News In Focus
12 February 2007
Summer date for Al-Megrahi case decision
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has announced its intention to issue a decision in the case of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi by the end of June 2007.
Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the murder of the 259 passengers and crew on board Pan American World Airways flight PA 103 from London to New York, and 11 residents of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988. He is currently serving a life sentence at Greenock Prison.
After an appeal against conviction was refused, he applied for a review of his case by the Commission, which can investigate alleged miscarriages of justice and, if it thinks a miscarriage may have occurred and that a review is in the interests of justice, refer a case back to the criminal appeal court.
Judges recommended that Al-Megrahi serve at least 27 years in prison before he could be considered for parole. The Libyan is also challenging the length of this sentence, while the Crown Office is seeking an increase.