{short description of image}
help-for-you News .PRT14-8Article.html 8
 Note the UTC time and source of information.
. Thursday, 14 March, 2002


Scottish Judges to Decide on Lockerbie Appeal

VOA News
14 Mar 2002
Email this article to a friend.Printer Friendly Version

Five Scottish judges are expected to decide Thursday on the appeal by a Libyan intelligence agent convicted last year in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. 

Lawyers for Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi say his guilty verdict is unjust. 

He was convicted last year and sentenced to life in prison for placing a bomb-laden suitcase in baggage at the Malta airport. The bomb was eventually put on the U.S. Pan American flight that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. 

During two weeks of appeals, the defense presented witnesses who testified about a break-in at London's Heathrow airport baggage area the night before the blast. 

The defense contends the testimony undermines conclusions about the origin of the bomb. Prosecutors, however, rebutted the testimony and cited discrepancies in the story. 

A special three-judge Scottish court sentenced al-Megrahi to life in prison and said he should serve a minimum of 20 years. 

The court acquitted al-Megrahi's co-defendant, Al-amin Khalifa Fahima.

 

Email this article to a friend.
Printer Friendly Version