[A-List] Lockerbie verdict

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Lockerbie bomber in appeal to European Court
BILLY BRIGGS
The Herald, 13 September 2002

THE man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing launched an appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights yesterday.

Eddie MacKechnie, the solicitor who is representing Abdelbaset Ali
Mohmed al Megrahi, said that his client's trial had been unfair and a
subsequent appeal under Scottish courts was flawed in several key
respects.

Speaking at a news conference in Glasgow - where the Libyan is serving a
life sentence in Barlinnie prison for the murder of the 270 people
killed in the bombing - Mr MacKechnie said he believed Megrahi was
innocent and was the victim of a massive miscarriage of justice.

He said the 100-page application to the court in Strasbourg outlined how
his client's rights under articles six and 14 of the European Convention
had been violated. Article six enshrines a person's right to a fair
trial and article 14 to equal treatment under the law.

The application also will seek compensation from the UK government for
the wrongful imprisonment of Megrahi.

Mr MacKechnie acknowledged that the court had no power to release
Megrahi, but said he believed the UK government would bow to pressure if
the complaint was upheld.

"It would be completely untenable for the UK government to effectively
ignore the decision of such a high court as the European Court of Human
Rights," he said.

Mr MacKechnie said there would also be an application made to the
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission with a view to having the case
referred back to the criminal appeal court.

He said: "My client's right to a fair trial was prejudiced by unfair
publicity and public statements by officials here and abroad. His photo
and that of his co-accused were circulated all over the world.

"The court failed to make sure the defence had access to key information
and left it up to the Crown to decide what information was given."

He also cited intervention in the case by the US government and its
defence organisations, particularly the CIA, as further grounds for the
action.

"The controlling influence of a third party, namely the US government
and intelligence sources, rendered the trial unfair. There was a failure
to disclose material information to the defence."

Mr MacKechnie said recordings of meetings between the CIA and Majid
Giaka, a principal witness for the prosecution, which had initially been
withheld as evidence, established him as a liar.

"The star witness for the Crown was crushed and destroyed in court and
rightly so," he said. He claimed that crucial evidence given at the
trial by Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper, was "conflicting and
inconsistent".

A team of barristers and advocates from England and Scotland, led by
Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, the leading human rights lawyer, has been
drawn together to work on the case, as well as a Libyan attorney.

However, Alistair Bonnington, an honorary professor at Glasgow
University and an expert in Scots law, said: "I cannot see how it can be
brought back to court - they have had an appeal and that failed - a
court cannot keep hearing cases again and again."