Gaddafi wants to get him back at all costs: Embassy documents revealed tyrant vowed 'holy war' if mass killer died in Scottish prison

By Ian Birrell
Last updated at 1:10 AM on 4th September 2011


Britain paved the way for the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi after receiving repeated threats of 'dire consequences' from Colonel Gaddafi if he died in his Scottish prison cell.
Officials were warned the Libyan dictator would view this as 'a death sentence' and unleash a series of reprisals similar to the 'holy war' he launched against the Swiss after they arrested one of his sons.
A series of documents marked 'confidential' and 'restricted' reveal that British diplomats feared these would include harassment - 'or worse' - of British nationals; the cancellation of lucrative contracts with firms such as BP, Shell and BG (formerly British Gas); and the end of defence deals and counter-terrorism co-operations.

Warning: Gaddafi (left) threatened Britain of 'dire consequences' if Megrahi (right) died in his Scottish cell

As a result, the British Government ignored the anger of both America and the families of Lockerbie victims to push for the fastest possible release, by signing a Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya.
Two years ago, Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds and returned to Tripoli, where he received a hero’s welcome from Gaddafi. He was suffering terminal prostate cancer and was said to have less than three months to live. Last week he was tracked down to his Tripoli home and it emerged he is still alive, although very ill.

The cache of uncensored documents discovered in the Libyan capital makes it clear the last Government worked frantically behind the scenes to appease Gaddafi’s ‘unpredictable nature’ – even suggesting Prince Andrew be used as a go-between.

Labour Ministers repeatedly claimed that the decision to release Megrahi was taken by the Scottish administration alone – a position the Scots, keen to underline their independence, endorsed.
And earlier this year, an internal Government inquiry headed by Sir Gus O’Donnell, Britain’s most senior civil servant, concluded there was no evidence of London pressuring the Scottish Executive to release Megrahi.

My father, the despot: Gaddafi pictured with daughter Aisha, now a 35-year-old lawyer

Discovered: Gaddafi with one of his grandsons at his vast Bab Al Aziziah complex in Tripoli

However, a dramatically different picture has now emerged from the uncensored documents.
One memo sent to the then Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell in January 2009 says: ‘Gaddafi wants Megrahi to return to Libya at all costs.
'Libyan officials and ministers have warned of dire consequences for the UK-Libya relationship and UK commercial operations in Libya in the event of Megrahi’s death in custody.’
The memo, written by Robert Dixon, head of the North Africa Team at the Foreign Office, added that one prominent Libyan minister warned Gaddafi would regard this as ‘a death sentence’. Mr Dixon concluded: ‘We believe Libya might seek to exact vengeance.’
British diplomats had little doubt Gaddafi’s threats were genuine, and suggested attempts to appease him using both ‘well-timed telephone contacts’ between Mr Brown and the dictator, and the Duke of York’s personal contacts with both Gaddafi and Musa Kusa, his foreign secretary who defected to Britain in the early stages of the war.

Relatives: Gaddafi's blonde daughter Aisha (right) who is dubbed the 'Claudia Schiffer of North Africa' is pictured with a friend

Possible consequences for Britain were spelled out in several documents. One said the UK was vulnerable to the tactics used against the Swiss after the arrest of Gaddafi’s son Hannibal for beating servants.
These included the arrest of businessmen for ‘visa irregularities’, closing down local subsidiaries of Swiss companies, cancelling commercial flights and withdrawing billions from Swiss banks.
One memo also lays bare the duplicity of the Brown Government. It says Mr Rammell laid out ‘parameters’, which included stressing that decisions on release were made by Scottish Ministers and ensuring the Americans did not see the Government as ‘conniving in Megrahi’s unjustified removal from the UK’. It adds that informal soundings with the Scottish Executive had led to an understanding they would agree to compassionate release.
Officials accepted there were ‘presentational risks’, over the release of Megrahi, who was jailed for life for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 when it exploded over Lockerbie. They predicted his release would lead to public suspicions that ‘the UK is prepared to do anything to maintain its commercial and other ties with Libya’. They also accepted there were ‘real risks for the UK-US relationship’.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it is revealed, twice raised American concerns over the affair with David Miliband in March 2009. But diplomats made it clear they preferred American fury to ‘a series of potentially extreme risks to UK staff, nationals and our long-term energy security in the event of a Libyan overreaction to Megrahi’s death in custody’.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033493/Gaddafi-wants-costs-Embassy-documents-revealed-tyrant-vowed-holy-war-mass-killer-died-Scottish-prison.html#ixzz1Wwunmdqs