Excerpts from recent press coverage of the case
There was, as the judge admitted, not a shred of evidence to connect either
defendant with the actual bombings
... Gareth Peirce has been trying without success to prise out of the DPP the
truth about any intelligence warning which, she believes, could exculpate her
clients and point the finger at more dangerous culprits. Paul Foot
The suggestion that a senior MI5 anti-terrorist agent believed that the
Israelis were responsible obviously casts even more doubt on the convictions
of Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh. Paul Foot
The human consequences of this refusal to be honest with such potentially
crucial information are disgraceful and immense. Mr Botmeh and Ms Alami continue
to rot away in prison while this country's government and justice system do
their best to keep from them information upon which their chances of freedom
may depend. Letters to the Editor
Only Rida Mugrabi -- now suspected of being an Israeli agent -- knows the
truth. ... But once Botmeh and Alami decided to name Mughrabi having begun to
realise the degree to which they had been set up the authorities took little
interest in the revelation. Robert Fisk
According to Mrs Peirce: If the security services had a reliable warning
from a reliable source, that could clearly give us information as to who was
behind the bombing it could provide strong clues as to what we need to know
about who is Rida Mughrabi.
[Samar and Jawad's] sketch of Rida Mughrabi the man they believe carried out
the bombing was published for the first time in The Independent last week. Neither
the police nor the prosecution sought such a portrait from them. And no search
is under way to find the man whom the two convicted prisoners say implicated
them in the attack on the Israeli embassy. Robert Fisk
Did the Israelis bomb their own London embassy in 1994?
David Shayler is not a fantasist. A great deal of what he has said about other
cases has been verified. If he is telling the truth about the warning and the
written suspicions of his senior colleague, his testimony is vitally important.
... The case for full disclosure in the Alami/Botmeh case is overwhelming. There
is a lot to suggest that Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh had nothing whatsoever
to do with the bombing of the Israeli embassy. Paul Foot
Justice demands that all this information should be released without further
delay. If the British government and judicial system refuse this, Ms Alami and
Mr Botmeh, who have always protested their innocence, are being deprived of
potentially crucial grounds for their appeal. Letters to the Editor