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28/04/2009
Lockerbie Bomber To Launch Fresh Appeal
Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi is to begin a second appeal against his conviction for blowing up a Pan Am flight 21 years ago.
An appeal hearing is to begin in Edinburgh almost two years after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred the case of the Libyan to the appeal court.
The 57-year-old's lawyers said judges at his trial heard insufficient evidence to convict him beyond reasonable doubt.
The Commission had rejected some of the argument's put forward by Megrahi's defence team. However, it added that there were grounds - some of which were put forward by the defence team, some arising from its own investigations - where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
Megrahi is currently held in Greenock Prison, where he was diagnosed as suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
He has already lost one appeal, heard in a special Scottish curt in the Netherlands, one year after his conviction in January 2001.
A second appeal was ordered in 2007 by the SCCRC, following a four-year investigation, which found his conviction "may be unsafe".
Megrahi will attend the hearing, but will instead follow the proceedings by a closed circuit television link between the court and Greenock Prison.
He was convicted of carrying out the atrocity in which Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York was blown out of the sky in December 1998, with the loss of 270 lives.
(JM/BMcC)
An appeal hearing is to begin in Edinburgh almost two years after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred the case of the Libyan to the appeal court.
The 57-year-old's lawyers said judges at his trial heard insufficient evidence to convict him beyond reasonable doubt.
The Commission had rejected some of the argument's put forward by Megrahi's defence team. However, it added that there were grounds - some of which were put forward by the defence team, some arising from its own investigations - where it believed a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
Megrahi is currently held in Greenock Prison, where he was diagnosed as suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
He has already lost one appeal, heard in a special Scottish curt in the Netherlands, one year after his conviction in January 2001.
A second appeal was ordered in 2007 by the SCCRC, following a four-year investigation, which found his conviction "may be unsafe".
Megrahi will attend the hearing, but will instead follow the proceedings by a closed circuit television link between the court and Greenock Prison.
He was convicted of carrying out the atrocity in which Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York was blown out of the sky in December 1998, with the loss of 270 lives.
(JM/BMcC)
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Benefit Cheats Face Up To 10 Years In Jail
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Women's behaviour ‘blamed’ for rapes
A third of those polled in the UK believe that a woman is partially or totally responsible for being raped if she behaves flirtatiously, a survey has suggested.
Women's behaviour ‘blamed’ for rapes
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:There will be a mixture of bright intervals and a few showers. Best of the sunny spells will be near the North Coast. Feeling on the cool side. Maximum temperature 10 °C.Tonight:Showers will gradually die out during the evening. A cold night with long clear spells leading to a touch of frost in places. Minimum temperature 0 °C.
