Lockerbie bomb appeal launched 8yrs after death
Megrahi’s son hopes to clear dad’s name
THE family of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing have launched a bid to clear his name eight years after he died.
The son of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi said the posthumous appeal was lodged with the courts yesterday.
Ali al-Megrahi said: “The legal team has made great efforts and is still making in exposing the unfair trial that my father was subjected to and continues to face despite his death.
“We have faith that justice will win in the end and overturn the unlawful verdict.”
It follows a decision by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in March that Megrahi’s case should be referred to the High Court.
The ruling stated: “The Commission believes that there may have been a miscarriage of justice in relation to the conviction.”
A bomb blew up Pan Am Flight 103 above Lockerbie, killing 270 people in
December 1988. In 2001, Megrahi was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years.
Some relatives of the victims believe Megrahi was wrongly convicted.
His most recent appeal began in 2007 but was abandoned in 2009 after the diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Megrahi was freed weeks later on compassionate grounds by then justice secretary Kenny MacAskill. He died in Libya in 2012.
Lawyers acting for Megrahi, led by Aamer Anwar, say the grounds for the appeal are “substantial”.
It is expected that five senior Appeal Court judges will hear the appeal later this year.