THE family of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has lodged an appeal with the Scottish courts in a bid to clear the name of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie Bombing.
Relatives joined human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar in Glasgow yesterday morning to hand over papers to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Megrahi, who died five years ago, was convicted in 2001 for the 1988 terrorist attack.
The bomb on board ripped through the fuselage, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew. Large sections of the aircraft landed on Lockerbie, killing another 11 people on the ground. In 1999, after much diplomatic wrangling, and in a bid to end sanctions against his country, then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi handed over the two men wanted by the authorities in Scotland and the US.
Alongside al-Megrahi was Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was found not guilty at the specially convened Scottish trial held in the Netherlands.
Al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, was found guilty of 270 counts of murder and jailed for life.
To the fury of the Americans he was released from Greenock jail in August 2009 on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died in May 2012.
He lost an appeal against his conviction in 2002, with the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) recommending in 2007 that he should be granted a second appeal.
He dropped the second attempt to overturn his conviction in 2009, ahead of his return to Libya, but his widow Aisha and son Ali met Anwar late last year to discuss a posthumous appeal.
The SCCRC will now decide whether there are grounds to refer the case to the appeal court.
His son, Ali Megrahi, said: “The launch of the application for an appeal on behalf of the Megrahi family is a milestone on the road to prove that the verdict against my father was unsafe. I trust that the Scottish authorities will correct this unjust verdict.
“When my father returned to Libya, I spent most of my time next to him and had the opportunity to talk to him as much as possible before he passed away. I am 100 per cent certain that he was innocent and not the so-called Lockerbie bomber.
“Thank you to all those people who have made today possible.”
Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora, Rev John Mosey, whose daughter Helga was killed, and Geoff and Ann Mann, who lost their brother John, his wife and their two children, joined Anwar at the SCCRC offices.
Swire said: “As the father of Flora, I still ache for her, what might have been, the grandchildren she would have had, the love she always gave us and the glowing medical career.
“It has always been and remains my intent to see those responsible for her death brought to justice.
“I feel encouraged and optimistic that this may mark the start of another step towards discovering the truth about our families, why they were murdered and in particular why their lives were not protected in all the circumstances.”
It is believed the new appeal bid is based on concerns over the evidence that convicted the Libyan, including that given by Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who died last year.
Anwar said: “The reputation of Scottish law has suffered both at home and internationally because of widespread doubts about the conviction of Mr al-Megrahi.”
Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the SCCRC, said the commission would “give careful consideration to this new application”.
“In particular, we will immediately be looking to see that this fresh application fully addresses the matters which we identified as missing from the application in 2015 and in particular provides access to the original appeal papers from Mr Megrahi’s solicitors.”
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