§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reason was given by the Syrian Government to justify their refusal to provide documents requested by the Government during the Lockerbie trial; and if he will make a statement. [144770]
§ Mr. BattleThe Syrian authorities, in their reply to the letter of request sent by the Scottish Court in the Netherlands, stressed that, in their opinion, they should not have been asked the question in the first place and would therefore prefer not to have to send a formal reply.
The Lord Advocate, therefore, informed the court on 8 January that it was unlikely that the court would get a formal response, certainly not within any short time scale, and that any formal response would undoubtedly be negative.