THE conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie may have been the result of a miscarriage of justice, a review has found.
Now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) has referred his case to the High Court, paving the way for a fresh appeal eight years after he died and 31 years since the atrocity that killed 270 people. The SCCRC said their review of Megrahi’s conviction met two statutory tests for referral – it may have been a miscarriage of justice and it is in the interests of justice to refer it back to the court.
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Lawyer Aamer Anwar made the application to the SCCRC on behalf of Megrahi’s family and with support from some of the families of those who died in the disaster.
Flight 103 was travelling from London to New York four days before Christmas in 1988, when a bomb inside a suitcase onboard exploded, killing 259 people on board and 11 in the town when the plane crashed into their homes.
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Former Libyan intelligence officer Megrahi, the only person convicted of the bombing, was found guilty of mass murder in 2001 and jailed for life with a minimum of 27 years. He died in Libya in 2012 from prostate cancer after being freed from prison on compassionate grounds.
Anwar said the SCCRC had delivered “a damning indictment of the process” and believe that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred by reason of an “unreasonable verdict” and the ground of “non-disclosure”, which “incorporate many of the issues we had identified in our application”.
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On the issue of unreasonable verdict, the commission said a miscarriage of justice may have occurred because no reasonable trial court, relying on the evidence led at trial, could have held the case against Megrahi was proved beyond reasonable doubt. On non-disclosure, it said the Crown ought to have disclosed certain information to the defence and also its failure to reveal information about reward money bolstered the conclusion he was denied a fair trial.
Anwar said: “Disclosure didn’t take place on a number of critical issues, and that means a fair trial could not take place. So their lordships can only hear the evidence as it is presented to them.
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“And if that disclosure doesn’t take place, then the blame lies at the door of the Crown Office, as well as the US government and the British government and the various security agencies involved in this case.”
Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the SCCRC, said yesterday: “The 419-page decision issued today, with voluminous appendices, is a testament to the hard work and diligence of our investigating team over the last three years, involving us in novel and challenging court procedures along the way, and I pay tribute to them.”
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In a statement, the campaign group Justice for Megrahi (JfM), said: “Today’s decision … is very welcome and gives some hope that the stain that has lingered over the Scottish justice system for so many years will finally be obliterated and that truth will triumph over deceit, self-interest and procrastination.”
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale MSP, Christine Grahame, a JfM member who met Megrahi in Greenock prison on three occasions, added: “There are some relatives of the victims who will not welcome an appeal but I say gently to them that over the years they have not been told the truth.
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“I remain of the view that it was a revenge attack by the Iranians for the American military cruiser the USS Vincennes shooting down an Iranian passenger plane carrying 290 pilgrims one month previously with the captain of the Vincennes captured on video celebrating the downing of the plane.”
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