lockerbie case", that "he can proves the Semtex bomb was attached to the inner wall of the air- _ identify who orchestrated and executed the bombing" and that craft's cargo hold, and it pinpoints the exact spot. It claims the "he can confirm absolutely that no Libyan national was bomb was placed behind a fibreglass shell inside the cargo hold, —_ involved". and that panels of the shell could be unscrewed and lifted off. The bomb was not concealed, as the prosecution case alleges, __ Iranian Intelligence Defector Blames Tehran within a cassette player packed into a suitcase which was stored On 4 June, the 60 Minutes current affairs program in the within a luggage container in the cargo hold. Had it been, the — United States revealed claims by a senior Iranian intelligence ser- shockwave of the explosion would have been muffled and not vice defector that the Lockerbie bombing was masterminded by powerful enough to bring down the plane, the report claims. The Iran, not Libya. The Iranian, who had been in a refugee camp in prosecution case stands and falls on proving that the two Libyans _ Turkey, said he had documents to prove his claims. The program placed the bomb inside the cassette player. said he was being held in protective custody Prosecution witness Edwin Bollier deliv- in Turkey, being de-briefed by the CIA. ered a detailed analysis of the explosion, "If his story can be confirmed—and claiming the Crown's version was scientifical- Convincing evidence is American intelligence is trying to do that ly impossible. Bollier's Swiss company, . . right now—it would not only disrupt the MEBO, which legally manufacturers timing emerging that Libya has trial of the two Libyans charged with that devices, is said by the Crown to have made been framed over the bombing, it could interfere with the Clinton Lockerbie bombing. the timer used to detonate the bomb. When Bollier was finally shown the actual pieces of the timer by police in Dumfries last September, he was adamant that the fragments Lawyers for the two Libyans said they were not the same timers he had produced. will try to prove that Syrian-backed Following this, Bollier commissioned scientists to investigate the Palestinian extremists were the perpetrators in an act of revenge explosion. on behalf of Iran over the USS Vincennes’ shoot-down of a civil- This report gained more kudos with the admission in late May _ ian Iran Air plane, with 290 aboard, six months earlier. by Christopher Protheroe, an aerospace engineer with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, that he had miscalculated the — Lockerbie Press Aide Revealed as Former MI6 Agent administration's efforts at relaxing and improving relations with Iran," the program stated in its introduction. location of the bomb in his initial study. An erroneous angle Scotland's Sunday Herald reported on 21 May that Glasgow measurement meant that the true location was 12 inches from the University law professor Andrew Fulton, employed as deputy wall, not 25 inches as he originally reported. director of the university's Lockerbie trial press briefing unit, was In a further development, Edwin Bollier told the court on 22 _ one of Britain's most powerful MI6 officers. His last known June that a "mystery man" had "more or less blackmailed" him osition was as its Washington, DC, station head. When he into writing to the CIA, blaming Libya for the 1988 bombing. _ moved to the university last year after stepping down from a 30- The letter said that Colonel Gaddafi had called for a "secret con- _ year career, he offered his services to the briefing unit. ference" and that the Lockerbie bomb had been in a suitcase with During the first week of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist, bundles of dollars, checked in at Tripoli airport on 20 December. Professor Fulton led a lengthy briefing session for more than 50 However, Bollier insisted he wrote the CIA letter purely because _ foreign journalists, detailing aspects of Scottish law and explain- he wanted to find out the identity of his mysterious visitor andthe ing the background to the case. This revelation, only a few truth behind the Lockerbie bombing. weeks later, has undermined claims by the Lockerbie trial brief- The defence is seeking to incriminate two groups, including the _ ing unit that it has been giving independent and impartial advice. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command The defence team for the two Libyans was reportedly horrified (PFLP-GC), which has strong links to Syria and Iran. y Fulton's involvement in the unit, and several news services have unofficially said they will no longer use the unit as a source. Another Gagged Witness Prevented from Testifying In circumstances echoing those of former US Defense (Sources: The Sunday Herald, Glasgow, 14, 21, 28 May 2000; Intelligence Agency operative Lester Coleman (see Global News — Associated Press, 25 May 2000; The Telegraph, London, 23 June 7/04), another potential key Lockerbie witness, Dr Richard Fuisz, | 2000; Reuters, 5 June 2000) 18 = NEXUS Lockerbie bombing. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2000