NETHERLANDS/LIBYA/UK: A FROMER LIBYAN SECRET AGENT BEGAN AN APPEAL AGAINST HIS MURDER CONVICTION FOR THE 1988 LOCKERBIE AIRLINER BOMBING

Record ID: 899232

  • Title: NETHERLANDS/LIBYA/UK: A FROMER LIBYAN SECRET AGENT BEGAN AN APPEAL AGAINST HIS MURDER CONVICTION FOR THE 1988 LOCKERBIE AIRLINER BOMBING
  • Date: 23rd January 2002
  • Summary: CAMP ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS (JANUARY 23, 2002) (REUTERS) PAN/SLV EXTERIORS COURT COMPLEX (2 SHOTS) SV CLARE CONNELLY, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW LAWYER, ENTERING COURT COMPLEX MCU (English) UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW LAWYER CLARE CONNELLY SAYING: "The new evidence relates to an alleged break-in at Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport on the eve of the Lockerbie disaster and the suggestion being in the grounds of appeal that that evidence should have been heard and that should have some impact in the verdict of the trial court." MCU MOHAMMED MEGDAMY, BROTHER IN LAW OF THE ACCUSED TALKING TO RELATIVES MCU (English) BROTHER-IN-LAW MOHAMMED MAGDAMI SAYNG: "No, he is not guilty. We are sure he is not guilty. He is my brother-in-law and we grew up together. He is from a normal family and he never would do such things. For sure."
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2014 15:07
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAMP ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS AND TRIPOLI, LIBYA
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVA1N314SB79YYMVY3YFWJ5IUYOY
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: A former Libyan secret agent began an appeal on Wednesday against his murder conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, which until September 11 was a byword for airborne attacks.
    The man convicted of carrying out the Lockerbie bombing told a court hearing his appeal on Wednesday (January 23) that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
    Abdel Basset al-Megrahi's lawyer, William Taylor said his client's conviction was not one that a "reasonable" jury could have reached in an ordinary trial if directed properly.
    Al Megrahi is currently serving a life sentence at Camp Zeist after he was found guilty of mass murder last January, at the end of a marathon trial at a specially-convened Scottish court.
    On Wednesday, members of al-Megrahi's family, as well as the families of some of the victims, were present in court to hear the start of an appeal which is expected to last about five weeks.
    Standing in the rain outside the court at the former U.S. military base, al-Megrahi's children carried pictures of white doves and the message in Arabic: "Dad, we await your return to us."
    "We sympathise with the families of the victims and feel their pain. We pray for justice to reveal the truth," read a placard waved by his brother-in-law Mohammed Magdami.
    Meanwhile, inside the modern, wood-panelled courtroom, al-Megrahi was a picture of calm.
    Entering the court for the three-hour morning session, al-Megrahi smiled and waved to relatives and supporters in the public gallery, separated from him by a bulletproof glass panel.
    Dressed in a beige and white waistcoat and white robe and wearing a dark red fez, he sat impassively throughout the hearing, flanked by two burly prison warders and listening to his lawyer's submissions via an Arabic translation headset.
    Opening the appeal on behalf of Al Megrahi, Taylor said he would be questioning the validity of parts of that opinion and intended to bring fresh evidence which cast doubt on the conviction.
    The 49-year-old Libyan was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years in jail after being convicted of the murder of 270 people in the 1988 atrocity.
    The hearing marks the first time Scottish proceedings have been broadcast live on the Internet after a bid by the BBC succeeded earlier this month.
    Al Megrahi's co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted in the trial at Camp Zeist after the Scottish judges ruled there was no evidence he had helped plant the bomb.
    Megrahi's family and supporters believe the court should also have set him free.
    All 259 people on board the plane, as well as 11 on the ground, were killed when Pan Am flight 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie on its way from Heathrow to New York in 1988.
    The defence produced a nine-page submission of grounds of appeal which focus on alleged mistakes in the court's verdict and new evidence from a security guard who was on duty at Heathrow airport on the day of the bombing.
    Five judges, headed by the Lord Justice General, Lord Cullen, are sitting at the Scottish Court in Holland to hear the appeal.
    The new evidence concerns the testimony of security guard Ray Manly, who has claimed the baggage build up area at the airport was broken into during the morning of December 21, 1988 - the day of the bombing.
    "The new evidence relates to an alleged break-in at Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport on the eve of the Lockerbie disaster and the suggestion being in the grounds of appeal that that evidence should have been heard and that should have some impact in the verdict of the trial court," said University of Glasgow lawyer Clare Connelly.
    Alan Turnbull QC, speaking for the Crown, submitted at the start of today's hearing that the evidence was not sufficient to justify being heard in the appeal.
    Taylor told the court that with the exception of the new evidence, the grounds of appeal constituted criticisms of the findings of the judges in their 82-page opinion, which was issued at the end of the original trial.
    He said: "Because we have reasons for the verdict in writing, this case is far removed from a jury verdict which is, by its nature and by law, inscrutable."
    He added that the appeal court should hear all of the evidence considered by the original court, including what was rejected by the judges, in the same way as an appeal against a jury's verdict. Taylor added that he intended to show that the three judges had effectively misdirected themselves as jurors and led to a miscarriage of justice.
    Meanwhile Libyan Television broadcast a conference set up by various human rights organisations in Libya under the banner of "Lockerbie and the Absent Truth" in support of accused al-Megrahi.
    It said that the conference, attended by various charity organisations and human rights associations, voiced Africa's support for al-Megrahi and Libya and its condemnation of the case against al-Megrahi.
    (rb/rz)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register