Family of late Lockerbie bombing convict launch appeal bid
LONDON - The family of the only person ever convicted of the bombing of an airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 lodged a new bid Monday to appeal against his conviction posthumously.
Lawyer Aamer Anwar joined family members of former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who died in 2012, to present their case to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in Glasgow.
The commission will review the files to see if there are grounds for an appeal.
"The only place to determine whether a miscarriage of justice did occur is in the appeal court," Anwar said.
A Scottish court in 2001 sentenced the Libyan to 27 years in jail over the attack on Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.
However, he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after doctors said he had only three months to live.
Megrahi suffered from prostate cancer and was sent back home, where he received a hero's welcome.
The fact that he survived much longer than the doctors had estimated provoked indignation in Britain and the United States.
Megrahi had always maintained his innocence and his brother Abdelhakim defended him on Sunday, saying he was the "scapegoat" of Moamer Kadhafi's regime.
A 2002 appeal against the conviction was unsuccessful and a second appeal in 2009 was abandoned.
Most of those killed in the bombing of the Boeing 747 jet headed from London to New York were Americans. All 259 passengers and crew were killed, along with 11 people on the ground.