A COURT has ruled there was no miscarriage of justice in the case of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing 32 years ago.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, but the family’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said they will now seek to appeal directly to the UK’s highest court.

Megrahi’s son said he had again been disappointed by the Scottish courts, but was determined to fulfil the promise he made to clear the name of his father, who died of cancer eight years ago.

“Today’s decision merely closes the shameful chapter on the Scottish justice which failed my father in the first place.

“I have now instructed our legal team to seek leave to appeal directly to the UK Supreme Court, which is the final court of appeal for my father’s case. It is time for a new Libya, but that will never happen until there is justice for those who died in Lockerbie.

“I regard my father Abdelbaset al-Megrahi as the 271st victim of Lockerbie. We now have a new democratic government and we look to them to support our legal team in their pursuit of justice.”

Anwar said the appeal against legal arguments related to two challenges to the conviction. The first – that no reasonable jury properly directed could have convicted Megrahi on the evidence led – as it focused on that of Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who said Megrahi had bought from him clothing put in a suitcase containing the bomb that was planted on the plane.

The second was a failure to disclose information to the defence which led to an unfair trial and thus a miscarriage of justice. This related to Gauci’s identification of Megrahi.

He added: “I have no doubt that the new democratic Libyan government headed by Abdul Hamid Dabaiba will support this final appeal for justice on behalf of the al-Megrahi family and help in our efforts to prove the innocence of Libya and its people.”