At long last the mainstream media are discovering the significance of the visit by Mandela in June 2002 to comfort Al-Megrahi in his Glasgow prison cell.
Mandela was a major influence in the setting up of the Lockerbie trial, the agreement by Libya to transfer the two suspects to the Lockerbie trial court in Kamp Zeist, and - unknown to many at the time - in pressing for a second appeal so that Al-Megrahi's innocence could be demonstrated in a court of law.
As an expert lawyer Mandela was aware of the prosecution case and the evidence submitted, and believed that Al-Megrahi had suffered a deep wrong at the hands of the intelligence services of several governments.
A full account of Mandela's visit to see Al-Megrahi, including a privately taken family photo of the two together and a photo of the hand-written inscription by Mandela, is contained in John Ashton's book MEGRAHI, YOU ARE MY JURY: THE LOCKERBIE EVIDENCE (2012 - Birlinn).
The details of the visit, together with the two photos, can be read here. (Please scroll down one or two blogs that have been recorded since they were published on the blogsite).
South Africa and Lockerbie are strongly connected through a (suspicious) De Beers diamond deal the Apartheid Government had with the Oppenheimers. The beneficiaries of these dealings were about to be exposed by Bernt Carlson, the special envoy of the UN to Namibia. He was booked on the "Lockerbie" flight to NY together with Pik Botha (The then SA envoy to the UN) and his troupe. A couple of hours before the departure of the fateful flight the South African delegation was warned about expected problems and took an earlier flight. Bernt Carlson was however one of the victims.
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