Lockerbie bomber’s family to launch new appeal over conviction

The family of the Lockerbie bomber will launch a bid to appeal against his conviction within days.

Lawyer Aamer Anwar has confirmed files will be handed to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

It will then decide whether there are grounds to refer the case over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-megrahi – who died of prostate cancer in 2012 – to the appeal court.

Megrahi’s widow Aisha and son Ali met recently with Mr Anwar. It is believed they will present concerns over the evidence which convicted the Libyan 16 years ago, including that given by Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who died last year.

Megrahi is the only person to be convicted over Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity, which killed 270 people in December 1988. He was jailed for 27 years following a trial under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

Megrahi lost an appeal against his conviction in 2002, with the SCCRC recommending in 2007 that he should be granted a second appeal.

He dropped the second attempttooverturnhisconviction in 2009, two days before the then Scottish justice secretary Kenny Macaskill agreed to his release on compassionate grounds back to Tripoli, as it was thought he only had three months to live. It was another three years before Megrahi died, at the age of 60.

Relatives of some of the victims have previously attempted to appeal Megrahi’s conviction, arguing for the right to pursue a possible miscarriage of justice.

The SCCRC had asked the High Court in Edinburgh to establish whether the families could be classed as persons with a legitimate interest.

However, judges ruled two years ago that this would not be possible under Scots law after previous rulings that only the executor of a dead person’s estate or their next of kin could proceed with a posthumous application.

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, Megrahi’s widow said: “I wish to pursue this appeal in my husband’s name to have his conviction overturned, to clear his name and to clear the name of my family. The world will say sorry to my husband and my family one day.”

Her son added: “I lost my father and although nobody can bring him back, I still want justice for him. I’m sure that, with the new appeal, my father’s name will be cleared from all allegations.

“We hope the authorities of Scotland will make it possible to correct the controversial verdict and give all the families who lost loved ones, including ours, real justice.”

0 Pan-am Flight 103 crashed on the village of Lockerbie