Lockerbie Convict Can Drop Appeal
By ALAN COWELL
Published: August 18, 2009
A Scottish court on Tuesday said it would allow the only person jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to abandon an appeal against his conviction, technically removing one of several obstacles to the man’s early return home to Libya.
But, with American opposition building to any early release of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, there was no clear indication whether the court’s decision would accelerate his release from Scotland’s Greenock prison, where he is serving a minimum 27-year term imposed in 2001. His lawyers maintain that he is close to death from terminal prostate cancer.
Lord Arthur Hamilton, Scotland’s most senior judge, said he and two other judges had agreed to a request made last week by Mr. Megrahi to withdrawal his appeal but said a separate appeal by the Scottish authorities remained to be heard.
On Monday, group of American senators wrote to the Scottish justice minister to insist that Mr. Megrahi serve out his full term, adding to American efforts to ensure that he is not freed early or transferred to Libyan custody.
The letter was written after the Scottish government said it would decide soon on whether to permit Mr. Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence agent, to return to Libya either on compassionate grounds because of his health or under a prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and Britain.
Despite protestations of innocence, he was convicted in 2001 of murder and other charges relating to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, in which 270 people — 189 of them Americans — died. The plane, a Boeing 747, exploded at 31,000 feet over the small town of Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.
His bid to leave prison has re-ignited a bitter and emotional debate, pitting the families of American victims who want him to serve out his full sentence against some British families who maintain Mr. Megrahi is innocent and should be set free.
Mr. Megrahi’s move to abandon his second appeal against conviction was apparently designed to help him qualify under the transfer deal, which may only be invoked in the absence of outstanding legal issues. Lawyers representing the families of the Lockerbie victims argue that other legal issues would still remain, since there is a separate appeal by the Scottish authorities maintaining that his sentence was too lenient.
In court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Mr. Megrahi’s lawyer, Margaret Scott, said: “The court is aware of Mr. Megrahi’s medical condition in that he has progressive prostate cancer. This has now reached the terminal stage and my client’s condition has recently worsened very considerably.”
“Up-to-date medical reports from three eminent experts also concurred in the view that he has a very aggressive cancer, that his condition is grave and that the prognosis is extremely limited,” she said, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.
“His absolute priority in the little time he has left is to spend it with his family in his homeland,” Ms. Scott said.
Mr. Megrahi lost an earlier appeal in 2002, but in 2007, a Scottish judicial review authorized him to file a second appeal.
In their letter, the seven American senators said they believed Mr. Megrahi should “remain in Scotland to complete his sentence in prison.”
The group, including Sen. John F. Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his fellow Massachusetts Democrat, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said the international agreement that permitted Mr. Megrahi to be tried under Scottish law at a special court in the Netherlands provided for sentences to be served in full in Scotland.
“We believe strongly there should be ne deviation from this sentence,” the letter said. A copy of it was made available by a group representing the families of American victims of the bombing. “The bombing of Pan AM Flight 103 over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, was an attack on America and a horrific act of international terrorism resulting in the deaths of 270 people, including 18 9 Americans,” the letter said. “Until the tragic events of September 11, 2001, no terrorist act had killed more American civilians.”
The letter followed public expressions of opposition to Mr. Megrahi’s release from the United States State Department, which has also insisted that he should serve his full term. It was addressed to Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny Mackaskill, who has canceled other appointments to consider the case and will make a decision by the end of next week, according to news reports quoting an unidentified spokeswoman.
The Scottish government is to hold a scheduled cabinet meeting Tuesday but Scottish officials have declined to say whether ministers will discuss the Lockerbie affair.
The senators’ letter was also signed by senators Frank R. Lautenberg, Robert Menendez, Kristen Gillibrand, Charles E. Schumer and Patrick J. Leahy.
By ALAN COWELL
Published: August 18, 2009
A Scottish court on Tuesday said it would allow the only person jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to abandon an appeal against his conviction, technically removing one of several obstacles to the man’s early return home to Libya.
But, with American opposition building to any early release of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, there was no clear indication whether the court’s decision would accelerate his release from Scotland’s Greenock prison, where he is serving a minimum 27-year term imposed in 2001. His lawyers maintain that he is close to death from terminal prostate cancer.
Lord Arthur Hamilton, Scotland’s most senior judge, said he and two other judges had agreed to a request made last week by Mr. Megrahi to withdrawal his appeal but said a separate appeal by the Scottish authorities remained to be heard.
On Monday, group of American senators wrote to the Scottish justice minister to insist that Mr. Megrahi serve out his full term, adding to American efforts to ensure that he is not freed early or transferred to Libyan custody.
The letter was written after the Scottish government said it would decide soon on whether to permit Mr. Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence agent, to return to Libya either on compassionate grounds because of his health or under a prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and Britain.
Despite protestations of innocence, he was convicted in 2001 of murder and other charges relating to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988, in which 270 people — 189 of them Americans — died. The plane, a Boeing 747, exploded at 31,000 feet over the small town of Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.
His bid to leave prison has re-ignited a bitter and emotional debate, pitting the families of American victims who want him to serve out his full sentence against some British families who maintain Mr. Megrahi is innocent and should be set free.
Mr. Megrahi’s move to abandon his second appeal against conviction was apparently designed to help him qualify under the transfer deal, which may only be invoked in the absence of outstanding legal issues. Lawyers representing the families of the Lockerbie victims argue that other legal issues would still remain, since there is a separate appeal by the Scottish authorities maintaining that his sentence was too lenient.
In court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Mr. Megrahi’s lawyer, Margaret Scott, said: “The court is aware of Mr. Megrahi’s medical condition in that he has progressive prostate cancer. This has now reached the terminal stage and my client’s condition has recently worsened very considerably.”
“Up-to-date medical reports from three eminent experts also concurred in the view that he has a very aggressive cancer, that his condition is grave and that the prognosis is extremely limited,” she said, according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.
“His absolute priority in the little time he has left is to spend it with his family in his homeland,” Ms. Scott said.
Mr. Megrahi lost an earlier appeal in 2002, but in 2007, a Scottish judicial review authorized him to file a second appeal.
In their letter, the seven American senators said they believed Mr. Megrahi should “remain in Scotland to complete his sentence in prison.”
The group, including Sen. John F. Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his fellow Massachusetts Democrat, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said the international agreement that permitted Mr. Megrahi to be tried under Scottish law at a special court in the Netherlands provided for sentences to be served in full in Scotland.
“We believe strongly there should be ne deviation from this sentence,” the letter said. A copy of it was made available by a group representing the families of American victims of the bombing. “The bombing of Pan AM Flight 103 over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, was an attack on America and a horrific act of international terrorism resulting in the deaths of 270 people, including 18 9 Americans,” the letter said. “Until the tragic events of September 11, 2001, no terrorist act had killed more American civilians.”
The letter followed public expressions of opposition to Mr. Megrahi’s release from the United States State Department, which has also insisted that he should serve his full term. It was addressed to Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny Mackaskill, who has canceled other appointments to consider the case and will make a decision by the end of next week, according to news reports quoting an unidentified spokeswoman.
The Scottish government is to hold a scheduled cabinet meeting Tuesday but Scottish officials have declined to say whether ministers will discuss the Lockerbie affair.
The senators’ letter was also signed by senators Frank R. Lautenberg, Robert Menendez, Kristen Gillibrand, Charles E. Schumer and Patrick J. Leahy.
