Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> JURIST - The Paper Chase

Legal News

: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Scotland court allows withdrawal of Lockerbie bomber appeal

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Scottish High Court of the Judiciary on Tuesday accepted a request from convicted Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to withdraw a pending appeal to his 2001 conviction. The court's decision to drop the appeal removes an impediment to Megrahi's petition to serve the remainder of his sentence in his native Libya, which could not be granted while legal actions are pending. Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini must now decide whether to drop an appeal of Megrahi's 27-year sentence, which the government sees as too lenient. Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill is considering whether to release or transfer Megrahi on "compassionate grounds" in light of his recently diagnosed terminal prostate cancer. On Monday, seven US Senators including Ted Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), sent a letter to MacAskill urging him not to agree to Megrahi's release or transfer, joining last week's criticism from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. In November, the High Court denied Megrahi's request to be released on bail during the appeals process. Lawyers for al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, were denied access in March 2008 to a "missing document," that they had sought in appealing his conviction. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) granted an appeal in al-Megrahi's case in June 2007 and referred it the High Court after the commission identified six grounds for a possible "miscarriage of justice" in his trial and conviction. In 2003, Libya made its final compensation payment to a US fund for victims' families in November 2008 after agreeing to accept responsibility for the 1988 airline bombing that killed all 259 on board, including 180 Americans.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 18, 2009 (boomark / email).