Lockerbie bomber in fresh appeal

EDINBURGH – Three Scottish judges yesterday presided over a legal hearing in the appeal of a former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988.

The hearing was the first time Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi’s case had come to court since a judicial commission granted him the right to a second appeal in June. Al-Megrahi, 55, is not expected to appear at the Court of Criminal Appeal.In June the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said there were six grounds where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.Lawyers for al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of bombing the London to New York flight on December 21 1988, claim that British and US authorities tampered with evidence, disregarded witness statements and steered investigators away from evidence that the bombing was an Iranian-financed plot carried out by Palestinians to avenge the shooting down of a civilian Iranian airliner by US forces several months earlier.Al Megrahi – a former Libyan intelligence officer – is serving a life sentence after all 259 people on board Pan Am flight 103 died when the transatlantic aircraft exploded above the quiet Scottish town on December 21 1988.The wreckage plunged to the ground, killing 11 Lockerbie residents.Nampa-APAl-Megrahi, 55, is not expected to appear at the Court of Criminal Appeal.In June the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said there were six grounds where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.Lawyers for al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of bombing the London to New York flight on December 21 1988, claim that British and US authorities tampered with evidence, disregarded witness statements and steered investigators away from evidence that the bombing was an Iranian-financed plot carried out by Palestinians to avenge the shooting down of a civilian Iranian airliner by US forces several months earlier.Al Megrahi – a former Libyan intelligence officer – is serving a life sentence after all 259 people on board Pan Am flight 103 died when the transatlantic aircraft exploded above the quiet Scottish town on December 21 1988.The wreckage plunged to the ground, killing 11 Lockerbie residents.Nampa-AP