Lockerbie bomber convicted on unreliable evidence, court told
THE Lockerbie bomber was convicted on the basis of unreliable witnesses and no reasonable jury would have found him guilty, a court has heard.
The family of Abdelbaset al-megrahi, convicted of mass murder for his part in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, are seeking to overturn the 2001 verdict, more than eight years after he died.
The verdict is being challenged on the basis that no reasonable jury could have found him guilty and that key evidence was withheld from the defence, meaning Megrahi did not get a fair trial.
Pan-am Flight 103, between London and New York, exploded over Lockerbie in south-west Scotland in December 1988, killing all 259 on board and a further 11 people on the ground.
Megrahi was convicted under Scots law at a special trial in the Netherlands in 2001, following years of diplomatic wrangling between the UK, United States and Libya over his extradition, and was controversially freed eight years later on compassionate grounds, before dying in 2012.
Supporters of Megrahi, who was alleged to be a Libyan intelligence officer, have long maintained his innocence and suggested Syria, Iran or Middle East terror groups may have instead been responsible for the bombing.
Claire Mitchell QC, representing the family, raised doubts about the evidence of key witnesses, including Tony Gauci, a Maltese shop owner, who testified that he had sold Megrahi clothing later found wrapped around the bomb. Mr Gauci died in 2016. She claimed pretrial publicity could have affected Mr Gauci’s recollection, after he saw a photograph of Megrahi in a magazine shortly before an identity parade, something that was not raised at the original trial. Details about reward payments made to Mr Gauci by US authorities was among the information not disclosed to the defence.
It is the third appeal against the verdict. Megrahi was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 27 years.
Virtual hearings at the High Court in Edinburgh are expected to last between three or four days, with the ruling to be delivered at a later date.
Scottish judges have upheld a secrecy order, signed by Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, which The Guardian reported implicate a Palestinian terror group in the bombing.
Aamer Anwar, the Scottish human rights lawyer who represents the family, said Megrahi’s son, Ali, had told him this week that Megrahi had maintained his innocence “until his dying breath”.