The United States Government is to be asked to allow classified documents to be shown to the team defending two Libyans accused of the Lockerbie bombing. Scotland's Lord Advocate, Andrew Boyd today agreed a request from the judges hearing the trial at Camp Zeist in Holland to ask for the disclosure of sensitive CIA telegrams. The court has no authority to order the disclosure, but Mr Boyd said that he would use his best endeavours to persuade the CIA to divulge them to the court.
The trial of the two Libyans accused of causing the explosion on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988 resumed earlier today following a three-week summer break. Abelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who are accused of the bombing, were eventually brought to trial following years of international dispute. The trial is being held under Scots Law at the former US airbase in the Holland.
The Netherlands was chosen as a neutral third country following the refusal of Libya to hand over the two suspects. Libya was hit by economic sanctions during this time. However, the two suspects have been held at Camp Zeist since the Libyan leader, Colonel Gadaffi, announced in March last year that the two men would be handed over for trial.
The Lockerbie trial, which began on 3 May last, is being heard by three judges who are sitting without a jury. 270 people, from 21 different countries, died when the Boeing 747 aircraft, en route to New York, crashed over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie just 38 minutes after leaving London’s Heathrow Airport. All 259 passengers and crew died along with 11 locals who were killed on the ground by wreckage from the plane.
The two men are accused of murder, conspiracy to murder and a breach of the 1982 Aviation Security Act. Although they face three alternative charges the men can only be convicted of one. The charges of murder and breach of the Aviation Security Act both carry life sentences. The sentence of conspiracy to murder is at the court’s discretion. If the men are convicted they will serve any custodial sentence in Scotland.
