SCOTLAND:The Libyan man serving a life sentence for the murder of 270 people in the Lockerbie bombing has been granted leave for a second appeal after a fresh investigation uncovered evidence suggesting he may have been wrongly convicted.
A three-year inquiry by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has cast serious doubt on claims that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi (55) carried out the bombing on December 21st, 1988, of the Pan Am airliner which blew up 9,500m (31,000ft) above the town of Lockerbie in southwest Scotland.
The commission said it had uncovered six grounds for believing a "miscarriage of justice may have occurred". In an unusually detailed statement, it heavily criticised the decision in 2001 by three Scottish judges to convict Megrahi, who was later sentenced to life.
It found new evidence which appears to severely undermine a central prosecution allegation against Megrahi: that he bought 13 items of clothing from Tony Gauci's shop in Sliema, Malta, on December 7th which were later used to shield the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103.
The commission said the judges, who sat without a jury in a uniquely convened court in the Netherlands, had "no reasonable basis" to conclude the clothes were bought that day - the only occasion when the Libyan was able to do so.
It also uncovered evidence that indicated the clothes were bought days before.
The commission said key evidence which further undermined the reliability of Mr Gauci's testimony had been withheld from the Libyan's trial lawyers.