Lockerbie bomber allowed to appeal from beyond grave
His conviction ‘could be miscarriage of justice’
THE family of the Lockerbie bomber have been granted permission to appeal his conviction – nearly eight years after his death.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was the only person found guilty of the downing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people when it blew up over the Dumfriesshire town on December 21, 1988.
It remains the worst ever terror attack in Britain.
Now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has referred the case to the country’s highest criminal court amid concerns of a potential miscarriage of justice, citing grounds of ‘unreasonable verdict’ and ‘non-disclosure’.
It said new information had become available since a 2007 review of Megrahi’s conviction.
The Libyan was found guilty in 2001 by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Netherlands.
He protested his innocence until his death, aged 60, in Tripoli in May 2012.
He had been released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer.
The request for a posthumous appeal was submitted by the Megrahi family’s lawyers three years ago – supported by some of the victims’ relatives.
Referring the case to the High Court of Justiciary, the SCCRC said ‘no reasonable trial court could have accepted Megrahi was identified as the purchaser’ of items that were inside a bomb suitcase used in the attack.
Additionally, the Crown ‘ought to have disclosed to the defence a statement and a police report concerning possession of photographs of Mr Megrahi’ by a Maltese shopkeeper, whose evidence helped to convict the Libyan. SCCRC chairman Bill Matthews said: ‘Our function is not to decide upon the guilt or innocence of an applicant.
‘Our function is to examine the grounds of review identified and to decide whether any of the grounds meet the statutory test for a potential miscarriage.
‘I am satisfied the matter is returning to the appropriate forum, the appeal court, to consider fully all the issues raised in our statement of reasons.’
Among the victims of the bombing, which killed everyone on the flight and 11 people on the ground, was Flora Swire, 23, who had been travelling to New York to visit her boyfriend.
Her father, Dr Jim Swire, believes Megrahi was innocent.
He said: ‘I’m feeling slight euphoria at the news of the fresh appeal. It is what we have wanted. The evidence in the trial convinced us there was something phoney going on.
‘All we have ever wanted is a fair court where the evidence can be assessed. If the appeal runs through, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell the conviction will stand.’
American and British investigators indicted Megrahi over the attack in 1991, but Libya did not hand him over until 1999.
Former Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi – who was deposed and killed in 2011 – paid compensation to victims in 2003 but denied personally giving the order for the attack.
Yesterday, the Justice for Megrahi group said: ‘[The] decision by the SCCRC is very welcome and gives some hope that the stain that has lingered over the Scottish justice system for so many years will finally be obliterated and truth will triumph.’
Lawyer Aamer Anwar issued a statement from Megrahi’s son, Ali, which said: ‘Finally my family has hope that our father’s name will be cleared.
‘I am grateful to all those who have supported my family in their long struggle for justice.’
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: ‘The decision to refer Mr Al Megrahi’s case back to court was entirely a matter for the independent SCCRC.
‘The Scottish Government has always been clear that as Mr Al Megrahi was convicted in a court of law, that is the only appropriate forum for determining his guilt or innocence.’
‘It is what we have wanted’