A university has been accused of covering up the origins of Covid as emails from a top Scottish scientist are being kept secret amid concerns for his safety.
The release of communication about the source of the pandemic from Andrew Rambaut, a renowned virologist, has been blocked by University of Edinburgh.
Despite numerous requests under the Freedom of Information Act for exchanges between Rambaut - who dismissed fears that Covid came from a Chinese laboratory - and others, the emails will not be published due to risks to his safety.
It follows a freedom of information (FoI) battle over an early 2020 paper in the journal Nature by Rambaut and other experts on the "proximal origin" of Covid.
The release of communication about the source of the pandemic from Andrew Rambaut, a renowned virologist, has been blocked by University of Edinburgh.
Royal Society/ Getty
At the time, allegations surfaced that the head of America’s response to the disease, Anthony Fauci had forced scientists including Rambaut to publish a debunking of the lab leak theory.
However, scientists involved have denied this under oath, while Fauci has said the claim is "categorically untrue".
In February 2020, Rambaut wrote informally to his colleagues: "Given the s**t-show that would happen if anyone serious accused the Chinese of even accidental release, my feeling is we should say that given there is no evidence of a specifically engineered virus.
"We cannot possibly distinguish between natural evolution and escape so we are content with ascribing it to natural process."
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Some suggest his comments about avoiding making claims regarding a lab leak were for political rather than scientific reasons.
Former deputy editor of the Independent, Ian Birrell said he was among those who used Scotland’s FoI laws to access Rambaut’s emails about “proximal origin”.
He has accused university officials of "stifling my efforts to help find the truth about the origins of Covid-19 in order to protect one of their top academics, who finds himself a central figure in a furore of worldwide significance".
He added: "Yet from start of the pandemic, a few prominent scientists, led by the bosses of the most important research funding bodies in Britain and the US, publicly dismissed fears Covid might be linked to a Wuhan lab.
"This led the suggestion to be scorned as ‘conspiracy theory’, condemned by patsy journalists, and even dismissed by some people as racist."
Some suggest his comments about avoiding making claims regarding a lab leak were for political rather than scientific reasons
GETTYScotland’s independent FoI watchdog, the information commissioner ruled in October that Edinburgh would have to admit it had the emails.
But, just before leaving his post Darren Fitzhenry said the university was right not to release the messages, as the institution had provided evidence of threats against the scientists concerned.
He concluded: "The public interest arguments put forward by the applicant are not strong enough to outweigh the public interest in ensuring that individuals are not endangered."
A spokesperson for the university said: "The university was required by the Scottish information commissioner to disclose whether we held the information pertaining to the request, which we did.
"The decision did not direct the university to disclose that information, but instead concurred with our position that the university was not required under FoI law to do so."