Lockerbie bomber: previously inadmissible evidence would have made case against him 'stronger'
Senior judges have ruled that incriminating evidence over luggage tags deemed inadmissible 20 years ago at the Lockerbie bomber’s original trial would have made the case against him and his co-accused “substantially stronger”.
The ruling came as a court in Scotland dismissed an appeal of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s conviction for the worst terrorist atrocity in British history.
The judgment is a devastating blow to a long-running campaign to clear al-Megrahi’s name. It will also galvanise American efforts to bring Abu Agila Masud, the alleged bombmaker, to justice.
The family of one British victim said the 64-page Court of Criminal Appeal judgment had strengthened their opinion that Megrahi had been instrumental in carrying out the worst terrorist atrocity on British soil.
Pam Dix, 64, whose brother Peter was killed, said: “I am now more and more confident of Megrahi’s guilt. I was open to persuasion but nothing presented by the defence has moved me in the direction of thinking he was innocent.”
The five senior Scottish judges said the weight of evidence against Megrahi, who died aged 60 in 2012, was enough for a “reasonable jury” to find him guilty.
The judges reinforced the strength of the conviction by ruling that a diary entry written by Megrahi’s co-accused claiming he had acquired baggage tags for Megrahi should have been ruled admissible at the original trial.
The luggage tags allegedly provided by Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah allowed Megrahi to bypass airport security in Malta and plant the suitcase bomb that was transferred via Frankfurt on to Pan Am flight 103 taking off from London.
Fhimah was found not guilty at the initial trial held at a specially convened Scottish court in the Netherlands 20 years ago and is now thought to be living in Tripoli with his family.
The judges ruled that: “They [the diary entries] constituted direct evidence, if the court had chosen to accept it, which, coupled with other circumstances, could have led to an inference that the co-accused had been tasked with securing Air Malta luggage tags for Mr Megrahi.”
They added: "That case would have been substantially stronger had the evidence of the luggage tags been taken into account, as it should have been."
When Megrahi was controversially freed from a Scottish jail and sent home on compassionate grounds suffering from cancer, Fhimah welcomed him at the airport.
Megrahi, a senior Libyan intelligence officer, remains the only person convicted of the murder of 270 passengers, crew and residents, when Pan-Am flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. This was the third attempt to clear his name.
The appeal was brought posthumously by his family after the Scottish criminal cases review commission concluded a miscarriage of justice may have occurred over the non disclosure of secret documents and a possible unreasonable verdict. The judges rejected both claims.
Mr Megrahi’s son Ali said he and his family had been left devastated. His lawyer Aamer Anwar said in a statement the family would not give up and try to take the case to the Supreme Court.
Mr Anwar said: “Ali Al-Megrahi said his family were left heart broken by the decision of the Scottish courts, he maintained his father’s innocence and is determined to fulfil the promise he made to clear his name and that of Libya.
“Ali said God willing, he will visit his father's grave one day to tell him that justice was done and that he fulfilled his promise to clear his name, and that of Libya.”
Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed onboard, had supported Megrahi’s appeal and believes Iran (rather than Libya) was responsible for the atrocity.
Dr Swire, 84, said he remains certain Megrahi had not murdered his daughter and added: “For a long time I have been persuaded that it isn’t likely the truth will come out during my time left on the planet. I hope instead that one day serious historians will discover what happened through all the material when it is made available.”
Last month, American prosecutors made public an indictment against Abu Agila Masud, who faces possible extradition to the US to face trial for making the bomb planted on the jet by Megrahi. Masud is said to have confessed to his role while languishing in a Libyan jail after the fall of Colonel Muammar gaddafi.
Police and prosecutors in Scotland welcomed the judgment and said they were committed to work with US counterparts as part of an ongoing investigation.
Police Scotland chief constable Iain Livingstone welcomed the ruling and paid tribute to the victims’ families “who have demonstrated courage and dignity for over 30 years”.
The Lord Advocate, James Wolffe QC, said: "The bombing of Pan Am 103 is, to this day, the deadliest terrorist attack on UK soil and the largest homicide case Scotland's prosecutors have ever encountered in terms of scale and of complexity.
"The evidence gathered by Scottish, US and international law enforcement agencies has again been tested in the Appeal Court; and the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi stands.
