Sunday 4 May 2014

New film will aid Jim Swire's 25-year quest for justice

[Today’s edition of Scotland on Sunday features an article headed Lockerbie movie will reveal truth of tragedy. It reads as follows:]

The father of a victim of Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity has expressed hope that a new film about the tragedy will aid his 25-year quest for justice.

Dr Jim Swire, a veteran campaigner who lost his daughter in the Lockerbie disaster, believes the movie could be the way the “truth dawns” for the public over the 1988 incident.

The film is set to be made by Jim Sheridan, the six-times Oscar-nominated director of the acclaimed In The Name Of The Father and My Left Foot.

Swire believes the project will help bring into the public domain evidence which he believes casts doubt over the conviction of the late Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who was found guilty in 2001 of murdering 270 people by blowing up Pan-Am Flight 103 in the skies above Lockerbie.

However, the decision to tell the narrative of Lockerbie through the central figure of Swire has been criticised by some US relatives of the tragedy, who believe Sheridan will be covering the “completely wrong story”.

Swire, 78, told Scotland on Sunday that although he felt “uncomfortable” about upsetting other families who take an opposing view to him over the circumstances surrounding the atrocity, he was compelled to “pursue the truth” in memory of his daughter Flora, who was 23 when she died.

Currently in the early stages of development, the drama has the working title of Lockerbie.

It comes as Swire and other relatives are preparing a presentation to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to request a third appeal to overturn Megrahi’s conviction, more than two years on from his death.

He will attend a meeting in Glasgow later this week with members of other families and lawyers to decide when they will submit the request.

Swire said: “The film is important because it brings into the public domain more of the truth about what really could have happened instead of a package of lies clearly supported by US sources.”

He added: “This may turn out to be the way by which the truth dawns for the general public.”

Those behind the production, he said, possess the “skills, humanity and resources” to create a film which will “respect the depths of the many human tragedies involved, but also make us rejoice that love and the human spirit cannot in the end be overcome by evil”.

Although details of the film are being kept under wraps, it is understood to focus on Swire’s search for justice and is based on an unpublished manuscript he has been working on for more than a decade alongside writer and researcher Peter Biddulph.

Richard Jeffs, a literary agent who has been assisting Biddulph, said: “It’s true to say that Peter Biddulph and Dr Jim Swire have worked extremely diligently for more than ten years to create a manuscript and we are still seeking to have it published.”

Those behind the film have been maintaining a low profile, mindful of the sensitivities surrounding Lockerbie. But after Sheridan confirmed his involvement in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, some US relatives expressed anger at the project.

Kathy Tedeschi, whose husband Bill Daniels was a passenger on Pan Am 103, said: “It kills me to think that they would go off and just tell some completely wrong story just because they like the way it sounds or there’s got to be another twist to it.

“There are too many people, like the FBI and Scotland Yard, who investigated this case, and I firmly believe they knew what they were doing and they got the right man.”

Swire said he accepted the film would upset some families who lost loved ones in Lockerbie but felt he could not abandon the project.

“I do feel uncomfortable about making them miserable by pursuing the truth, but that’s what I have to do in the name of my daughter,” he said. 

[An interesting article on the project can be found here on the Filmstalker website.]

5 comments:


  1. MISSION LIFE WITH THE LOCKERBIE AFfAIR, 2014

    Der allmähliche Gesinnungswandel im "Lockerbie Fall" wird bewirken, dass sich die Tragödie nachweisbar in zwei Teile aufsplittet - in den "IST Zustand" des PanAm 103 Attentat, mit 270 Opfern - und einer "Lockerbie Affäre" (Verschwörung und Betrug) gegen das ehemalige Gadhafi Regime) durch ein falsches schottischen Gerichtsurteil, abgestützt auf manipuliertes Indizienmaterial, gegen Mr. Abdelbaset al Megrahi (verstorben).

    Die "rechtsgültige Wahrheit" der Scottish Justiciary, ist nicht die Wahrheit des wachsenden "Widerstandes"!
    Auf Suche nach Schutz vor Rechtsverzögerung, Beeinflussung durch gewisse Medien, zeigt aber auch die Grenzen auf - somit ist klar, nur die Wahrhaftigkeit kann sich durchsetzten.

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Telecommunication, Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch

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  2. MISSION LIFE WITH THE LOCKERBIE Affair, 2014 (google translation, german/english):

    The gradual change of opinion in the "Lockerbie case" will cause the tragedy splits detectable in two parts - in the "IS state" of the Pan Am 103 bombing, with 270 victims - and a "Lockerbie Affair" (conspiracy and fraud) against the former Gadhafi regime) by a false Scottish court judgment, supported on manipulated circumstantial evidence material, against Mr. Abdelbaset al Megrahi (deceased).

    The "legally valid truth" of the Scottish Justiciary, is not the truth of the growing "resistance"!
    In search of protection from legal delay, influenced by certain media, but also points to the limits - thus it is clear, only the truthfulness can set them selves.

    by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd.. Telecommunication, Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch

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  3. The "LOTUS EFFECT" of the Scottish Justice dwindle - for the obfuscation of the Miscarriage of Justice, in the Lockerbie Case..
    +++
    Der "LOTUS- EFFEKT" der schottischen Justiz, für die Verschleierung des Fehlurteils im Lockerbie Fall, schwindet...

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  4. “I do feel uncomfortable about making them miserable by pursuing the truth, but that’s what I have to do in the name of my daughter,” he [Jim Swire] said.


    A group of people have allowed themselves to enter a state of denial.

    Closing their eyes for old and new evidence, totally unwilling to learn.

    Closing their eyes for the well-documented past and current acts of people in a system that has worked, and works, to hide, misrepresent, obstruct and delay.

    Stopping any analytical thinking, and instead, selectively, expressing faith in authorities with a very poor record.
    Despite a conviction that no longer seems to have a single supporter who is willing to discuss all available evidence.

    Allowing themselves to be represented by people which remain to be as poorly informed as their beliefs are unshakable.

    And, based on above denialism, express hatred towards a man, that also have a family, who also lost a husband and father, who in addition had to suffer years in jail, only to be released as a slowly dying man.


    Having lost a loved one in no way gives you the right to, actively or passively, accept a very poorly founded explanation as a mean to find closure, to suppress your own private pain. Even if it may be 'very human', as mistakes tend to be.

    No, your loss gives you increased responsibility to pursue the truth, both in the name of the departed, and for the benefit of others. Accepting lies about a cause is invariably a direct support of having the wrong things happening yet again.

    I understand that a compassioned nature like Jim Swire's would still have to have room for an understanding for those, who in effect work against justice and are a major reason why things move so slowly.

    But it is a compassion so few have done anything to earn, and one, that will not, and should not, for a second hold Jim Swire back from what he does with every justification in the world.

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  5. Kathy Tedeschi, whose husband Bill Daniels was a passenger on Pan Am 103, said: “It kills me to think that they would go off and just tell some completely wrong story just because they like the way it sounds or there’s got to be another twist to it.

    Not sure how Dr Swires fight for the truth is "Some completely wrong story" surely his story is as important as any other relatives?

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