afrol News, 29 June - A United Kingdom court has agreed to grant the right to appeal to the suspected bomber of Lockerbie, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. The appeal, which will be the second of its kind, resulted after a review of the case.

Mr al-Megrahi, a Libyan, was convicted of exploding an American jet over
Lockerbie in 1988, killing all 259 people, including 189 Americans, on board
the Flight 103. 11 others were killed on the ground by falling wreckage.

Two weeks ago, families of the Lockerbie victims protested, accusing the UK
authorities of striking a secret deal with Tripoli, which could result to
the transfer of Mr al-Megrahi to serve his sentence in Libya.

It came after reports of memorandum of understanding on prisoner swap the
former UK Premier had agreed with the Libya's Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi last
month in Tripoli. The UK Home Office admitted strengthening judicial
cooperation with Libya, which will pave way for the extradition and prisoner
transfer.

After found guilty of the crime by a Scottish court in 2001, al-Megrahi was
jailed for life. His co-acccused, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, was freed. Both men
are said to be agents of Libya's Intelligence Service.

In 2004, Libya admitted shouldering the Lockerbie blame and paid £2 billion
as compensation to the victims' families - a key UN condition for the
lifting of sanctions on the North African country.

The two Libyan Lockerbie suspects were surrendered to the UN on 5 April
1999, after 10 years of diplomatic wrangling. They were tried by Scottish authorities in the Netherlands who charged them with conspiracy, murder, and contravention of the 1982 Aviation Security Act.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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