Series of appeals have ended in failure

ABDELBASET AL-MEGRAHI’S conviction has been the subject of three unsuccessful – and partial – appeals since he was sent to jail in 2001.

Nearly three years after the 1988 tragedy, Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah were indicted by US and UK investigators as the culprits of the bombing.

After a decade of diplomatic wrangling between Libya, the US and the UK, authorities held a special Scottish court hearing at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands with the two men standing trial.

The former US military base was chosen as a neutral venue.

Megrahi was found guilty following an 84-day trial and was jailed for life.

Co-accused Fhimah was acquitted.

Within a week of the verdict, Megrahi’s legal team launched his first appeal, which was heard a year later, again at Camp Zeist.

But that was rejected by five judges at the special court.

In 2003 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission was asked by Megrahi’s solicitors to investigate the conviction.

In 2007, the body granted a second appeal saying there could have been a miscarriage of justice.

However, in 2009 that was dropped by Megrahi himself, who by that time was suffering terminal cancer.

In August of that year he was released on compassionate grounds with the Scottish Government saying he had six months to live.

He returned to Libya, where he died in May 2012, still protesting his innocence.

Even though he’s dead, a posthumous appeal against the conviction is possible if it’s deemed to be in the “interests of justice” by authorities.

The appeal would be based around the belief by Megrahi’s supporters that he did not commit the atrocity, was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and that his conviction should be overturned.

What this appeal was rejected on previously was a second element.

The SCCRC must be satisfied that those seeking an appeal have a “legitimate interest” in the case.

Announcing their decision last November the body said that must mean the input of the Megrahi family.

But these latest revelations that the Megrahi family are fully backing an appeal mean that stipulation would now be satisfied.