The two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie bombing disaster are likely to be tried in the Netherlands, after the British and US governments formally agreed yesterday to a trial in a neutral state.
Ten years after the mid-air bombing, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, and the Scottish Lord Advocate, Lord Hardie, announced the proposal yesterday after the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, held a telephone conference with the families of the American victims.
In Washington last night, Ms Albright said the proposal was not "a take it or leave it proposition . . . nor should it be subject to additional foot dragging or delay" by the Libyan authorities.
It is understood that the two governments, in consultation with the Netherlands, have agreed that a trial can take place in The Hague under Scottish law presided over by a panel of Scottish judges, but that it will not be a trial by jury.
The trial could begin next May. The proposal follows intense diplomatic activity to work out the fine detail of the trial format.
The UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has been asked to inform Libya of the decision and to seek arrangements for the transfer of the two suspects - Mr Abdel Baset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi and Mr al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah.
They are accused of the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988 in which 270 people were killed when Pan Am flight 103 blew up over Scotland.
The British government will also support action by the UN Security Council to lift international sanctions against Libya once the two men are handed over for trial.
Until recently London and Washington had been pressing for a trial in Scotland or the US.
The Libyan leader, Col Gadafy, vehemently rejected this, maintaining that the men could not receive a fair trial there.
At that time a deal seemed far from easy to achieve.
But after a meeting in Tripoli in April between the Libyan authorities and British representatives of the victims, the Libyans agreed to a trial in a neutral country before an international panel of judges.
Mr Cook described the trial arrangements as "an historic innovation in international legal practice".
He called on the Libyan authorities to honour their undertakings and co-operate "quickly and without equivocation".
While several of Libya's legal reservations have been addressed, some doubts remain over their compliance with the proposal, not least on the issue of the Scottish judges and because of the recent US missile attacks in Sudan and Afghanistan.
However, Mr Alistair Duff, the Scottish lawyer acting for the two suspects, said that while his clients would need a number of guarantees of their safety before surrendering themselves, he did not believe the issue of the Scottish judges was insurmountable.
"The possibility of . . . a trial before a panel of judges is not one that necessarily renders this package unacceptable," he said.
For Col Gadafy, on the other hand, the prospect of international sanctions against Libya being lifted if it hands over the two men may prove tempting.
Dr Jim Swire, a spokesman for the campaign organisation, UK Families of Flight 103, said he was "full of optimism" that a trial would take place, despite the possible difficulty over the issue of the Scottish judges.
"We believe the gap between the offer and the position now being taken by Britain and America is so small that it's something we shouldn't push our noses into," he said.