Dear Lord Hardie:

Last August you visited Washington and spoke to many of the U.S. relatives of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing. At a question and answer session we asked you about a letter written by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to Libyan leader Muammar Gadhaffi a few weeks before the two Libyan suspects were handed over for trial in the Netherlands. The letter arid accompanying documents apparently gave Gadhaffi a series (if assurances about the trial including the assurance that it would not be used to "undermine tile Libyan regime." This letter was vetted and approved by the governments of both tile U.S. and U.K. In response to our question you said you knew nothing of such a letter.

Recent articles in the U.S. press can leave absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that tile Annan letter and other documents relating to pretrial agreements with Libya do exist, Repeated attempts by family members and members of Congress to have these documents made public have been unsuccessful. We have been stonewalled it) a variety of ways, First we were told the documents do not exist, Then we were told they could not be found. Next we were told that since they were U.N. documents they could not be made, public, Finally the documents have simply beet) classified as secret.

This seems an appropriate moment to once again ask the question that we asked last year, "Have you seen these documents?" And now we add, "If not, why not?"

In expanding on the answer that you gave last year you assured us of your absolute independence from political pressure and your determination to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Brave statements, and we accept them at face value. But they also raise troubling and unanswered questions.

According to the indictments the two Libyan defendants are agents of the Libyan intelligence service, and conspired with others to carry out the aims of the service. We know that the head of the Libyan intelligence service in 1988 was Abdallah Senoussi who also happens to be Col. Gadhaffi's brother-in-law. List year Senoussi was one of those convicted in absentia in France for the bombing of a French airliner some nine months after the Lockerbie bombing. He remains free in Libya and is, by sonic accounts the second most powerful man in the country, behind Gadhaffi himself. Senoussi certainly entertains European and American visitors who wish to do business with Libya.

It is reasonable, indeed inevitable to conclude that the two Libyan defendants carried out the bombing with the knowledge, approval and under the direction of high officials in the Libyan government, including Col. Ghaddafi himself. Following that line of investigation could certainly lead to “undermining” the Libyan regime.

Given the assurances that the U.S. and the U.K. have made to Libya would they honestly and vigorously pursue such lines of investigation, or would the task fall entirely to the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary ? We mean no disrespect, but that is an absurd notion. This is not the sort of investigation that can be handled by Scotland alone, no matter how honorable your intentions may be.

The Annan letter and accompanying documents also apparently contain information about the conditions of the defendant’s imprisonment, which will allow them to remain effectively under Libyan control. This will not only reduce the defendant’s incentives to confess and give up their bosses, but it would actually make it difficult and dangerous for them to do so if they wanted to.

Another thing you told us in Washington was that not only must justice be done, but “it must be seen to be done.” This principle must apply not only to the supporters of the Libyan defendants, but to the families, friends and nations of the victims as well.

I urge you to join with those of us who have asked for the full public disclosure of the Annan letter, it’s annex, and all other documents relating to pretrial agreements with the Libyan government concerning the scope of the trial and the conditions under which the defendants will be held.

Anything less will inevitably create a cloud that will hang over the entire trial and will make it quite impossible for many of us to see justice being done.

Sincerely,

(signed) Daniel Cohen
(signed) Susan Cohen