Lawyers
for convicted Lockerbie bomber demand documents for appeal
The Associated Press
Published:
EDINBURGH, Scotland: Lawyers for a former Libyan intelligence agent convicted
of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988 demanded at a preliminary
appeal hearing Thursday that they be given official documents they say were
kept from the defense during the trial.
Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi's legal
team said nondisclosure of the documents by prosecutors indicated there had
been "a miscarriage of justice."
Al-Megrahi,
55, who did not appear at the High Court for the hearing, has said he did not
commit the atrocity, in which 259 people died, including 11 on the ground in
The Libyan's lawyers said
Thursday that they need the documents to prepare their appeal, and they were
granted an extension until Dec. 21, the 19th anniversary of the terrorist
attack.
The defense claims that British
and
Al-Megrahi
was convicted of the murders by a special Scottish court at a trial held in the
He lost his first appeal in 2002,
but in June the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Board issued an 800-page
document recommending that al-Megrahi receive a second appeal.
The Rev. Graham Forbes, the
commission's chairman, said at the time: "Some of what we have discovered
may imply innocence; some of what we have discovered may imply guilt. However,
such matters are for a court to decide."
Thursday's 60-minute preliminary
hearing was the first regarding the Libyan's second appeal.
While the families of some of the
179 American victims of the Lockerbie attack maintain al-Megrahi's
guilt over the murders, many British families believe there was a miscarriage
of justice.
Dr. Jim Swire,
a Briton whose 19-year-old daughter Flora died in the attack, said in June:
"I sat through the whole trial in
Legal expert professor Robert
Black of
Al-Megrahi
is being held at a jail in
The full appeal — before a panel
of five judges — is expected to be held early in 2008.
...............................................................
Lockerbie: Case files requested
The procedural hearing at the
Court of Criminal Appeal in
Megrahi was convicted by a trio of Scottish judges sitting in a
special court in the
The 55-year-old, who was
sentenced to 27 years in jail, did not attend Thursday's hearing, which is the
first time his case has come to court since an independent review body in June
said he should be granted a second appeal.
The former Libyan intelligence
agent's legal team lodged a court order to force prosecutors to disclose the
documents, which were supplied by an undisclosed foreign government.
His lawyer, Maggie Scott, told
the court they were seeking two documents, one of which related to the supply
of timers which allegedly exploded the bomb and was pivotal to his conviction.
She said the review body, the
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, concluded a "miscarriage of
justice may have occurred" as a result of the non-disclosure.
"I can advise the material
was originally provided to the
Megrahi protests innocence
"It is clear to me that the
Crown (prosecutors) are not yet prepared to release
these documents.
"It is not at all clear to
me what the basis is for the refusal."
Megrahi, who denied the charges and continues to protest his
innocence, was jailed for 27 years. Another defendant was acquitted.
The explosion on the New
York-bound flight killed all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in
the southern Scottish town of
Megrahi, who is serving his sentence at
The SCCRC ruling that Megrahi could take his case to appeal judges for a second
time cast doubt on some of the evidence which helped convict him, in particular
that relating to an alleged visit to a clothes shop in
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BBC News
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Document plea in Lockerbie appeal |
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Lawyers
for the man jailed for the Lockerbie bombing have asked the Crown to hand
over documents which they said could help overturn his conviction. A court was told their
non-disclosure could indicate that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was the
victim of a "miscarriage of justice". The Libyan's legal
team said it needed the documents to prepare its appeal. They were granted an
extension until the 21 December - the 19th anniversary of the disaster in
1988. The hour-long hearing
- which Megrahi did not attend - was the first time
the case has come to court since he was granted the right to a second appeal
earlier this year. The full appeal -
before a panel of five judges - is likely to be heard next year. |
|
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Dr Jim Swire
(jim@swirefamily.net)